Ahilya Mahila Mandal was established in 1997 with a view to provide self employment to women so as to make them self suffi..
Anna’s fast had a very limited objective — that civil society
should be involved in drafting the Lokpal Bill — like Gandhiji’s
salt march just wanted the salt law repealed. And like Gandhi’s
march shook the British, Anna’s fast began shaking the regime in
Delhi. Had the British talked to Gandhiji before his march ended,
the salt tax would have gone, but the empire would not have been
shaken, believes S Gurumurthy
Anna Hazare started like Mahatma Gandhi would have done — fast unto
death for a law against corruption. Anna bestirred the middle class
after long, at least to talk against corruption on TV. Anna’s fast
had a very limited objective — that civil society should be
involved in drafting the Lokpal Bill — like Gandhiji’s salt march
just wanted the salt law repealed. And like Gandhi’s march shook
the British, Anna’s fast began shaking the regime in Delhi. Had the
British talked to Gandhiji before his march ended, the salt tax
would have gone, but the empire would not have been shaken. Drawing
a lesson from the British, the rulers in Delhi talked with Anna and
gave in to his symbolic demand. The result? Anna’s fast succeeded;
but his cause?
Anna started off saying that “Remote control-se gadbadi hote hain”
— that is, ‘remote control causes problems’. No seer is needed to
say that Anna had hinted at only Sonia Gandhi as the problematic
remote control. This was on April 6, 2011 (Rediff.com). Said
CNN-IBN (April 8, 2011), he ‘ignited emotive cries of “Bharat Mata
ki Jai!”, “Vande Mataram” — something anathema to the secular
audience and the media. Added to that danger was the portrait of
Bharat Mata – that which adorns saffron platforms — as the
backdrop. Anna on fast in this setting,hinting at Sonia Gandhi as
the problematic remote control and the fire he set across the
country frightened the rulers.
The scared government forthwith went on the backfoot; it
desperately looked for empathetic interlocutors to undo the damage
occurring hour-to-hour on 24x7 TV channels. Sonia Gandhi forthwith
appealed to Anna to give up the fast in the interest of his health
assuring that his views would receive the full attention of the
government. Her National Advisory Committee’s subcommittee said it
would back the Lokpal Bill. Sensing victory Anna wrote to Sonia, “I
am grateful for your concern about my health. The sub-committee of
National Advisory Council had agreed with a broad content of the
General Lokpal bill barring two issues. We request to get the
drafts discussed at a full meeting in the NAC at the earliest and
recommend the outcome. I am relieved to know that you fully support
the cause.”
In the next couple of days it was all over — not only the fast but,
more. A simple man uninitiated to the vicious secular politics,
Anna had a word of compliment for Narendra Modi. Hell broke lose.
This was sufficient to undo the effect of Anna’s fast; to question
his secular credentials; to throw him off balance. His own team
began deriding him. The subcommittee of Sonia’s NAC was the first
to turn its back on Anna. Kapil Sibals, Digvijay Singhs, Manish
Tiwaris and the rest were let lose on Anna. Sibal even gloated that
Anna and Co wilted under pressure to dilute the law. Anna had thus
the first taste of what a corrupt system could do to besmirch the
reputation of those who dare it. To divert from the sequence and
recall my own personal experience in fighting corruption, the
government even used a forged letter to arrest me for ‘espionage’.
This was way back in1987 when some morals were still in evidence in
public life. Now back to the sequence.
Then came the news of the CD against Bhushans. Few can question the
honesty of Bhushans. Yet, Anna, confused, first said that he could
not guarantee anyone’s honesty other than his own; then when the
news broke out that the CD could be forged, he came out in their
defence. He wrote to Sonia Gandhi asking her to stop her minions –
namely the likes of Sibals and Digvijays, according to the media –
from smearing the civil society nominees or face counter smear
against the government nominees! Going further, Anna asked her “to
fight together” to defeat the designs of the corrupt forces. The
Congress Party responded asking, “how can there be a caveat on
expression of views in a vibrant and democratic society?” and
saying that “discourse cannot be one-sided affair”. No further
evidence is needed for the paralysis in the Lokpal Bill
committee.
Two things are clear now. One, Anna Hazare understands that only
the remote controller Sonia Gandhi — not the PM — matters in the
UPA regime. Here he is undisputedly right. Second, he thinks, she
can join the fight against corruption. This shows his ignorance.
Anna’s suspicion of corruption seems limited to only Sharad
Pawar’s. He is obviously unaware of the serious charges of
corruption and of monies illegally held abroad against Sonia
Gandhi. Anna does not seem to know that the popular Swiss magazine
Schweizer Illustrierte (dated November 11, 1991) had disclosed that
deposits of 2.2 billion Swiss Francs existed in secret Swiss banks
accounts
of late Rajiv Gandhi. Likewise the declassified KGB documents,
analysed by Yuvegina Albats, an award-winning Russian journalist,
showed that Rajiv Gandhi had thanked the USSR in 1985 for the
financial benefits his family and his son,
Rahul Gandhi, had received. Anna may not be aware that the former
Swedish Investigation Bureau’s chief Sten Lindstorm had written
repeatedly that Sonia Gandhi ought to be interrogated in the Bofors
payoff to Quattrocchi. Yet Sonia Gandhi repeatedly defended
Quattrocchi. Had Anna known these facts, would he have asked her to
join the fight against corruption?
Anna asked for Sharad’s head because he suspected him as corrupt.
But as yet there is no such open charge against Sharad Pawar like
the ones against Sonia Gandhi and her family. Sonia Gandhi or her
family has not even sued any one of some half-a-dozen writers who
have repeated these charges. If ever the Lokpal Bill were to
become the law, she may even be the subject of probe by the Lokpal.
Anna must know that Sonia Gandhi is as much suspected of corruption
as Sharad Pawar, and more. Can suspects in corruption be trusted to
fight the corrupt?
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