जय हो अण्णा !!

I feel extremely privileged to witness the history being made and rewritten. It does not happen frequently when the entire parliament comes together to pass a resolution for larger goods of the nation, even if done when pushed to the wall by the public. Several key politicians have spoken in parliament during last few days.

The by-default future Prime Minister of our country Rahul Gandhi during his speech in Lok Sabha appeared largely arrogant, brash, defiant and totally unaware of people’s sentiments and expectations. How could he boast about his idea as a “game changer”?, just because it came from him? Let others say that and no one has said that yet. On the contrary his cousin Varun Gandhi showed tremendous grace and immense maturity during his speech/ deliberations. He, several times had put the people of India above everything else. He has showed as to how far he has come from two years back when his controversial remarks landed him and his political career in trouble. The unanimous clapping after his speech showed that it is all about growing in life and also about moving on. I think the speech of Sharad Yadav was very good, though at times, it looked a bit sarcastic. Even “Manuni” Mohan Singh broke his “maun”, though he sat stone faced and his words did not have anything inspiring.

Yesterday’s lower house and upper house sessions were culmination of true collaboration between representatives of public and public itself. The yesterday’s resolution would go a long way in restoration of people’s faith in parliamentary and political processes. The leaders of major political parties have displayed exemplary leadership skills in resolution of the impasse. I will cite a quote from Nelson Mandela “Quitting is also leadership” on situational leadership. Our parliamentarians have done just that. They have quit from their position of rigidity, they have quit from their position of protecting their turf.  As the yesterday’s collective debate in the parliament reached its culmination point, I could hear background chants following Vedic shloka in the air.

ॐ सहना भवतुः सहनौ भुनत्तुः सहवीर्यम करवावहे ।

तेजस्वनावधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषामहे ।।

ॐ शान्ति शान्ति शन्तिः

During last few days, several other people, prominent in their own fields have expressed their opinions about Anna agitation.  I will cite a few, who I think have made mockery of themselves by opening their mouths.

Arundhati Roy: This lady only sees rights and sympathy for the criminals and terrorists so it does not make any sense for anyone to analyze her comments. There are always going to be some nuts in the system and we have to learn to live with that and we should leave it that way. She is another Rakhi Sawant and will do anything to remain in the limelight.

Nandan Nilekani: He is a person known for his integrity and intellect. I fail to understand what his compulsion to say whatever he said was. How could a person running a program called UID for larger public could question another movement involving people for the same larger public. He appeared a diehard congress party worker.  

Imam Bukhari: This bigot has crossed all the limits. His statement that supporting Anna is un-islamic because the people participating are chanting the “वन्दे मातरम्” and “भारत माता की जय”, is highly deplorable. My response/suggestion to him is that then go to Pakistan/Bangladesh where you belong to and live/settle there. What is wrong in Vande mataram and how can it become anti-religious for any religion? All it says that “I salute my motherland”. But it is not his fault; it is due to his upbringing, like father like son. Even some renowned people like Javed Akhtar from bollywoord, have very myopic views and see discrimination in everything and try to bring an untrue color during their comments even in regular TV programs. “Bukhar” in Urdu means fever and this guy bukhari has proved that he is suffering from some sort of mental and emotional fever.

Which country can be more inclusive than India, a country of 1.2 billion people with 80% Hindus (officially)? But look the power setup with president a Hindu woman, vice president a muslim, loksabha speaker a dalit hindu woman, prime minister a Sikh, leader of ruling party a foreign born (and current foreign passport holder) catholic Christian, leader of opposition a woman, defence minister a Christian, law minister a muslim. These are some undeniable raw facts that put the inclusiveness of our great nation above every other nation. No other country on earth had / has / will have and can have such inclusivity.

During last 2 weeks or so, there have been leanings for everyone, the civil society has learnt as how to deal with the government, the government has learnt that people’s movement can not be suppressed and had to be looked into, and the people have learnt as to what and how much they can achieve through united efforts. Anna has more learning to do. He has to assess his team and get rid of people who have ulterior motives. One such person is Swami Agnivesh (see 1m15s video).  He is no Swami but a bigot , congress agent and untrustworthy. The team Anna should completely dissociate from him and his actions. Anna has to also ensure that good people continue to support him. Mr Hegde is one such person. The other trait Anna needs to build is to show some flexibility.

Anna, an ordinary Indian, who has worked in Indian army as a driver, who does not have any formal degree, has galvanized the nation of 1.2 billion people, has created a sense of urgency in the minds of Indians that corruption pox has to be eradicated. Anna has solidified the position of India on the world map as a truly functional democracy. It is completely unbelievable that such a large people’s movement, spread across every nook and corner of our motherland, has not resulted into loss of even one rupee worth of property, forget loss of any life.

I want to cite an example from Kishkinda kand of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas. The entire monkey army is sitting on sea shore contemplating who can go across the ocean to Lanka to find out whereabouts of Sita. When all the warriors of the monkey army expressed their inability to cross the ocean, Jamvant approached Hanuman to remind him about his inbuilt and inherent powers.

कहहु रीछ्पति सुनु हनुमाना । का चुपु साधि रहे बलवाना ।।

We all know that Hanuman ji flew to Lanka and succeeded not only in finding out whereabouts of Sitaji but also in assessing the strength and weaknesses of Ravana the enemy.

Anna has proved to be the Jamvant of our nation. He has reminded people of their inherent and latent strength and awakened them. The nation is indebted to you for being the “Jamvant” of Indian public. Anna, my sincere and respectful salutations to thee.

Lets Eradicate This Corruption Pox

The corruption today is indeed a big menace facing our society. It has crept into and found place in almost all walks of our lives. The BSNL’s, the registrar’s offices, RTO offices, public works, BESCOMs, etc are a few entry level examples. Then, the high offices of judicial branches and armed forces are also corrupted/ polluted. Our political system and politicians sets the benchmark of corruption. Under the clock of current central government, one or more high level scams are always active. Our prime minister Mr Manmohan Singh, who is at the helm of the affairs of the governance, has transformed himself into  “Mauni”Mohan Singh and has maintained a prolonged silence. The real Prime Minister Sonia Maino has gone abroad unexpectedly for some medical treatment. Only God know her true motives as it is hard to believe that that she could not find a single good doctor for her treatment in a country which is capable of making nuclear bombs, a country capable of making fighter planes, and a country capable of launching satellites into space. Even the by-default future prime minister is not coming out with any comment as to what should be done to deal with this corruption menace. Our by-default future prime minister quickly comes out on national TV when he has to score points over rival governments in UP or MP or Gujarat but goes to hibernation when he has to deal with the issues faced by the national public.

There are many social crusaders fighting the corruption in their own ways. The Civil Society team under the able leadership of Shri Anna Hajare ji is fighting the battle to enact the Jan Lok Pal which will help in creating an ethical framework at public places. A few weeks back, Bharat Swabhiman Sansthan under the able leadership of Baba Ramdev launched campaign to fight the corruption. The present government in an extremely cruel manner suppressed Baba Ramdev and opened investigation against him using its investigative agencies. Also, the officials and ministers of the present central government have entered into character assassination of Anna as well. 

True that the parliament makes the rules but who elects the parliament, people, right? Who pays for the bills of the parliamentarians, people, right? True that the parliament has a role to play in democracy but democracy also says “for the people, by the people”.  It does not say “for the parliamentarians, by the people”. If the parliamentarians are called the servants of people, why can’t they listen to their masters who are people? Both Anna and Ramdev may have tens of shortcomings but that’s OK, they are human beings but their heart is at right place. They are fighting for the betterment of our country and trying to provide solution options to fight with the corruption leprosy.

Our nation is passing thru a tough ordeal right now where failure is not an option.  We as nationals of our country have to take sides.  The team Anna and for that matter whosoever is filling the vacuum of able leadership should be provided our active support.  We need to do whatever little we can to eradicate this corruption pox from our nation.

I want to share a couple of examples from my side which I have done and intend to do.

Last August (2010), I made the final payment to Kotak Mahindra (KMPL) of my Honda City car loan. That was a moment of pride for me as I could call the car my own from that point onwards. But, the RC book still had KMPL name on it. So, I took an NOC from KMPL and approached Yelehanka RTO office to de-hypothecate KMPL name from the RC book. In the RTO office, I was made to run around from one place to other place and was made to come to RTO office several times. The folks in RTO office came up with new set of documentation requirements during my visits there. I knew and realized very well as to why I was getting such a hard time from RTO folks.  But me being me, I was hell bent and determined not to pay any “suvidha shulk” to anyone, not a single paisa, and provided them the documentation whatever they wanted. Finally, after 4 visits to RTO office, the KMPL name was removed from the RC book. My perseverance and forbearance has paid off. I feel proud that I was not the medium of further corruption of already corrupted environment.

I have moved to my new house about one year back. In spite of my not liking, I have reluctantly paid thousands of rupees as “Suvidha Shulk” for registering my house. Now the next thing is to transfer the “Khata” in my name. As my residential complex comes under the jurisdiction of Panchayt, I approached the Panchayat office where I was told that I have to pay a hefty amount for “khata transfer” into my name.  Here also, I intend to be a tough cookie. If I have to go to the Panchayat office ten times, I will go. I will provide them whatever documentation they need from me. If need be, I will not hesitate in making use of RTI. But one thing I certainly have in my head that I will not pay any “Suvidha shulk” here as well. I have already started feeling proud about it.

It is my appeal to all of you to take this kind of tough stand on one or two things. I understand that there will be areas where tough stand will not help. But if we start picking one two areas, it will start showing positive results. There is a famous saying in Hindi

बिन्दु बिन्दु से सिन्धु बना है,

बिन्दु बिन्दु से ये बादल ।

बिन्दु बिन्दु से निर्झर झरता ,

बनता लघु सरिता का जल ।।