[Reader-list] Voices against HC Judgement emerge

[Rakesh Iyer]

Religious leaders have no right to threaten govts. Anyway, who cares about
these. I feel we should have a referendum to find out whether these
so-called hoodlums have any backing from the society, for that will be the
end of their useless positions and their right to take 'decisions on behalf
of the community'. The religious leaders should first go and study their own
religious texts and books before making useless comments. And anyways,
religious leaders should be thankful we are a liberal democracy, otherwise
if we were secular by Western standards, their useless antics would have
earned them the ire of the state (as Sarkozy showed recently by declaring
that Muslim women would not be allowed to wear the veil. Where are these
leaders then to raise their voice? In toilets?)

The right to existence of people is beyond religion, and people came before
religion. And people's rights are more important than such religious rights.
Therefore, the govt. has the responsibility to accept this HC verdict and
annul the IPC 377 which prohibits homosexuality. And if the govt. wants to
appease the religious leaders, they should remember the 1987 scenario, when
both the Muslim and Hindu communities were sought to be appeased, and what
happened after that.