Closed book
Sir — From Hamlet to Sherlock Holmes, complex men grappling with internal conflicts and moral dilemmas have been depicted as characters restricting themselves from expressing their emotions. These portrayals stem from the social construct that men tend to lose their masculinity if they cannot mask their vulnerabilities. But this male trait adds to the burden of women who attempt to ‘read’ male actions. Ellie Anderson, a professor of philosophy, has come up with a new term, ‘hermeneutic labour’, to describe the mental work that women are forced to take on to decipher men’s behaviour. Perhaps women should prioritise their mental peace over spending time decrypting male responses, which are often kept vague intentionally.
Shruti Mali, Calcutta
Tax terror
Sir — It is deplorable that the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party dispensation has unleashed “tax terrorism” against the Opposition parties by using the income tax department (“Congress cries tax terrorism”, Mar 30). After the Congress approached the Supreme Court, the Centre said that it would not act against the Grand Old Party to recover tax dues until after the elections.
The ruling party’s desperation in using the IT department as its henchman betrays its apprehensions about losing the upcoming general elections. But the BJP must not forget that the power to elect the government lies solely with the people of India. Voters will see through the intimidatory tactics and highhandedness adopted by the saffron party. The Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi, has rightly warned those who have been aiding the saffron party of retribution once it is unseated
from power.
M.C. Vijay Shankar, Chennai
Sir — The IT department served fresh notices to the Congress asking it to cough up a sum of Rs 1,823 crore. The Congress had earlier received a tax penalty of 210 crore and some of its bank accounts were frozen by the IT department.
The latest fine — key documents, including the assessment orders, were not provided by the IT department this time — must thus be seen as an attempt to cripple the Grand Old Party financially ahead of the elections.
Khokan Das, Calcutta
Sir — Along with misusing the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate to rein in the Opposition parties, the BJP has now unleashed the IT department against them. The ruling party must be condemned for attempting to financially strangle the Congress and bleed its electoral campaign dry. Great peril awaits the country if the BJP is elected back to power.
Arun Gupta, Calcutta
Sir — The BJP government seems keen on depriving the Opposition parties of a level-playing field ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The arrest of the Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, by the ED and the Congress being asked to pay a tax penalty of over Rs 3,500 crore in total are proof of this. However, the IT department has remained oblivious to the BJP’s violations of the same tax norms that were applied to penalise the Congress. Such differential treatment shows that it is subservient to the powers that be.
In the last 10 years in power, the Modi regime has systematically weakened the democratic institutions of the country. The Centre’s latest actions against the Opposition have rightly invited censure from the United States of America and Germany. This has weakened India’s standing in the global democratic order.
G. David Milton, Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu
Heavy blow
Sir — The Opposition party in Turkey has claimed big victories in the main cities of Istanbul and Ankara in the recently held municipal elections. This deals a significant blow to the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Republican People’s Party also managed to defeat Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party in
almost all corporations across the country.
The twin earthquakes that occurred last February had salvaged the votes in Erdogan’s favour in the presidential elections. A year on, it seems that the Turks have become disillusioned with the economic crisis ushered in by Erdogan’s 21-year-long authoritarian rule.
Jang Bahadur Singh, Jamshedpur
Polarised world
Sir — The editorial, “Guns, not roses” (Mar 31), aptly summarised the current geopolitical situation in which the world order is getting divided into two separate blocs. This is similar to the time preceding the two World Wars. A third World War would be fought among nuclear powers and lead to
total annihilation.
In 2022, Russia launched a military operation against Ukraine, confident that the war would be over in a month. That did not happen. Similar never-ending conflicts in other parts of the world indicate that global peace has become elusive.
Sanjit Ghatak, South 24 Parganas
Shun violence
Sir — In “Cage of horror” (Mar 29), Chandrima S. Bhattacharya elucidates how the portrayal of violence in Hindi films, through intense and graphic scenes, had a horrific effect on her mental health. But it is also true that audiences are not averse to watching violent content owing to their expectations of thrill and suspense.
Hindi films have long glorified violence as an instrument of both love and justice. For instance, when an underdog who has suffered injustices at every step of his life utters “chun chun ke marunga” and attacks the villain, instead of the corrupt system, for his misfortune, the audience applauds in cathartic joy. Similarly, eve-teasing also gets the audience’s approval owing to the normalisation of regressive gender norms.
Sujit De, Calcutta