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.