Alok Kanodia

The conclusion even before we start is straight and simple; – Kisan Baburao Hazare AKA Anna Hazare has replaced Baba Ramdev’s epic struggle against corruption all of a sudden. Anna Hazare is now called the modern Gandhi and his movement called the second Freedom Struggle of India! But does Anna and his claim really deserve the hype it claims?

Why Baba Ramdev’s anti-corruption campaign needed to be stopped?

When Baba Ramdev began his explosive campaign against corruption with his Bharat Swabhimaan Yatra, he spoke vigorously against the Congress party at the centre, alleging that the party was the root of all corruption in India and needs to be tamed. It was he who brought in ferociously the issue of huge black money hidden by corrupt Indians in Swiss Banks. It was he and the efforts of Dr. Subramanian Swami which had brought several scams into picture.

Further, Baba Ramdev’s movement involved all section of the people, especially the poor and the needy who form the majority. His movement also aimed at eradicating poverty and establishing a strong local economy was gaining immense momentum throughout the country as he toured across three hundred cities. His Ayurvedic medicine promotion and Yoga campaigns had helped develop a very strong basis of economic development that challenged to wipe out multinational drug companies. His stand for the poor, completely anti-capitalistic approach and his huge fan following was a big threat to capitalists and the Congress party that rules the country. Most importantly, in spite of wearing saffron attire he was completely secular in approach, and lakhs of Muslims and other religion followers joined him to form a three crore strong member base of his group.

The biggest threat came to Congress when he declared to form a party to compete next national elections, a threat that could potentially wipe out congress with Baba Ramdev’s daily increasing fan base with his fight against corruption at all layers. For Congress and the capitalist class, it was high time to stop Baba Ramdev’s invasion to their territory.

How Anna replaced Baba Ramdev and who helped him?

Most sections of the Indian Media, specially the English New Channels and Press have often been called the puppets of the Congress and the Government and with Baba Ramdev’s case, the same thing was proved. Baba Ramdev’s explosive beginning of his campaign against corruption at Ram Lila ground in Delhi was attended by over two lakh people, which was a record in itself. However this was hardly covered by any section of the Media. In fact almost major newspapers or TV News channels ignored it completely, and continued doing so in each of the huge gatherings across India in three hundred cities.

On the other hand, when Anna Hazare appeared out of nowhere and declared to Fast-unto-death till the Jan Lokpal Bill was implemented, – a symbolic movement against corruption, the hype created by Indian Media was unbelievable. The media created the hype as if it was Indian’s world cup once again and a a nation who had still not woken up from the patriotism created by Indian Cricket Team’s world cup victory few days earlier just grew wild with this hype. TV News channels showed round the clock footages of the urban corporate youth, even kids with balloons in the lap of their parents to have extended the support to Anna Hazare! Movements were started in Facebook and Twitter and the youth started commenting on anti-corruption statuses and putting up wordings like India against corruption in their profile picture. By the time Anna ended his fast to death in about 97 hours; the Indian Media had made a hero out of him and created a new Gandhi.

The task was done. Anna Hazare replaced Baba Ramdev, just like Gandhi had replaced Maharishi Aravinda. The people applauded the Government for agreeing to the Jan Lokpal in just three days and helped create a soft corner to Sonia Gandhi, who wrote to Anna during his fast and to Rahul Gandhi, who has been given the responsible for attracting the youth to Congress. Though not an issue, it should also be mentioned that Anna Hazare had ended his fast by drinking Nimbooz, a soft drink product of a multi national company, against which Baba Ramdev had revolted and called it a toilet cleaner!

Back in Assam, a similar observation was made when Akhil Gogoi, loyal follower of Anna Hazare protested severely against the Congress (I) Government of the state. The only effect was that the people only questioned the role and laughed at the inability of the opposition to do what Akhil Gogoi was doing. This led the opposition in Assam to only cripple and loose further seats to the Congress!

Anna Hazare, are you free from corruption yourself?

A few questions and points

· Why have media and sudden followers of Anna Hazare, who erupted like mushrooms ignored the PIL filed by the NGO, National Anti-corruption Public Power? In fact former Supreme Court Judge Justice P B Sawant had held Hazare responsible for misappropriation of funds from the Hind Swaraj trust run by him and the commission in its report to the case had concluded that Hazare was guilty of corrupt practices.

· What about the same Commission Report which stated that some of the workers of Hazare’s Bhrastachar Virodhi Janandolan Trust were using their power in anti social activities such as extortion of money and blackmailing by threatening to expose corruption through use of RTI? One can imagine what would happen if Jan Lokpal is enacted and members of the Lokpal committee too resort to blackmailing and corruption!

· There are several accuse that Hind Swaraj Trust of Anna Hazare is un-registered but he has shown it to be as registered. There are also allegations that Anna has been receiving money illegally through this trust.

Struggle of Baba Ramdev, not Anna deserves to be called the second freedom fight of India

Anna Hazare’s stand against corruption is symbolic and demands a Jan Lokpal, a committee which he would be involved and lead. The Jan Lokpal would have immense powers to control all judiciary, police and public and Anna would be enjoying the sole powers along with his team. However he has not been able to be specific at all as to what elements of corruption he would handle or what would be the ways. For example, he has asked the common men to abstain from bribery, but how long would a old person who depends on his pension to live can stand away from giving a bribe to get his pension amount? Would people like Anna Hazare or Akhil Gogoi have the right to punish the corrupted then and there, take up or amend the law to do this?

On the other hand Baba Ramdev has been clear enough with his mission against corruption. His revolutionary six point agenda has been

· Withdrawal of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 currency notes so as to avoid misuse of unaccounted money and facilitate quick arrest of the entire locally circulated black money and bribing.

· India should agree to and accept the U.N. Convention against Corruption.

· Death penalty provision for the corrupt persons in Indian Penal Code.

· Access, monitor and disrupt payment gateway servers enabling corrupt people to manage money in tax heavens.

· Scrutinizing accounts of people having credit/debit cards of foreign banks without any foreign work/relation.

· Disabling operations of any bank from a tax heaven country.

In addition to the war against corruption, Baba Ramdev’s campaign involves the aim of ensuring 100% voting, complete nationalism, complete boycott of foreign companies adopting Swadeshi, unification of the people of India and ensuring complete healthy nation through yoga.

We do need any more reason to call Anna Hazare’s sudden claim to fame as a contemporary wave and Baba Ramdev’s mission as the true second freedom movement of India, if it continues in the same way, – true and from the grass root without support from the Media puppets and the capitalists. Just because Baba Ramdev wears a saffron dress does not mean he is a radical Hindu chauvinist just as someone should not be called Gandhi just because he wears a Gandhi cap and tried the method of protesting by starving.

The anti-corruption movement, spearheaded by Anna Hazare, and the passage of the Lokpal Bill have generated unprecedented interest amongst a wide spectrum of society about the ideas, politics and organisations of civil society in general, and Anna Hazare in particular. Hazare’s anti-corruption crusade merits attention not only for its importance in ensuring a corruption-free society, but also due to its multifaceted nature. Hazare’s politics however has to be seen in a larger framework and in a wider historical context. Howsoever laudable the goals of anti-corruption movement in India today, the movement is not beyond the categories of gender, caste, authority, democracy, nationalism and ultra-nationalism. Far from transcending them, the movement is transforming and being transformed by the implicit deployment of such categories. I wish to place Hazare in the larger context of his environmental journeys, where the elusive but crucial element is one of authority that is exercised due to a large degree of consent and conservatism. Yet, almost all accounts on him, largely celebratory in nature, do not examine the ideology and politics of his works. These are crucial not only to critically assess the present and the future of our anti-corruption movements, but also to interrogate certain brands of civil society activisms and environmentalisms.The rural environmental works by Anna Hazare in Ralegan Sidhi village in Maharashtra have been hailed widely, which are fed by, and feed into, certain dominant political cultures of the state. Though developmental and environmental works form the core of his ideological structures, they include other important issues. A belief system of force and punishment, liberal use of Hindu religious symbols, strict rules and codes, evocation of nationalism and ultra-nationalism, ‘pure’ morality and caste hierarchies, with a marginalisation of women, Muslims and Dalits, form the core of his village regeneration. The basis for the authority of Anna comes from a belief system, where the people following him consider it their natural duty to obey, and the exercising person thinks it a natural right to rule. Thus a former village sarpanch of the region states: ‘Whatever Anna says, we do. The whole village follows his words. Anna’s orders work like the army.’ For another villager, ‘Annajee is like God.’ The absolute recognition of an authority locally works in several internalised ways.

In the process of social transformation, Anna believes that advice, persuasion or counselling do not always work and occasionally force has to be applied. Force can be applied in many forms, physical and social, and often the simple persistent fear of its application regulates society. Force gives a safe and solid grounding to socially accepted values. It is not only Anna Hazare who proposes flogging and fear as essential parts of a green village; it has its wide audience in the village.

In an environmentally sound Ralegan Sidhi, religious symbols are core vehicles for transformation and imposition. Its embodiment in certain places/people legitimises them. The command-obedience relationship also gets its rationale from the belief that a God or a temple is ‘supreme’ and any decision taken in front of them must be obeyed. According to Hazare, Lord Rama set an ideal before every citizen of how to conduct everyday life by his own example. There is need for Lord Shri Krishna to reincarnate and save the country.

It is not only environmental rules, but also rules governing the entire socio-political life of people that make an authority acceptable. Those who make these rules and those who obey them are legitimate; others illegitimate/illegal. Anna Hazare is deeply concerned with rules and norms with a definite model:

“The daily routine enforced in the army such as getting up early in the morning, jogging and physical training thereafter, cleanliness of body, clothing, living quarters and the neighbourhood etc. led to development of a disciplined life, benefits of which I am availing of even today. The habit of giving due respect and regard to the seniors by age, post, or competence was inculcated in us…. This has helped me in conducting the village development work at Ralegan Siddhi according to the rules and regulations decided by us by common consent.”

Others reciprocate this language. Villagers normally say that their village works like an army. As a commandant, Anna orders and we follow. Army discipline is the ideal. The path of rural development here depends in a large measure on many other ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’. No shop in Ralegan can sell bidis or cigarettes. Film songs and movies are not allowed. Only religious films, like Sant Tuka Ram, Sant Gyaneshwar can be screened. Only religious songs are allowed on loudspeakers at the time of marriages. It is emphasised in the village that the villagers themselves decided not to sell bidis in their shops; they themselves do not watch films or listen to film songs. However, the language of acquiescence can be highly brahaminical and hegemonic.

Anna Hazare wants to build India into a strong, powerful nation. Narratives of war, army and enemy remain the core references in much of the discourse on nation and rural development. Here, expressions like ‘national regeneration’, ‘wholesome crop of national glory through comprehensive rural development’ are coupled with others like ‘We have to hold the nation. Otherwise, Pakistan will grab it. That is why we consciously send our sons to the army.’

The concept of morality and subsequent codes/behaviours/practices based on it are important elements in the notion of development. Anna’s concern with the moral is couched in his discourse of the nation that exercise control over the private and the public, the personal and the political. For school children there is moral education and practice, comprising physical training, body building, patriotism, obedience, samskars and Hindu culture. Doing surya namaskar and chanting Om is regular for the students. For women, it is stressed that they should certainly look after the household but they must also participate in activities intended to help their community and country. It is stated, ‘Woman is the Universal Mother, The Great Mother. Many such Great Mothers have given birth to Great Sons — Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Swami Vivekananda for instance.’ She is also a symbol of purity, sublime as well as innate strength. It is significant that much of the problematisation of morality of children, youth and village is done in the context of influence of western, modern culture. ‘Western lifestyle’, ‘modern development’ and ‘invasion of western culture’ invariably emerge as repeated expressions, signifying the collapse of morality in modern India.

In Ralegan, there are a few Mahars, Chamars, Matangs, Nhavi, Bharhadi and Sutars. Since the beginning of his work, Anna has been particularly emphasising the removal of untouchability and discrimination on caste basis meted out to people, who are popularly referred to as Harijans here. The concept of ‘village as a joint family’, or all inhabitants of the village as ‘almighty God’, has prompted the villagers to pay attention to the problems of Harijans. The integration of Dalits into an ideal village has two components in Ralegan. One is to assume that they were always there to perform some duties and necessary services and that their usefulness justifies their existence in the present. The other component is hegemonic, designed to get Dalits into a brahaminical fold. It is not only manifested in the way food or dress habits are propagated; it is prevalent in several other forms.

In spite of the apparent diversities that characterise the various elements that make up Anna Hazare, there is an underlying thread of unity in his ideological positioning. Not only is this authority deeply rooted in the dominant socio-political tradition of the region; it is often blind to many basic and universal issues of rights, democracy and justice. Personal moral authority, while contributing in harnessing water and other natural and human resources for the betterment of economic conditions of the villagers, simultaneously also raises significant questions about its relationship to the making of a democratic, critical community, free from burdens of force, punishment, coercion, obligation, patronage, charity and piety. The present movement led by him too reflects some of these elements. Placing Hazare in a larger context posits in front of us several such questions.

[ Courtesy :http://kafila.org]

Internet is World of Future. This new media began transforming Education, Banking, Music and Entertainment, Business and Online Communication and Communities, and even the Governments. None that enters this world returns back.

“Happiness is what we take it as” ….Some times when we are alone, we are happy, On the very next moment we are happy when we are with every body….. Do we seriously need someone, Or it is just a misconception !!!, How does it matter if we have someone with us or not ? Does it….?? Having someone merely for some time would again lead to sadness for long term….. when we have someone, we feel we do not exactly need them and if we are alone we always keep on waiting for someone and feel like we’ll be more happy if we have someone with us….. This is why I feel “Happiness is what we take it as…” We can easily notice that sometimes we be happy in doing small deeds which may carry no relevance for others or even for us too, if we think about it … but its not amazing to be happy with the same thing…….. Few things in life which really need to described, or required to be known, include definition of happiness, as we can find many people fighting for it, many people searching it, many people chasing it, do we seriously need to do all these things… Do we seriously need to chase happiness….. ???? “Happiness lies within us”…… So why to chase it lets just try to feel it from our inner self….we will surely get it….. All we need is to realize it…….