Thisis further to Dr Hyma Moorthy’s article “Protest Is A Right ,Violence Is Not “. It is a timely reflection of the recent student protests at Jantar Mantar .The right to protest peacefully to get your voices heard is a democratic right but what Jantar Mantar witnessed ,as protests was unconstitutional . It was sheer hooliganism and carried out by mobs .As rightly pointed out by Dr Moorthy ,the protesters who used filthy and abusive language and involved in mob violence never looked like they were students .The protests came at a time when the NEET re exam was conducted successfully and results were announced just a few days earlier. So ,the students who cleared the re exam were never a part of the protests . One can say ,without a doubt that the mobocracy that we witnessed at Jantar Mantar was not student protests but a politically- motivated agenda by some anti nationalists and anti social elements, who used students as tools and pawns to try and create an atmosphere of tension and unstability .

Parimala G Tadas, Hyderabad

Govt holiday to watch ‘Jana Nayagan’?

Therecent release of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s final film, Jana Nayagan saw numerous TVK ministers and MLAs leave the Secretariat and head to theaters for the first-day screenings, leaving government offices largely deserted and sparking intense political backlash. Is it proper for responsible ministers and elected representatives spending hours in cinema halls during a working day, abandoning core administrative tasks at the secretariat? Elected officials should prioritize public service and State issues over celebrating a political leader’s cinematic swan song. For TVK ministers, work at the office is infinitely more important since real governance requires administrative files, not cinematic applause. Treating public office like a box-office collection will only reduce the state to a tragic script.

Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai

A case of ‘economic bunker-buster’

Theproposed US legislation threatening upto 100% tariffs on India and China is officially framed by Washington as a measure to cut revenue to Russia from oil sales to India and China for funding war on Ukraine. But then it is also a likely strategy to defend the Petro-Dollar dominance in oil trade. However, this measure could also be viewed as a powerful tool of economic leverage that intersects with broader monetary and global dominance concerns. The proposed rules include exemptions or lighter scrutiny for certain European nations still buying pipeline gas or alternative Russian energy, fuelling accusations of double standards. But a good number of leading US senators call out Asian importers as the main targets, implying India and China, which are the fastest growing economies in the world today threatening the Petro-Dollar dominance in world trade. The proposal of 100% tariff against India in particular is an aggressive “economic bunker-buster”, for this developing country (India) to alter vital energy procurement strategies under threat of losing access to Western consumer markets. As such, safeguarding dominance of US Dollar in commodity trading remains a foundational pillar of American financial hegemony.

Govardhana Myneedu, Vijayawada