Before, writing anything I would like to salute Anna Hazare and his all Team Members for sprouting the dormant energy, nationalism and a sense of belief among all of us. The belief that we can see a corruption free India if we all stand united.
I am really thinking what to write and how to start. Already so many distinguished personalities have appreciated the spirit of Anna for bringing optimism to see a corruption free India. So many writers and authors have appreciated the way Anna has inculcated the lessons of Satyagrah among the youth of India.
I registered for India Against Corruption (www.indiaagainstcorruption.org) just one week before begin of Anna’s fast. Here in Bangalore, during Anna’s fast, with some of friends I made couple of visits in the Freedom Park. One of my friends got involved in traffic and crowd management there; we heard the speech of, Santosh Hedge, one of the core members of Anna’s Team. We distributed the pamphlet having the differences between the Jan Lokpal and Government Lokpal bill. We mingled with almost each group there and recited slogans with them. It was from all age group and from all different profession. All were having one relationship and i.e. all are Indians and gathered there to see a scam and corruption free India.
It was decided that human chain will be formed in Bangalore. (From ITPL to Sarjapur –aross the IT corridor)We formed the human chain in front of the main gate of our company. We were reciting slogans, shaking and waiving hands with unknown Indians passing by. Santosh Hegde started to encourage the crowd from ITPL to Sarjapur in an open jeep. When he reached near to our organisation, the crowd gathered their got extreme energy and enthusiasm and the area got echoed with slogans of Corruption Down Down!.. Bharat Mata Ki Jay!.. Vande Matram!... We want Jan Lokpal!... etc. He waived hand on us and moved further.
This was the only small physical contribution from my side on the call of Anna Hazare against corruption.
Finally, our parliamentarians felt the power of the people who came on the streets and agreed to consider Anna’s demands in forming the LokPal Bill.
There are some intellectuals and writers who keep cynical view on Anna and his movement. They have the same points of cynicism on which most of our parliamentarians are also trying to avoid the version of Jan Lokpall Bill which Anna and his team wants.
----They say Parliament is supreme and so only those who are there in the parliament are certified to discuss on the bill and have the right to pass or reject the bill.
-----Many say that it will set a wrong precedent and accepting any demands on the street is against our democratic set up. Some MPs and leaders argued that listening to Anna’s demands is against the constitution.
-----Then some section of intellectuals opined that this is not the way to eradicate corruption. We all are corrupt and corruption should stop at its root.
Yes, I agree that our parliament and constitution are supreme. The Parliament is the prime temple of our democracy. This is a sacred place but no one will deny the fact that the sacredness of parliament is being raped by the character of most of the MPs present there. I know here some intellectuals will say that if I raise the question on the character and integrity of any MP, then I am insulting the people of his constituency. (heard this logic from some of MPs and intellectuals while they debated on Anna’s movement on news channel). To answer this question I only want to say that in this article I do not want to talk who wins the election, how they win, how much is spent by each representative in their constituency and what is the final purpose of their investment and how much percentage of people vote in India.
I know the next question will be why honest people do not contest elections. The answer is fear from torture, insult and may be death. No one knows whether they will be shot in the front or back if they contest election against any criminal politicians. Good numbers of RTI activists have been murdered whenever they tried to expose the corruption and corrupt. We can see what happened to Baba Ramdev, his aid Balkrishna, Anna Hazare, Prashant and Shanti Bhushan and the latest is Arvind Kejriwal and Kumar Bishwas. They are also not ready to leave OM Puri and Kiran Bedi for the remarks or gestures they made against the politicians. This is a clear cut indication that government is spreading fear among those who will try to go against any criminal, politicians or MPs. The Individuals mentioned in the above example are known personalities across India and they have more a social than an individual life. The government can’t touch them directly but if a person is of low profile and very little known dares to take action against any criminal or politician, no one knows how and where he will be disappeared. Sometimes I assume that there must be some saintly power behind Anna which made him survive, as he is fighting with hardcore criminals, politicians, street goons, alcohol and drugs mafias and so on from last 25-30 years.
I would like to tell my dear cynical writers or intellectuals that you are right theoretically and on book but the story is different on the ground. Our most intelligent political strategist of all the time, Acharya Vishnugupta (also Known as Chanakya or Kautilya) who moved the reign of Alexander and his forces out of India and united the nation which was split in to so many kingdoms, all were obsessed with their selfishness and false pride. In the process of throwing out the selfish kings, Chanakya was discussing an unusual plan with a dismissed Senapti (Boss of soldiers). The soldier argues with Chanakya that if the way followed is wrong, it can impact the destination. Chankya replied to him “The way for good intention can be wrong for the time being. Whatever is wrong today, can be seen as a correct step if today is seen as history considering tomorrow as future.” The point is “What is wrong or right is time dependent. The step which looks doubtful today can have different view when tomorrow will look in to today as history.
I doubt that such intellectuals would have surely raised the question mark on Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Vallabh Patel, Lal Bahadur Shastri etc if they would have been asked to give their opinion. I would again like to say that you are correct in your point of view. But another point is that the hold and influence of criminals, goons and insensitive politicians is so big that the voice of honesty is immediately lost. I would like to know the intellectuals view on the Kakori Cospiracy, throwing of bomb by Bhagat Singh and his friends in the assembly, Civil disobedience movement by Gandhi, Quit India Movement, the way of revenge for the murder of Lala Lajpat Roy, formation of INA by Subhash Chandra Bose, the way Saradar Vallabh Patel combined about 600 small kingdoms in to India.
Some of the intellectuals have also pointed out that we should hit on the root cause i.e. we should not accept and give bribe. With respect I completely agree on these words. I have already written in my previous article with the subject “Who is corrupt me or You..? Here the conclusion is either I am corrupt or you are corrupt which in turn makes India a corrupt Nation.
Here I would like to quote one sentence from Chanakya’s Niti “A kingdom or country cannot flourish well, if there is no provision of strict punishment for wrong doers, if there is not any sense of fear among the individuals before doing anything wrong”.
There will be many who listens and talks about morality and honesty but the same is not reflected in their deeds. With time, power and chance, greed and intense personal selfishness can also overtake in human’s life. Such traits of human character cannot be ignored and hence there should be provision of punishment to bring fear for wrong act to be done out of evil desires. Talking about today, the influence of greed and individualism is very huge, the person who makes laws does not think for a second in bending the law. The politicians, hardcore criminals, person with power and political influence do not have fear of the law of land and do not think even for a second also in taking law in to their hand. They do not have any fear if they want to kidnap, murder or to threat someone. We can see when policemen go to arrest a person from economically poor background; they will enter in his house without permission and will drag him out and push them in their jeep. But when the same policemen go to arrest a rich person, he will go with arrest warrant and with respect he will be put on the vehicle. There are about thousand of laws in India but still all Indians are not equal before law. Many in this revolution were shouting that we need change in the system not in the government. A system where everyone should be treated equal.
Vishnugupta was the greatest diplomat, a great laureate of economics and a great social planner. He was born in India and united the nation politically and economically. He made India free from selfish rulers and made Chandragupta as only one king of India. Some even say that the American defence system follow the Chanakya’s strategy in the organization of their army. They also learn the war technique given by Chanakya. But today the birth place and land of Chanakya is devoid of good system where there will be uniformity of laws for all.
Now I want to conclude with the hope that pessimistic intellectuals should get a sense of ground realities of India. This is not the time to point out the fingers and unnecessarily creating controversies and in delaying what India need to be a happy and prosperous country. We all should stand and provide our contributions in whatever form we can to see a happy, developed, shining and corruption free India.
JAI HIND JAI BHARAT
