Seems like the nation has given up on Anti-Corruption Movements and its leaders. May be, the nation feels better, the way it is. Repeated failure to gather huge crowd at rallies of such movements is an answer in itself that the impact is over. This time it was Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev together, who could not manage to gather huge number of followers during their One-Day fast against Corruption and Black Money Issues in the nation.
Social Activist Anna Hazare and Yoga guru Baba Ramdev will sit on a day-long fast in Delhi tomorrow to mark their protest against issues of corruption in the nation and black money held abroad by rich Indians.
Just a thought- May be, Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Yogpeeth which does research on Yoga and Ayurveda may have come up with some food supplement for helping people who are fasting 😉 .
Sharing a stage in Delhi , Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev declared they would sit on a Fast on June 3rd together to bring the Governments focus back on ‘Jan Lokpal Bill and Black Money Issue!
Amidst heavy security of cops (1000 plus), started the one-day fast of Anna Hazare against the ‘deaf and dumb’ government which he claimed has kept his eyes closed on people fighting against corruption. Anna said , had the Lokpal Bill been introduced by the government, people may not have lost lives fighting against mafias and corrupt system.
Supreme Court’s decision on 4-5 June 2011 Ramlila Maidan Crackdown!
February 23rd 2012 – The Supreme Court today held both Baba Ramdev and the Delhi Police responsible for the Ramlila Maidan crackdown on 4-5 June 2011.
The Supreme Court declared the State Government and the Delhi Police could have avoided the voilent incident and also agreed that people were assaulted by police on the night. However, it also concluded that complains should be regsitered against the aggressive supporters of Baba Ramdev and the cops who assaulted the crowd as both the parties were responsible.
Compensation of Rs 5 Lakhs to the victim Rajbala, who died of wounds was announced for the family and Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 for critically and slightly injured people ,respectively was also announced. Baba Ramdev was asked to compensate 25% of the amount and rest by Delhi Police.
What Rajasthan Government could not do , Bengal Administration did easily enough !
West Bengal ruled by Trinamul Congress Government shows it how to do it.
Salman Rushdie, a few days back had to cancel his visit to India for the Jaipur Literature Festival due to threat of life and while the Central and Rajasthan State Government kept insisting there was no such fear, they probably hoped Salman Rushdie does not turn up. And it happened! All thanks to some religious hardliners who did not even allow the author’s lines to be read from Satanic Verses and to top it all they succeeded to stop Rushdie’s pre-scheduled Video Conference in the Festival.
Rumours spread about Taslima Nasreen’s release being halted , in Kolkata while it was postponed due to some technical reasons as explained by the organizers. It was obvious as similar protests were organised by hardliner groups against Taslima, again as controversial as Rushdie, for writing , what they consider as anti-islamic.
However , Nirbashan, the 7th volume of Taslima’s auto-biography did launch amidst protests which had to mild down as it seemed spineless and moreover, inspired by Jaipur Literature Festival protest success. Dey’s Publishing, released Nirbashan’s 7th Volume today,1st feb’2012 in front of a stall at the Kolkata Book Fair.
A democratic and a secular country has to behave like one and it is the Government’s responsibility to assure this. Previously, religious and social leaders who had almost half the country supporting them were challenged on the face by the Central Government while conducting mass-protest against anti-corruption and black-money issue and the Government remained firm on its stands and did all it took to lower down the impact of the movements. Hence, it becomes questionable why the same Government, be it state or central, falls under the pressure of few hundreds or thousands protesters? Is it not just because of Vote-Bank politics ?
Whatever the reason may be, it is the West Bengal Government which neither allowed making Taslima Nasreen’s book release, a ‘Breaking News’ nor did they give up in front of the protests, resulting in the successful launch of Nirbashan Volume 7.
Beat Up ! Slap ! Throw Ink ! Throw Chappals and Shoes !
All these actions seem to have become a trend in our country . Are these self – motivated or well-planned opposition attacks? It is only the attacker who knows it best.
On Saturday,21st of January’2012 similar incident was repeated in Dehradun while Team Anna member , Arvind Kejriwal was heading towards the stage to address the gathered crowd. Identified attacker, Kishan Lal threw his shoe towards Kejriwal. His explanation for attacking was his response to insensitive statment given by Anna Hazare when NCP leader , Sharad Pawar was slapped. Well,such repeated attacks on Leaders from various walks of life, seem pre-planned and politicaly motivated rather than genuine agitations.
Breaking News! The Biggest Daily Reality Show Ended 31st December 2011.
With the beginning of 2012 ends the sensation of Anna Hazare and the Anti-Corruption movement seems over. What was that all about ? Why suddenly some Yoga Guru stood against corruption and got the nation provoked and vanished from news after fleeing from the stage at the Ram Lila Maidan , Delhi ? What happened to the nation suddenly after that ? Throughout 2011,Anna Hazare was the only topic, go anywhere. No peace of mind for full-time religious alcoholics like me and my friends, too. We would prefer talking about corruption and about Anna over our favourite Heart-Break stories of life?
All seems dead suddenly. It all started almost in the second quarter of 2011 and died with the 2012 New-Year celebration. Lokpal Bill ? What is that all about ? Corrupt Politicians ? Who are they ? Are they Indians ? 2011 showed all those Facebook pages and fans and tweets packed with Anti-Corruption buzz and urban India explaining their concern and support to Anna and Ramdev Baba.
Come on folks , we were watching the Biggest Reality Show of India, scripted and produced by our very own “Breaking News Channels”. Corruption was an integral part of Indian Administration since India was formed. What was not, is the concept of “Money Minting Reality Shows” shown on television.Advertisements pay bigtime and when MTV can why not the News Channels ?
Corruption is a part of us and we have adjusted with it quite well. We vote for our politicians even after knowing they are competing to fulfil their desires of making uncountable money. We are forced to choose between worse and worst everytime and we vote praying worse does’nt turn worst. Its been more than 60 years and we are experienced now, aren’t we ? We have grown up watching our dads or uncles bribing the cops , caught for not carrying drivers license and many a times even just to avoid harassment. We have seen dads collecting money somehow to manage donations for our school. We have seen our mommy paying extra bucks to the gas-cylinder guy for giving cylinder in “black” and who can forget the blackiers selling Bollywood Blockbuster Movie tickets ?. We are born learning basics of computers on pirated Windows version and as our knowledge progresses we keep looking for various websites offering crack codes for various softwares for our computers and laptops and not to forget the free song downloading sites. How can we forget the CDs and DVDs for 15 bucks for 5 movies? We have heard our grandfathers discussing tax-evading ways with his chartered accountant. Bribing has been as simple as breathing, in our country and we call these attributes of “Street-Smart Chap”.
The New Reality Show of Anti-Corruption made us forget our basics. It made villains out of those 400 plus Daring Indians who made it to the parliament. We made them our leaders. We made our politicians achieve their dreams. A politician joins “Dirty Politics” while we prefer keeping ourselves out of the dirt and prefer discussing all that over a cup of tea during free time. Had these politicians not been there, think of an evening , when guests pay a visit ! Absolutely no topic to share thoughts . How long can you talk about the weather and global-warming? It is our corrupt system which has given us so much to talk in public gatherings. Thanks to the political leaders, they do not even mind us back-biting them after we ourselves choose them to fulfil their desires to open bank accounts in Switzerland. But this reality show certainly made them villains. Someone in the parliament screamed Anna is made by the Media and supported by the Corporate houses ( As Media is a Corporate House itself) and since then I realize we were watching a Reality Show made by our News Channels. Some 400 plus men in the parliament struggled their lives out to be where they are and suddenly some old x-army man with few opportunists backing him up comes and declares a war against these Parliamentarians ? Well the Anti-Corruption Movement Reality Show seems to have fetched its producers enough money and hence they decided to end it and now we talk everything but Anna and his movement. It is time to move on. Anyways winters bring in fresh but repeated news of accidents because of fogs in North India. They have enough workload. Turning on the News channels, rarely one feels like changing them as they too have become interesting channels and lot better than those daily soaps starting from the alphabet “K” with repeated vamp haunting into some repeated honest people’s lives for wealth. At least our News Channels understand when to create the sensation , how long to continue and how to fade it away and replace it with other stories.
Playing with emotions is what entertainment is all about and in India it started with daily soaps and continues big time with News Channels which writes its own script, chooses a Hero all by itself(like Anna and Ramdev) , chooses the supporting cast(Arvind,Kiran Bedi,Prashant Bhushan etc) and crew and the villains(politicians with Swiss Bank Accounts) , shows us all the reality show and ends the story at its will , leaving us guessing. Well the Movie ” Anti-Corruption Movement in India ” got a huge appreciation and the script-writers and producers surely bagged a great chunk of money leaving the villains and the hero busy commenting against each other and the audience getting back to their normal lives. One may term it as the most successful reality show of 2011 or the biggest blockbuster daily soup, call it whatever , we as an audience had a great time watching the show and now we are back to work assuring ourselves Media will soon release some other “BREAKING NEWS”.
Anna Hazare , the synonym to Anti- Corruption Movements in India may be viewed with different perceptions in and out of India however there is no denying to one fact that it is because of him India seems to be united again. There is hardly any bar of religion, sex, state and caste supporting his cause. Be it North Indians, South Indians, North-Eastern Indians or Non-Resident Indians, after a longtime there seems to be a leader who has made Indians forget the difference of state, religion and caste to a great extent. While some find him politically motivated supporting Anti-Congress Political Parties, most seem to be die-hard fans of him.
There has only been discrimination between commoners (sufferers) and the politicians and bureaucrats in India due to him. While it would be unfair to claim all politicians inIndia are corrupt but there is no denying that most of them are. May be, some do not loot us, off our hard-earned money which we pay as taxes but surely they stoop down to all levels to gain political superiority. Even the most decent of Indian politicians are mostly involved in provoking communal discomfort in the areas of their dominance and popularity.
Congress which claims to be secular keeps pointing out how much they are bothered about the minorities of India and that’s how they divide us. There are other parties who show sympathy towards specific religions,castes and specific language-speaking citizens (regional political parties). Point is simple, corrupt are those too who in some way or the other differentiate between Indians by showing sympathy on the basis of religion, state and caste.
Well, Anna Hazare may or may not be politically motivated but surely he is a reason who made every Indian realize, he/she is an Indian first who is being continuously befooled by opportunist and/or corrupt bureaucrats and politicians of the country. Thanks to Maharashtra which has political parties like Shiv Sena and MNS who do not miss any chance to discriminate between Marathis and non-Marathis (hence divide Indians for political gains) has produced Anna Hazare who has given India a reason to turn deaf-ears to the communal and racists in the country.
With Anna rising strong against Corruption Issue , in India, even the most hopeless Indian was forced to believe revolution ought to take place. Loud was the roar of Anna’s hunger-strike to pass the IAC recommended LokPal Bill and louder comes allegations against the Core Team Anna Members, one after the other !
From Left to Right - Arvind Kejriwal, Anna Hazare,Kiran Bedi And Swami Agnivesh
It all started with Swami Agnivesh’s controversial tape where he was found back-biting his own Team , believed to be having a word with the Union Minister, over the phone. He tried getting away, giving excuses , which were baseless. The Media uncovered his reality.
Prashant Bhushan,one of the core team members of IAC(India Against Corruption) movement, faced serious criticisms, after he spoke his heart out about Kashmir. He was attacked by three people, at his office on the Supreme Court compound. Later it was learnt , one of the guy caught by the cops , was Indra Verma, leading Delhi unit of Sri Ram Sene. He was attacked because of his statement on Kashmir issue. Bhushan had, last month said in Varanasi that security forces should be withdrawn from Kashmir and a referendum be held to address the opinion of the Kashmiris.
Anna’s reactions to Prashant Bhushan’s statment were clearly indicating his discomfort. With the bold old man stating clearly, if need be , he would again dress-up as an Army, to fight for Kashmir , remaining intact with India.
Arvind Kejriwal , one of the most important members of Team Anna has been gheraod by controversies :
He was attacked by Jitendra Pathak , who threw a slipper at Kejriwal during a programme organised in Lucknow at the Jhulelal Park. Pathak explained, he has been following , Team Anna in their movement, so far and he noticed the diversification from core topics of the team and got furious and lost his temper. He ended up getting terminated from his job, after this incident. It is only him , who knows why he actually did so. Big deal, if the “Anti-Anna Team” has been behind this.
It is learnt, that Pathak, a former Congress Sewa Dal worker, has also wrote a letter addressing Anna, asking three questions and requesting satisfactory answers , to avoid himself going for undefinite, hunger-strike :
Why Anna remained silent when the Shiv Sena and MNS workers attacked and even killed north Indians, living in Mumbai ?
What he thinks of the violent attack on him(Pathak) by his (Anna’s)supporters when Pathak was trying to grab Kejriwal’s attention to ask him why the team members had failed to come out with convincing proof against the corruption charges levelled against them ?
Why Anna is not demanding action against Prashant Bhushan who wants yet another partition of India ?
Coming back to Kejriwal,on September 2, Kejriwal was served a notice by the I-T department, accusing him of violating bond conditions as his resignation from government service was still pending.As per the government, Kejriwal is still an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer as the department has not accepted his resignation submitted in 2006.
The Income Tax Department, has issued a fresh notice asking Kejriwal to clear his dues of Rs 9 Lakhs, latest by the 27th of Oct’11, rejecting the reply of non-compliance from Kejriwal, in response to the first notice.
Again, it is no big deal, if this is pushed by the Government itself , which is the prime Anti- Anna Team, at present, after the loss at Hissar.
In between, two core members of the Team Anna, resigned. The first being, P.B. Rajagopal, the vice chairman of Gandhi Peace Foundation and the founding member of Ekta Parishad, which focuses on issues relating to right to livelihood of displaced people and the second Rajendra Singh, famous as the “waterman of India” and Magsaysay Award winner, known for his water-conservation efforts, in Rajasthan.
They found, Arvind Kejriwal sounded autocratic, in Hissar and Team Anna was going political and also declared they were forced to answer about decisions of Anna and the other team members, inspite of not being included while such decisions were taken. They marked lack of co-ordination and unclear dimensions of Team Anna, as the cause of their discomfort , to continue.
With latest proof of Kiran Bedi’s NGO presenting inflated bills for air ticket for a function she attended in Mumbai in 2009, it puts to question , if anyone is really worth trusting, in our country.
It was found by Headlines Today that, The Guild, an Air India employees’ union, organised a function on the International Women’s Day in Mumbai, in March 2009 and had invited Bedi. Headlines Today assessed an invoice for Rs. 31,000 sent by Flywell Travels for return ticket from Delhi to Mumbai. Bedi arrived in Mumbai from Pune and attended another function in Mumbai before leaving for Delhi.
Quite astonishing, the owner of the travel agency, Mr Anil Bal, also happens to be a co-trustee in Kiran Bedi’s NGO. Who knows, if the organisers of the other function, in Mumbai also paid for Bedi’s travel ?
All this has been revealed after Kiran Bedi’s explanation that the money(cheques), for her travel expenses were issued in the name of her NGO “India Vision Foundation ” and she would always let the organisers know , if she was traveling by economy class and also that the left-over money would always remain in the NGO fund, used for traveling to places , where organisers were unable to finance her travel. She also insisted, paying all left-over money, back to organisers, after the incident came into limelight.
Swami Agnivesh, who is no more the part of the Team Anna, has questioned , why the donations were going to Public Cause Research Foundation, led by Arvind Kejriwal(this foundation does not have names of major core team members including Anna) and there was yet no bank account for IAC(India Against Corruption), which is Arvind’s responsibility. He also claimed, that the Team is yet to show the balance-sheet of the 80lakhs collected, so far , by the IAC, which was promised to be on their website, for the public to have a look at.
Senior Congress Leader, Digvijay Singh has always been of the view that Anna is motivated by BJP and there has to be some connections, Anna or his team members, have with the RSS or BJP.
We , the commoners found all that a great leader should have , after the Media showed us, Anna sitting for hours , in front of Gandhi Samadhi and crying and wiping his tears. What do we conclude now ? Are we not left making guesses, as to who may be right ?
Is Anna wrong or his selections are (the Corruption topic he chose to raise or the Core Team Members) ?
Are these allegations worth closing eyes and considering that it is cooked-up by the Government ? While some surely sound cooked-up but are all of the issues unreal ?
Is Anna totally correct, in his views, if he disregards Prashant Bhushan’s statement on Kashmir ? Is Kashmir all about the dignity and integrity of our country and we have nothing to do with the people living there , who are under Army Rule, since ages ?
Who do we trust , if people like Kiran Bedi, accept charges of presenting inflated bills to organisers, just for another “cause” ? Is she the Robinhood of India, taking money from the rich (raising inflated bills on organisers, who can afford it) and claiming to use it for the poor(affording her travel, where organisers cannot afford so) ? is this right, even if the money would be refunded ? Is this ethical when someone like her, a Magsaysay award winner who gets 75% off on her air travel by Air India , raises inflated bill for a “right cause” ?
It is a fact that Swami Agnivesh is taking out his agitation on Team Anna after he got exposed and expelled from the Team but is it not right that Anna and Arvind Kejriwal were leading IAC, should have done their homework of opening an Account and maintaining financial update, on the website , long before, as promised ?
Ofcourse , Digvijay Singh’s criticisms do not carry weight , as he is from the Government but are his acquisitions totally baseless?
Was Anna selective about his Core Team or he too is a commoner who did not recognize the “masked-foxes”, joining hands ?
The Ship of “India Against Corruption” got its share of media-hype and was sailing well. It gave food , enough in quantity, to the Media Houses , so much that they are busy finding out flaws, everywhere(with the same Ship, which they were praising, before) to keep the “Breaking News ” sessions rocking! The question is – Will it sink and so will the Captain Anna Hazare or will the Captain rather throw the unwanted baggage of controversial people including Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi and may be more(Media knows it better) , who may drown not only the Ship of INDIA AGAINST CORRUPTION but also cease commoners, like us to trust anyone for the next two decades, to come and enlighten the intentions and confidence of Corrupts in our country.
With Anna rising strong against Corruption Issue , in India, even the most hopeless Indian was forced to believe revolution ought to take place. Loud was the roar of Anna’s hunger-strike to pass the IAC recommended LokPal Bill and louder comes allegations against the Core Team Anna Members, one after the other !