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Arrival of the neo-Gandhian
Fasting was a key weapon in Gandhi's many battles over much larger issues.
The writer’s first book, Looking for America, has been published by Harper Collins India. He is a former editor of the Hindustan Times’s Mumbai edition [email protected]
At a time when the world is taking to the streets for one thing or another — to overthrow repressive regimes in the Arab world or loot television sets in the UK — India is not to be left behind.
Over the last few days, a number of adjectives have been used to describe the outpouring of public frustration that has filled the streets of urban India. The protests against corruption have been called ‘historic’, ‘a watershed’, ‘a revolution’ and, occasionally, ‘a circus’. All these epithets apply, but there is something else that this week marks. And that is the arrival of the neo-Gandhian.
At the centre of all this is the diminutive Anna Hazare, with the correct attire and headdress, who is asserting his right to peaceful protest via an old method perfected to peak potency by Mahatma Gandhi: the fast unto death.
Gandhi had undertaken a number of fasts during his lifetime. Not all of them were on issues that affected an entire nation. He had, at various times, refused food for reasons as different as self-purification; the ‘detection of untruth’ among ashram-ites, and later for unacceptable sexual behaviour by boys and girls in ashrams; the seduction of his son by a married woman, who he wished to shame; pay raises for workers in Ahmedabad’s textile mills (whose owners were his friends), and so on.
Of course, fasting was a key weapon in his many battles over much larger issues, and not necessarily against an oppressive establishment. His fasts for communal harmony were directed against his own people. But he left the British bemused in 1932 by undertaking a fast against the proposed separate electorate for Harijans. The proposal actually gave Harijans two votes, a general category vote and another in their own electorate, but Gandhi saw this as a religious issue, a codification of separateness, something he would give his life to prevent (though Nehru thought it a sideshow).
The reasons for Gandhi’s success lay not just in his saintly stature or the moral force of his argument. It owed just as much to his belief in arbitration, conciliation and his ability to calibrate escalation.
Of the Ahmedabad workers’ strike, Louis Fischer writes in her biography of Gandhi: “He probably would have fasted against the workers had they opposed arbitration. The principle of arbitration is essential to Gandhi’s philosophy… It teaches people tolerance and conciliation”.
A less sympathetic view illustrating the same point can be found in a Time Magazine piece on Gandhi’s fast unto death against the ruler of Rajkot in 1939. Gandhi was in poor health as he commenced his fast, and neither the ruler of Rajkot nor the British government wanted a dead Mahatma on their hands. But “if Britain gave in… and forced the Thakore sahib to reform his government, a bad precedent would be set”. It appeared to be one of those immovable object meets irresistible force situations. Time’s March 13, 1939 story went on to say: “The Bombay stock exchange closed, there were dire predictions of a great mass uprising in India if the beloved Mahatma died. Then this week the Marquess of Linlithgow, India’s viceroy, sent a message to him. Immediately thereafter news came that the sick saint had broken his fast. His apparent inducement: an emergency meeting of the British Cabinet called that night at No. 10 Downing Street to appease Mahatma Gandhi”.
The vital difference between the Gandhian and the neo-Gandhian is that one is able to calibrate, compromise and reconcile, and the other is not. Anna Hazare and ‘team Anna’, as they are referred to, seem to believe that only their draft of a bill against corruption is valid. End of discussion.
Currently, however, the neo-Gandhians enjoy one huge advantage. Their immediate adversaries seem to be incredibly stupid. The state machinery in India moved first to prevent Anna’s fast by arresting him, denying him bail — and putting him in the same prison now occupied by some of India’s most corrupt politicians. Hours later, when the irony dawned on them, they were begging him to leave jail. Meanwhile, rivers of people flowed through cities across India howling injustice and courting arrest.
The neo-Gandhians had arrived.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 19th, 2011.
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Reader Comments (59)
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From what I have been seeing on the TV and I may be wrong, but you have not been alltogether fair in your assessment of the Anna Hazare protests.
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Anna Hazare is a blackmailer, pure and simple.
There are no such thing as a pious blackmailer
He is a disgrace to be called a Gandhian.Just wearing a Gandhi cap and fasting every now and then does not make one Gandhian. He is self-obsessed and without any sense of humility and speaks the language of the street ruffian.Now compare that with Gandhi.
His attitude is “My way or Highway”; sign on the dotted line or I will shoot you.
He says, he represents the ‘people of India’; are the MPs not ‘people of India’? those
who voted for them are not ‘people of India’? Recommend
Every nation will go through a massive transformation in terms of better social development, transparency, democracy, education, health, etc around the tipping point when the middle classes reach 50% of the population.
This is universal and all European countries went through this.
Arabs are doing the same too – although delayed ( their middle class is more than 50%) due to the extraordinarily repressive regimes they live under.
But India’s middle class size is growing and will reach 50% very soon if not already. The rich don’t have problems – they are connected and are enjoying life. The poor rarely come in touch with the rich – they are struggling to feed and clothe themselves.
But the middle class have achieved their basic needs. They come in touch with the rich and powerful and see the injustice.This mass of middle class is fed up with politicians and will rise up.
New revolutions will be led bu the middle classes.
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Anna Hazare and his associates are entititled to their opinions and view point. But he is not a law maker. He is absolutely right in demanding an end to the rampant corruption, just as millions of other citizens are.
The prime minister is absolutely correct in pointing out the fact that legislation, whether good or bad, is the responsibility of the parliament.
I have watched Mr. Hazare speak on television programs. He is very fond of talking about the sacifices he has made. That in my mind carries the baggage of an inflated ego.
Then there is the question of him letting cronies and phonies like Baba Ram Dev get on the band wagon.
He and a number of other so called public figures are in for the photo ops.
Anna should come out with a constructive plan and should stop black mailing the country.
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@Deb: Its interesting why the Government or Congress specifically never explained the “flaw” in Hazare’s demand. Anna’s method may not be correct but what choice does a common man have when Government is incapable to handle corruption and just give hollow promises and real reforms. Most of the law in IPC are pre-dated to Britishers’ time which gives complete immunity to babus and ministers from being under check by civilian authority. Those rules made sense for rulers of India and has no room in right sense in Democratic Government, How come in 65 years we never fixed it ? Or even spoke about fixing it ? How come Ombudsman bill which is very common in nature and good tool to keep corruption in check took 65 years in drafting ? Is this a new idea no one ever thought about ? Even if Anna may be the biggest crook , right now his way is the only way the rulling babus of India can be forced to draft a fair Lokpal bill. Why are ministers, judges and Prime Minister afraid of being included under Lokpal vigilance ? These are always been the repetitive and habitual culprits behind every scandal in India. It make sense to include them. I for one do not see any bad picture in Jan Lok Pal bill, but comments are invited for anyone to explain why it is not right and what is Congress or Government afraid of ? Congress is using the western country tactic of trying to create hysteria in people of unforeseen consequences and foreign hands blah blah so that people will back off from their current stance. Am surprised that Alvi had guts to declare foreign hands. This is what happened to such out of touch idiots who have no clue how connected today;s generation is. It is far easier to find truth these days.
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I think the people are totally unfair in criticism of Anna Hazare. Yes, he is not a perfect man and so are his critics. But he is on a much higher moral platform than probably many of us put together. Anna believes in his methods and sticks to his guns. Make no mistake; it requires tremendous moral courage and a spine of pure steel to take on the might of the Indian state. He has won the first round against the government without a single stone being thrown or a single curse being uttered. Instead of finding faults it would be much better for us to rediscover the Gandhi of yesteryear and support his able pupil of modern times; the irrepressible Anna Hazare.
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@Suraj:
I’ll guess you are from a 1) political family or 2) Bureaucratic family or 3) Judges’ family
Obviously you don’t connect with India’s billions…..Recommend
Deb/ Suraj, Are you pseudo intellectuals like this author? People like Manmohan Singh who has zero spine and tolerate corruption are useless to for India. He is a puppet of the Gandhi-Nehru corrupt dynasty and all other political parties are all but same.
Do you even know the work Anna Hazare has done? People are frustrated and don’t care about the nuances you intellectual types bring up. I don’t care whether he is Gandhian or not, he is getting something done that pseudo intellectuals like you will never do. So take your name calling to some spineless intellectual debates and write a thesis on it
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Look there are lots to criticize Anna, just like there was lot of criticism towards Gandhi.
Partially the Author is right in saying now they have adopted a ‘My way or the highway’ approach. But, they didn’t arrive at this before trying other means. Anna Hazare has written to the PM on many occasions and the bill itself has been introduced in the parliament, but never passed.
After trying all other Democratic means he has made this decision to fast onto death.
The best course of action is the Government to realize that Anna is dead serious and has to have constructive talks with the Gandhian on the Lokpal bill. Anna has to understand about the kind of precedence he will be setting in the World’s largest democracy.
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Whether Anna is right or wrong, we cannot disagree that the message – corruption is a social evil – has reached down the line people, previously it was like one ingredient as part of our day-to-day life. I think this itself is a success .
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People who are criticising Annaji on the merits of his fast are just trying to be more intellectual. They are actually living in fools paradise. They dont know the reality about this great movement & its support amongst the people of India. These chicken heads should first make a self assessment about their own role in being arrogant about a noble cause which Annaji is fighting. Even the govt has realized the grave mistake it has committed in putting Annaji in Jail & immediately withdrew the sentence. The mass majority of Indian public are supporting this movement because they are convinced about the necessity for bringing a strong anticorruption bill. They have full faith in Annaji & his ability to attract millions of people throughout India. If anybody has a doubt about this let the Govt put both the versions of the Lokpal bill for a public referendum. I am sure more than 75% people will opt for Anna’s version of the Lokpal Bill.
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@Author
Do you expect the corrupt Indian Government to draft a proper bill, which will punish its own wrong-doings?
Read a comparison of the Government’s Lokpal bill and Team Anna’s Lokpal bill here ->
http://tribune.com.pk/story/234149/anna-hazare-to-leave-jail-stage-public-fast/
.
Better, listen to this lecture by Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, Anna Hazare’s right hand man. There are 4 parts to this video. ->
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CHcKlIsvAQ
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@Delhi Belly:
The flaw is amply stated in the editorial of this newspaper. It has been echoed by Indian Government too. People like me are angry at Government because they tried to take away Anna’s right to protest. For day to day corruption, we the citizens are responsible to large extent. The day we learn to stand in Queue and stop voilating basic civil rules, many of our corruption problems will be solved. Merely adding one more layer of bureaucracy is waste of taxpayer’s money. Don’t know how people think Lokpal will be able to solve big ticket problem. Minimum human contact and more use of technology can.
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You get it all wrong Avirook, there is nothing like no compromise on Anna’s agenda, he does not look forward to a bill drafted by his own hands, he’s not arrogant or stupid, or whatever. He’s trying to savior the salient points of his agenda through this fast, and in my view he’s far more practical and more accommodating than Gandhi himself. Try hearing the speech by Jaitley in Rajya Sabha on this issue the day before and you’d get further clues.
Regards,
Ankur
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@Jayan:
Power corrupts and absolue power corrupts absolutely. What are the checks and balances for Lokpal as envisaged in Anna’s bill? Maybe we chickenheads missed the point. You elaborate.
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The author doesn’t seem to understand the gravity of the situation. He has followed some media discussions to write this article. First of all Mr. Hazare never asked to be compared with Gandhi. He was compared because of his method of protest and not the cause. Mahatma Gandhi’s objective was totally different. He was fighting foreigners. But Mr. Hazare is fighting his own brothers and sisters. So a bit high dosed words are justified. Indians badly need this treatment to wake up.
@ Suraj… One more rich indian who doesn’t give a s**t about the poor…
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@ Tony Consider an example of state pension office where number of retired teachers, workers have filed application awaiting for their monthly pensions. The corrupt officials expect the applier to pay their pockets for approval. Now why would they agree for administrative reforms in their office with the use of technology u mentioned. A week back similar strike was performed by all nationalized banks of india revolting against proposed administrative reforms in order to curb inefficiency in the banks. Technology(e.g. Adhaar system) helps definately but why would any corrupt person agree for that when it will cut his bribe-pockets. In deed there needs to be multi level control and vigilance system at the centre and states to ensure corrupt person is punished accordingly. More over such systems create many jobs to the people. I would be happy to see my income tax being paid to others salary than getting into corrupt politician/official.
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@Arindam
Firstly, people who do not agree with Anna’s ways do not necessarily support corruption and support the Govt.I have my own list of complains against the govt. and I will remenber them when I caste my vote next time.
Anna’s cause is laudable but his method is deplorable. I don’t care about a partcular govt. but I care about this *‘institution called democracy’. Anna’s ‘holier than thou’ attitude undermines the very basis of this institution which has given him the space to operate and bring this debate in public domain.*
You’r barb at @Suraj
“Obviously you don’t connect with India’s billions…..”
I am sure Suraj can answer for himself. My question is how did you count these ‘billions’.
@Mayuresh and @Jayan
It appears to me that you are allergic to ‘Intellectuals’.Don’t worry, it happens, with people short on reason and long on emotion.
@Tony Singh
Very well said.
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thank you Pakistan for hosting this debate for Indians, by Indians – hilarious !!
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@John:
Say we have Anna’s version of Lokpal bill as Law. Then what? would we change our everyday habbit of smoking in public, stand in queue, wait for the signal to turn green to cross when no policeman is around? Did Kiran Bedi follow the Law when she took mobile phone into jail premises? Is it not against the law. The point is this discretionery power and delays in our justice systems and their misuse are the source of corruption. No amount of Lokpals can remove this unless we, the people follow the rule of Law. Existing laws are sufficient, use of technolgy will help bring transperancy.
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@Tony Singh:
People will improve when rulers improve. Anna is attacking corruption at the top level, which is the source of other corruption. A Jan-Lokpal will put fear into corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. When people work honestly, systems will automatically improve.
Before 1970 Hong Kong, was plagued by corruption. Then students revolted, and forced government to pass anti-corruption law. The result is that Hong Kong is one of the cleanest countries in Asia now. We can do it in India too.
You are right that Lokpal will not change civic behavior, and Lokpal will not relieve our overworked judicial system. But, hey don’t we want to get rid of the scourge of corruption first.
Yes Lokpal can itself be corrupt, but that is a chance we are willing to take. Right now the politicians need bitter medicine.
Scams have cost India at-least around $40 billion in the past one year alone. 2 more years till the next general elections. Greedy politicians will bleed India to death, if a strong Lokpal is not put in place.
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To eradicate corruption, poverty, prostitution, child slavery in India and develop an egalitarian society is just as if expecting mangoes to grow on tamarind trees. The same applies for Pakistan.
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@Deb
Gandhian is not someone who is the exact replica of Gandhi. Anyone who is inspired by the principles of Gandhi can be called a Gandhian. So your accusation of Anna was exaggerated and unnecessary.
Also, Indian people didn’t vote MPs to become corrupt, right? It’s easy to say “if you want to remove corruption, vote for the right people in the next election after 5 years, thats how democracy works”. But what can common people do when the entire electorate system is a huge money mafia and everyone is corrupt? This is why Lokpal is getting big support because an independent ombudsman will screw all corrupt politicians irrespective of the political parties they belong to.
@Suraj
Anna and his team are not saying Parliament is irrelevant. They are just saying that government should introduce the Jan Lokpal bill in the parliament and scrap the weak govt version of Lokpal which the govt produced in parliament a week ago. Why waste time by making huge amendments to a weak Lokpal when a strong Jan Lokpal itself can be introduced by the standing committee and discuss it further?
Whenever some big movements happen its natural that people try to take advantage out of it. In Anns’s case, BJP, Communists, Ramdev etc are trying to make most out of it. But how is it Anna’s fault?
@Tony Singh
Remember that Lokpal is not a law-making and law-executing body. Only in such a body corruption happens. Lokpal is just an investigating body which will work independently both at Center and States. Think about it as a mobile Supreme Court.
Contrary to what you said, Lokpal will actually bring down the bureaucracy levels in investigating corruption cases. It’ll merge CBI, Lokayukta, JPC and all other existing investigating bodies into one unit so that justice will be served quickly. It’ll also protect the whistle blowers, just like Wikileaks.
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All those crying about supremacy of Parliament can tell me how a person who is never contested in an election is ruling India for second term? Just becuase there is some loop hole in the law? Making law is prerogative of Parliament right, let UPA use the prerogative and pass their lame “lokepal” bill, we will see if these MPs return to parliament in next election or not. The fate of UPA will be same as the fate of Karunanidhi.
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@Chethan:
That is why we say minimal contact between consumer of services and provider (in this case pension fund clerk). The ECS sysytem helps. My father who is retired gets his pension thru’ ECS. Once in a month he has to present himself to bank ( as a proof that he is still alive). This is one way technology works.
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@Tony Singh
you are right, we don’t need law if we start behaving properly. No need of having a law to punish a theif, if everyone decides not to steal there will be no theft.
People don’t break signals when in foreign countries. This is not because change of heart, this is because fear of law and law enforcement.Recommend
Anna Hazare is a true son of the soil. Anna has opened the eyes of India – why India, so well endowed with wealth is still home to almost 50% of worlds malnourished children and hundreds millions caught in the web of poverty. Those elected and appointed to high office by the same impoverished people for honest governance have been silently looting the country and shipping their stolen wealth overseas. These are the proverbial brown sahibs of the same mold as from the Raj, but just incredibly absurd and greedy to turn into parasites among their own people. Anna has put forward a strong framework of anti corruption law, the Lokpal Bill vetted by some of India’s greatest minds. The “We the people…” as per the Constitution are supreme. Anna believes that village panchayats have as importance as the lofty parliament. Anna’s successful “Right to Information” law having been enacted has enabled Indians to expose corruption at all levels of governance, but a still fragmented and poorly enforced laws for enforcement allows the corrupt to escape and enjoy their loot. Under this cozy setup many have looted to their hearts content for the past 64 years. Under the current weak law or even the laws proposed by MM Singh, the notorious A.Raja can walk free in a few years to enjoy the tens of billions of India’s wealth he looted. Anna is demanding that Lokpal include provisions to recover all the looted wealth. Anna is demanding that Lokpal incorporate “whistle blower protection” to prevent the rich and powerful from using their power to silence those willing to give evidence of wrong-doing. Anna wants all ballot papers to provide voters the choice to cast their vote for “none of the above” – to reject all candidates when they are all corrupt as most Indian politicians are today. Anna’s worldview is much more than just Lokpal, he has re-awakened India to Mahatma Gandhi’s peaceful vision of a united, prosperous India free of vote-block politics and insatiable greed.
Watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxksAURdwTI&feature=grec_index
more at:
http://www.facebook.com/annahazare?sk=wallRecommend
@Cynical
If vote is such a powerful tool, how come corruption is existing in our country after so many elections since independence. Truth, is that Indian electorate has mostly has to choose between 2 evils. The choice is between BJP and Congress at the national level, Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi in Tamil Nadu, Yaduvarappa and Kumaraswamy in Karnataka …
The days when politicians had high ideals are over long ago. Now everybody comes into politics mainly for making money through corruption. Do you think MPs work in Parliament for the 85000 or so rupees they get in a month.
You find his method and attitude deplorable, fine. But isn’t corruption more deplorable. Given the level of corruption in our country isn’t there a crying need for an independent Lokpal. Even a low ranking Income Tax officer has authority to question the Prime-minister of the country. It is another matter that it never happens. Why not have an independent Lokpal which can investigate any complaint against the Prime-minister even. How does it undermine the democratic function.
Also, It is not the democratic institution which has allowed Anna to bring the debate to public domain. Rather, it is Anna’s media-savvy team. Let us give the credit where it is due.
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@deep:
Agreed. I thank the moderators of this site for doing such a good job, and making it such a nice place for discussion.
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@Tony Singh
will i dare to smoke in public if i were in some arab country. will i dare to bribe any cop in uk. then why its not happening in india. its mindset of people or socity as a whole. its job of govt to carve the policies / laws which will make to happen these things. but the rulers are so inactive or not bothered, its anna or his supporters needs to take this step. people’s habits of bribing will not vanish in one single day. it will take a whole generation to see the effects. but for god’s sake, start something now. here top-down approach is much needed and not bottom up. existing laws have loopholes suitable for connected and well offs. i wonder, under existing laws, how many were prosecuted at nation level or state level. do you have any statistics to support your argument.
i am with u about the judicial system.
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@khalid ahmed
u r making it crystal claer. thanks buddy.
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@Deb:
nothing more to say about your comment otherthan “one absurd comment by a clueless individuall”. Answer one question truthfully, then the whole issue will become crystal clear to you. Why would you want exempt certain political and judicial establishments from the anti-corruption bill? Are they superior to every other Indian? I thought India did away with all princely privileges in the 70′s. There is prevailing VIP and VVIP culture in India which should be abolished also.
I do not think, people elected any of them to take bribes, do you?Recommend
@Delhi Belly:
You abosolutely correct. Only ones afraid of a fair law is always the unfair. Why would anyone be above every other citizen in democracy. Such a law makes mockery of democracy.
Good luck to Anna and his supporters. India would have been deecades ahead in poverty alleviation, infrastructure and slew other things, if corruption was treated as a high crime and the culprits punished and would have saved crores in the meantime.
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@Tony Singh:
Sorry to say, you are delusional. Are you telling me the VIP and VVIP culture is going to go away on its own? People will be forced to pay bribe, who are they? The poor. Educated ones may not pay small bribes but pay big bribes to get things done.
What is wrong with people demanding legislation? Afterall, the purpose of democracy is to serve people. In this case, people got sick and tired of waiting and there are way too many corruption cases with this government, A. Raja, Kanimozhi, etc., the PM and the party did not do a thing, why? Answer it, you have your answer, why an anti-corruption law is neede. I will also, when the corrupt gets to keep 70% of the wealth and only goes to jail like a resort environment, wht is the motivation not to be corrupt? The payback is higher than the punishment. I am not saying, this is problem just in India, or other developing countries, it is a problem in developed countries also.
People world over is getting tired, Annaji just happened to led the pack just like the Mahatma led by non-violence. This is going to catchup all over the world, just watch.
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@watty
RTI act is not Anna’s act. This act was brought by the congress govt. and was proposed by National Advisory Council (NAC) chaired by Sonia Gandhi.
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Bad article. The entire political class has been against the Anna Hazare movement. The have invested everything in the politics business.The Commies and the ‘sickulers’ are also against for different reasons. The Commies because they have lost touch with the people and are now a club to discuss an outdated ideology and the ‘sickulers’ because RSS supports the movement.
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@Cynical
RTI was proposed by congress only after several years of pressure from RTI activists including Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal etc. These people had travelled throughout India to raise awareness about RTI. Congress doesn’t deserve any praise here.
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Everyone who’s being skeptical about Anna Hazare and Lokpal SHOULD watch today’s NDTV interview of Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal who answered all kinds of questions and concerns :-
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/your-call/team-anna-answers-your-qs/208377
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I am not a Bharti but have experienced and witnessed the corruption in India at every level. Pakistanis who think Pakistan is corrupt should visit India. They have redefined the word corruption over there.
The ruling classes are corrupt not just since 1947, but from way before.
The Navabs of Lucknow were corrupt and useless. Their wives were corrupt and rishvat-khores. The Nizams were morally and intellectually corrupt….the list goes on. Ever wondered why a bunch of farangis were able to take over the whole country in just a few decades?
I hope this Hazare guy succeeds, and once he has achieved his goal in India he should take ‘Train to Pakistan’. India’s neighbor needs its own cleansing.
Go Hazare go! Clean India and then ‘Pakistan tashreef laaiyae”
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@Khalid Ahmed
It appears to me that you have your opinion about origin of RTI bill and I respect your opinion. My problem is that it doesn’t gel with facts.In another post you have referred to NDTV interview.If you watched Aruna Roy on the same channel ,you would have known how RTI came into a reality.
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It’s amusing that some people are comparing Anna Hazare with Gandhi, his movement with freedom struggle and so on.These people have lost all sense of proportion and context.
Can someone tell me what is his academic/intellectual credentials? How qualified he is to give opinion on such a complex bill, let alone in drafting it.
Let’s have a look at the people or rather the calibre of the people who was involved in drafting our constitution:
The Constitution was drafted by the Constituent Assembly, which was elected by the elected members of the provincial assemblies. Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Sandipkumar Patel, Dr Ambedkar, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Nalini Ranjan Ghosh, and Balwant Singh Mehta were some important figures in the Assembly. There were more than 30 members of the scheduled classes. Frank Anthony represented the Anglo-Indian community, and the Parsis were represented by H. P. Modi. The Chairman of the Minorities Committee was Harendra Coomar Mookerjee, a distinguished Christian who represented all Christians other than Anglo-Indians. Ari Bahadur Gururng represented the Gorkha Community. Prominent jurists like Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, B. R. Ambedkar, Benegal Narsing Rau and K. M. Munshi, Ganesh Mavlankar were also members of the Assembly. Sarojini Naidu, Hansa Mehta, Durgabai Deshmukh and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur were important women members. The first president of the Constituent Assembly was Dr Sachidanand Sinha. Later, Rajendra Prasad was elected president of the Constituent Assembly.
Just think about the spread and depth of the opinion makers.
Try squeeze Anna in this list, who says, adopt my bill or I shoot myself (oh yes,quite peacefully,fast until death, in a Gandhian way).
My information is that he was a truck/jeep driver in Indian military.
Now let’s see why and how it’s panning out on the mob in the street.
Indian masses are not known for rational behaviour and studied opinion,because we are intellectually lazy and believe in quick fix.That’s the reason behind this obsession and euphoria with Jan lokpal bill.
We get ourselves educated by reading newspaper columns and watching TV, and think we know, and are entitled to have an opinion on, everything from cricket to corruption.
We have no appetite for details, no rigor for analysis and no patients to listen to others.
We don’t know how to talk (read discuss), so we shout, because we love to hear ourselves and do not want the other voices to be heard.So how do we react, when confronted with a problem (as corruption is), we run helter skater like headless chickens and keep chirping like monkeys.
No wonder ‘Hanuman’ is one of our Gods.(I know it’s a bit over the top and might be considered offensive.)
But I am quite offended by this tyranny of the virtuous, which tells me that if you don’t support my draft of the bill you support corruption.
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Cynical:
I suggest going to annahazare.org and clicking on RTI
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@Deb:
Why throw muck at Anna because he has no intellectual/ academic credentials -or- because he was a truck driver? He has as much common sense as any intellectual to realize how corruption is destroying Indian society. I would rather admire his courage to come to the streets on the issue.
Anna’s real credential is the 40 years of outstanding social work he has done. Read about it here — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AnnaHazare#TransformationofRaleganSiddhi
Agreed that the constitution of India is most comprehensive. But, as we have experienced since independence, a constitution alone does not give good governance. We need honest politicians also.
All Anna Hazare is demanding is a powerful investigation agency to investigate corruption. The investigation agency itself will not have power to prosecute. Prosecution will still be done by judiciary.
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@Deb:
Refer your comments. I himble submission is that Anna is a messanger and we need to look at the message. If you agree with the message then ask yourself or qualified people according to you, are you ready to lead the struggle to make the political class of the country to understand the pain and agony of the common masses. If you are not ready then some one from “we the people” will lead it and still their is opportunity for people like you to join him or support him.
Lokpal bill of Anna may have serious loopholes but why the parliament did not pass it’s own lokpal bill which was first introduced in the parliament in late 60′s and thereafter at least 20 versions of lokpal bill has been introduced in parliament and lapsed. How long you want, “we the people” wait for our elected represantative to wake up and free us from the bane of corruption and what option people have apart from protesting on the street and be led by who ever wants to lead.
Our represantative MP’s including PM are so stupid that they always claim that parliament is supreme. They take oath to protect and obey the constitution to become member of parliment and still claim parliament is supreme. If they are correct then they should take oath to protect the parliament and not the constitution.
“We the people” have adopted the constitution and NOT the parliment. People has empowered all the three organ of governemnt ie executive, legislator and judiciary to do their respective job but the ultimate power remains with “we the people” to force the legislators to make law as per our choice and to executive to implement the law as required by legislator under the watchful eye of judiciary.
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@Menon:
But to do away with one VIP culture would you impose another? Look carefully at Anna’s draft LOkpal. It creates another body with greater powers, but with fewer checks and balances. The checks proposed are the parlimentarians themselves. What needs to be done is follow the Law. CBI is supposed to be independent. Strengthen it to be independent so that it is not used at discretion. (We will invetigate Jagan Reddy but not Mayavati kind of thing). Since lokpal will also be in hands of parliamentarians, he will also be a puppet.
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@Cynical:
What democracy?Is just voting once in 5 years democracy? No, Sir! You need to get your concept of democrcy right first!
But, I’ll only request you to search and look up data and articles on the how the declared wealth of MPs been growing at 100% – 200% rate every year, even when they donot have any other source – even boom-businesses donot grow at that rate!!! Look at their criminal records. Same also for MLAs. I neednot tell you the problems of bribery and curruption common man faces at all levels of ordinary life ( or does your servant do all such ‘mundane’ work for you?)
Today nothing stops a Kalmadi, a Raja or a Koda from becoming the PM tomorrow……
Sir, our democracy is infested to day from head to toe – it needs drastic surgery
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Correction to my earlier posting ->
The difference between Indian Government’s proposed Lokpal Bill and Anna Hazare’s ‘Jan-Lokpal’ bill can be seen at this site –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JanLokpalBill#DifferencebetweenGovernmentandactivist_drafts
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@deb and Cynical
Hazare and civil society are not making a new constituion so comparing their team with constitution assemply is not correct. This is not even changing any of the current structure lets not blow things out of proportion. This lokpal will be an independent investigation agency something like independent election commission. This is not going to be another power center as most of the people are claiming. Only thing is it will have ability to start investigation on its own and as it will have its own budget it will not be easily influenced by ruling party.
You can see how UPA gov is using CBI. What is the point of opening so many cases against Ramdev? If something was really that bad with his organization why there was not investigation earlier. Similarly threat of CBI was used against Mayawati and Mulayam to support UPA government. I think congressi are so much distrubed with this becuase they have been using CBI as the tool to trouble the opposition parties and now they are afraid that something similar can be done against them.
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@Deb
Looks like you never read the replies you get for your comments.
Anna Hazare has never said that he’s the second Gandhi. It’s all media creation. And as I said before, ‘Gandhian’ is not someone who is the exact replica of Gandhi. Before you belittle Anna Hazare, you should know that he is the recipient of both Padma Bhushan and Padma Shree as well as an honorary doctorate.
Anna Hazare didn’t formulate Jan Lokpal bill. He’s just the face of the movement. Jan Lokpal bill was created 42 years ago and amended 18 times by ‘Team Anna’ which consists of Santosh Hegde ( former chief justice of Supreme Court), Shanti Bhushan (former Law Minister and Supreme Court lawyer), Kiran Bedi (former IPS officer), Prashant Bhushan (former Supreme Court lawyer) and Arvind Kejriwal (IIT-IIM graduate and Magsessey awardee).
And looks like you haven’t read the Jan Lokpal bill yourself. Lokpal is not, I repeat, it’s not a law-making and law-executing body. That’s the function of Parliament and Government respectively. It’s just an investigating body. As said by Arvind Kejriwal in NDTV interview, a tax officer in India will always be having more power than even the strongest Lokpal, since a tax officer can question even President and Prime minister of India and charge him/her. Also, as Supreme court is already independent of parliament, where did the question of ‘parliament is above everything’ come from?
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@Cynical
Remember that even though Aruna Roy is a Social Activist, she still works for the Prime Minister office (National Advisory Council). So Congress claims “Hey look, we listened to the common people through Aruna Roy” while Aruna Roy claims “Hey look, I made the government listen to me through my social activism”. It’s a never ending cycle of egoism and politics.
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@Tony Singh:
The CBI is directly under the Prime-Minister of the country. Has CBI ever filed FIR against any ruling party politician in the country. Even in the recent case of 3G scam, government was employing all delaying tactics. Raja continued to make merry for an year till the Supreme Court raised its voice.
If we want to make CBI independent, then we will have to do exactly what Mr. Hazare is doing. Because, there is no way government is going to hit itself on the foot, by doing such a thing.
By the way, the Lokpal bill Anna Hazare wants implemented, brings all central investigating agencies, including CBI under the Lokpal, so that they can function without conflict of interest. Similarly, all state investigating agencies will come under the Lokayukta.
Anna Hazare is proposing that the Lokpal be independent of the parliament. Once appointed by a panel of 7 members comprising 2 parliamentarians (Prime Minister and Opposition leader), the Lokpal is independent. Any Lokpal member can only be removed by the Supreme Court acting on a complaint from any citizen.
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Anna should fast against bribe giving not against bribe taking. As per his methods and demands, I am with PM.
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@Vinayakan Kuruvath:
Exactly my point. The investigative agency exists. There is no need for another. Make CBI independent. Strenghten existing institutions that they work under constitution and not under executive or legistrature.
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@Tony Singh
I think you didn’t read my previous reply to you. What you’re saying is exactly what Lokpal will do. It’s not yet another entity but it’ll merge CBI, JPC and half a dozen other investigating bodies into one strong unit, so that bureaucracy will be lowered.
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Krishna,
In most cases bribe is given when people know that without it even routine legitimate work will never get done. Anna’s Lokpal is designed to discourage both bribe taking and bribe giving. I suggest that you look into the details of the proposed Lokpal legislation. You can easily find it with a google search or at indiaagainstcorruption.org/lokpal.html
This is not a two way contest between Anna and the PM. It is a fight to eradicate the cancer that threatens the entire society.
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@Deb:
“Can someone tell me what is his academic/intellectual credentials?”
You probably have much greater “academic/intellectual credentials” than Anna and perhaps even more than most of us. Temper your elitist mindset with just this thought: in the solitude of the ballot booth the only influence you, the elitist, have, namely the ballot paper, is the same and of equal value and effect to the one each one of the others holds in his/her hands. Your “academic/intellectual credentials” have little value other than that of persuasion and with your attitude, I doubt, if you could persuade any one!
@Author
“Louis Fischer writes in her biography of Gandhi:”
Louis was a man!
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@G.Din
The line you quoted, should be read in context. Normally it doesn’t matter to me how qualified people around me are or for that anybody anywhere is.
But it does matter when you look for persons who will draft laws which have far reaching consequences for the nation.That’s why I also gave a list of names who was involved in drafting our constitution.Just to keep things in perspective.
I belive in proffessionalism and believe that specialised jobs should be left to specialists.
I have no problem with Anna’s agitation because that’s his speciality, as long as he leaves
making of laws to Legal experts from all shades of opinion.(just to prempt you: don’t mention Prashant Bhusan and his dad, in your reply)
Your kneejerk reaction tells me that there is not much to talk about Anna’s
academic or intellectual credentials.(again, please don’t mention his honorary doctorate thing.)
Lastly, I say it again, Anna’s cause is laudable and his method is deplorabe.He is undermining the very foundation on which the Institution of democracy stands.
Not everybody who opposes Anna is corrupt.
Anna’s actions and utterance is what I call ‘TYRRANY OF THE VIRTUOUS-UNELECTED TYPES’ and it is no less immoral than corruption or the ‘TYRANNY OF THE ELECTED’.
One doesn’t justify the other.
But it is too much to expect from the half-witted,flag-waving,chest thumping crowd to understand the difference between ‘the voice of reason’ and ‘the lure of quick fix’ (specially when it provides an opportunity of moral grandstanding.Recommend
@Cynical
Exactly my sentiment.
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Finally it’s over.
1) The Jan Lokpal bill has not been passed (not even placed before the parliament).
2) It will not be passed before 30th August.
3) It will be deliberated in the Standing commitee and
4) The final bill to be placed in the Parliament will be the ‘Lokpal bill’ of the govt. with modifications/additions as suggested/recommended by all others including the ‘Jan Lokpal bill’.
Let’s celebrate the victory of Anna Hazare.
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