Though India might still not be under threat of the kind of tyranny referred to in the article, “The ‘everydayness’ of our violence” (May 10), and in the light of Hobbes’s hypothesis, the signals are far from comforting. One’s thought process is paralysed when a look at past decades will reveal how the agencies responsible for acts of violence against the weak cut across political denominations. In the Indian context, the citizen’s concern about violence does not receive attention for multiple reasons. The low level of literacy and a multi-layer system of governance in which responsibility for national security, internal policing, education and civil rights are in different hands, contribute to this blurring. This makes the task of social activists working to help victims even more difficult.
M.G. Warrier,
Thiruvananthapuram
Shiv Visvanathan’s article shames us as it shows how the nation has remained mute to such inhuman behaviour against voiceless citizens. I hope the article stirs the conscience of readers to be more vigilant and raise their voice. The article shows the great responsibility the media has in uncovering such horror stories.
S.D. Mukherji,
Hyderabad
