Fully packed publicity stunts with good PR and promotions, this agitation has taken worst shape. Every day unwanted SMSs and calls from marketing agencies stating how great is Anna and his Satyagraha, bothers everyone. Too much of hammering on national television, the charm of this agitation is fading away somewhere down the line.
By wearing a Gandhi topi and white Dhoti one can never become Gandhi, Anna declaring himself as Gandhi is a blot on the ‘Father of the Nation’.
Gandhiji always believed in creating awareness and discussing the issues with taking large number of people in confidence. He never asked people to resort to violent means or gave liberty to anyone for creating ransack in public life. He never believed in show off or false displays. His fight for freedom has grace. Anna Hazare himself was corrupt at times; he used government machineries’ for his personal benefit. He misused trust funds, his relatives are his successors. What now people are painting about him is just an eye wash and exaggeration.
If Hazare would have been really an honest man then the corruption issues in Maharashtra would have evaporated by now. Whenever he raised his voice over sugar factory scams, land gabbing issues, farmer’s issues, instead of being strict he took good will and perks from them. That’s the reason Anna couldn’t deter Maharashtra Government and its ministers.
Did not we protest against the British and saved our country from the clutches of its tyranny? Did it solve our problems and are we happy? The issue of corruption and satyagraha by Anna was important, but his team is taking him for a ride. Instead of depending on Kejriwal, and Kiran Bedi, he should have invited others people such as Aruna Roy and her team taken into confidence and ensured a dialogue instead of resorting to fast for demands that would undermine supremacy of the Parliament. I was really shocked to see G R Khairnar and Desarda, a former member of the Maharashtra planning board and Hazare's associate for two decades, pointing flaws in Anna and his movement. Anna had some drawbacks, which others exploited at times. Anna always has a coterie around him who get influenced. It could become a problem, as there could be people with vested interests in this coterie. In fact, this is the reason many respected personalities who used to work with Hazare distanced themselves from him, now.
Anna’s knowledge of the Constitution and law was limited and he relied on people around him. Even at this time, he is under the control of people like Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Santosh Hegde, Swami Agnivesh and Kiran Bedi. In fact, he should have taken others into confidence in larger public interest instead of monopolising the movement. Khainar termed Hazare's fast unwarranted and unwise. Many have the opinion that Anna has become a pawn in the hands of Bedi and Kejriwal. In addition, communal forces have jumped into the agitation. Government made blunder by arresting Anna, otherwise today he wouldn’t have gained sympathy waves.
Khairnar had also launched a campaign against corruption and criminalisation of politics in the 90s. He distances himself from this movement of Hazare because he found him conflicting personality. In 1995 was his inconsistent approach towards the issue. Hazare told Khairnar not to speak against Sharad Pawar because he is holy cow of Maharashtra and later, he met Bal Thackeray and asked him to eliminate corruption. Riding on the wave, the Sena-BJP combine found it easier to win power in Maharashtra in the 1995 assembly elections. As per Khairnar, Anna’s associates are exploiting his popularity and misleading the whole movement. In the recent past, Y.P. Singh, former IPS officer, claims that he had given Anna Hazare Adarsh papers to seek ouster of Deshmukh and Shinde from cabinet. However, Anna kept quiet.
Anna is a simple man and has hardly travelled outside his village to understand the nitty-gritty of the whole issue. The government's draft may be weak but even Anna's proposals have provisions which run contrary to the Constitution of India. Are we not protesting against the corruption? Will it solve our problem? The fight for independence, fight against right and wrong, and fight against corruption will remain as long as human race exist on this earth. One should publicise the history of mankind from several thousand years.
Team Anna wants a written commitment from the government assuring that a bill with Jan Lokpal elements will be passed this Parliament session. The main issue that seems to have resolved during the talks held between the two sides is that the PM will now be included within the purview of the Lokpal Bill. But if MP’s are included within the purview of the Lokpal Bill then they must include business man, corporate house and NGO’s too. The actual corruption is here.
Determined to break the deadlock over the ballooning agitation led by Hazare, the Congress pulled out all stops to end the row and appealed for suppleness and moderation from all stakeholders on the Lokpal bill. Government called an all-party meeting to break the logjam. But the paths and methodologies used by the government and Hazare's team are different. Still the government is committed to passing a constitutionally valid and the best possible Lokpal legislation with inputs from civil society with the broadest possible consensus. And they are open to talk with everyone concerning this issue. Team Anna wants written assurance on Lokpal and government wants play safe by not committing anything. So far nothing concrete has happened. Let us see how many more meeting takes place to settle this issue. All party meeting at 7, Race Course Road, PM’s residence has not come to any conclusion, today. Let see who wins the final race…
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