The Jan Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare, and Baba Ramdev II

paramu · Post by **paramu** » 25 Aug 2011 05:35

If BJP joins Anna Hazare movement now, it will make others to brand it a communal movement (ARoy is already trying to do that). Let AH fight Congress and table the bill in parliament. BJP can support the bill to show true support for the movement.

Any premature support may not be good for the effort.

shivajisisodia · Post by **shivajisisodia** » 25 Aug 2011 05:44

paramu wrote:If BJP joins Anna Hazare movement now, it will make others to brand it a communal movement (ARoy is already trying to do that). Let AH fight Congress and table the bill in parliament. BJP can support the bill to show true support for the movement.

Any premature support may not be good for the effort.

And by associating itself with not only a popular cause, but also a moral and righteous cause such as anti-corruption, maybe those who have a habit of branding everything "communal" and getting rewarded for it in the media and in the polls, will get discredited and perhaps the so called "secular" media will be exposed too, in the eyes of a large section of the population. Maybe, by taking the correct stand, the BJP will insulate itself from the damage that this "communal" charge does to it and Anna Sab's movement will not be affected negatively at all.

I think BJP taking the correct stance at this point is far more likely to discredit the purveyors of this " branding people communal" mantra, than Anna Sab's movement itself. Against all political and media calculations, the anti-corruption movement and Anna Sab have managed to make the Congress stalwarts and government look shell shocked and at its wit's end, making them look like bumbling idiots. Perhaps its time, those Aholes that cry "communal" any time a fly sits on them, also get exposed as bumbling idiots of the anti-national variety.

pvshankar · Post by **pvshankar** » 25 Aug 2011 05:47

I was discussing with a friend about the possible outcomes of the situation

1. GoI capitulates and agrees to pass JLP (This appears increasingly unlikely, but this happens AH and company will be celebrated as heroes and may be even CON might get some mileage out of this, but certainly CON has a huge cost to pay and hence it is unlikely). This is the best case for India.
2. AH capitulates and decides to end his fast on some assurances. Though this is certainly welcome from the stand point of AH preserving his life and hence being available to fight another battle another day, the disadvantage is that the momentum might be lost. But, if AH camp makes it appear as if they are putting their trust in the government by giving it some more time, they can potentially put GoI in a bind since if the deadline passes and still GoI does not do a bit (which is highly likely), any more agitation of AH will have more legitimacy (especially among the people who claim that AH is blackmailing the government). This outcome is a risky one for the country.
3. GoI and AH camp let AH die. This is a disaster for the movement since people will forget this episode after a while and by 2014 people would have forgotten about this completely and CON would have no trouble winning in 2014. This is the worst case scenario for India and possibly the best case scenario fo GoI.
4. GoI sends police, abducts AH and puts him in a hospital. Anna may or may not come out of the hospital alive. If he comes out alive (which I doubt) the outcome is similar to case 2 (Risky for India), if he does not come out alive the outcome is similar to option 3.
5. In my opinion, possibly the best scenario is this. AH and camp does some drama (through some friendly doctors and/or use/spin any misstep statement from GoI, such as the one said by Pranab that they do not care if AH continues his fast or something along the lines, spinning it in such a way that government does not care about Anna, but we do blah blah blah) and starts administrating IV (drips) in Ramlila itself. That way, AH will be alive, he can prolong the fast for possibly a few more days in the glare of media and continue to apply pressure on GoI.

Any thoughts?

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 25 Aug 2011 05:48

Why not write a memo and send it to the BJP official HQ and discuss the strategy for the anti corruption agitation

shivajisisodia · Post by **shivajisisodia** » 25 Aug 2011 05:51

Acharya wrote:Why not write a memo and send it to the BJP official HQ and discuss the strategy for the anti corruption agitation

Even the "little" local Netas of BJP, are too stupidly arrogant and drunk on power right now to discuss anything with an ordinary citizen. Believe me, I have tried. The BJP top brass is way out of reach and live in their own "imperial" bubble, and reaching them unless your net worth is in the 100s of millions (dollars not rupees), is out of the question.

These people need a good shalacking so that they come down to earth.

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 25 Aug 2011 06:00

Strange that you still vote for them

shivajisisodia · Post by **shivajisisodia** » 25 Aug 2011 06:02

Acharya wrote:Strange that you still vote for them

Despite their "badness", who should I vote for ? Lalu ? Mulayam ? Karuna ? Jayal ? Mamata ? Karat ? Bardhan ?

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 25 Aug 2011 06:03

that makes sense

shivajisisodia · Post by **shivajisisodia** » 25 Aug 2011 06:09

Acharya wrote:that makes sense

There is no choice because unless you are "bad" you cant have money and muscle in India and if you cant have any money and muscle in India, you cannot contest elections and therefore, when "good" cannot contest elections, people only have a choice of "bad", "the very bad" and "worst". Therefore, if some dent is made in corruption in India, then we will have a choice of "not so bad", "bad", "the very bad" and "worst". If major dent is made in corruption, then we will have a choice between "pretty good", "not so bad" and "the very bad".

Muppalla · Post by **Muppalla** » 25 Aug 2011 06:10

shivajisisodia wrote:
Acharya wrote:Strange that you still vote for them

Despite their "badness", who should I vote for ? Lalu ? Mulayam ? Karuna ? Jayal ? Mamata ? Karat ? Bardhan ?

You can vote for Anna's party. Prime Minister in waiting is Arvind Kejriwal.

shivajisisodia · Post by **shivajisisodia** » 25 Aug 2011 06:11

Muppalla wrote:
You can vote for Anna's party. Prime Minister in waiting is Arvind Kejriwal.

Thanks Mupulla. That had not occured to me.

kenop · Post by **kenop** » 25 Aug 2011 06:37

It would need a longer sustained fight from AH/BRD/other-anti-corruption-people.
At the all-party meet the issue has been sealed and I hope AH has learnt a lesson there. No possibility of JLPB being alive in the current situation. The GoI is on the way to ignore them as it will not have any pressure from any side. As far as public pressure is concerned, it is still not hurting (the character of the protest is non-violent). Saving the interests of the politicians is the top priority now and everybody has agreed to let this moment pass (so no action/commitment on JLPB from any side. Some mild accusations on the other parties to keep the appearances of all-is-well)
So, I think AH, if he has learnt it well, will not resist hospitalization and revive the movement later with a new action plan that might as well be country-wide peaceful agitation of some kind. With every retreat he can come back stronger.

JwalaMukhi · Post by **JwalaMukhi** » 25 Aug 2011 06:38

Already, the topi of Anna is coloured saffron. There are many seculars waiting to colour his entire attire in full blown saffron. Already, there are rumblings as to minorities are not part of this saga. Any misstep by BJP will provide fodder to the seculars. Hence, thinking BJP has and should have something to do with a movement that doesn't have pride in openly chanting "vande mataram' or "bharath mata ki jai" is being facetious. BJP probably has nothing to do with a movement that has no guts to say 'vande mataram" openly.

Sushupti · Post by **Sushupti** » 25 Aug 2011 06:49

Pied Piper and the Indian ‘Arab Spring’

Recently, an internet website, BeyondHeadlines, filed a query under the Right to Information Act regarding Anna associate Manish Sisodia’s organization, Kabir. Under this, Afroz Alam Sahil and S.Z. Saleem learnt that Kabir received funding from diverse sources, including the Michigan-based Ford Foundation, which has close links with the ubiquitous Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

http://beyondheadlines.in/2011/08/it%E2 ... -movement/

Thus, it transpires that Kabir received funds from the Ford Foundation (Rs 86,61,742), PRIA (Rs 2,37,035), Manjunath Shanmugam Trust (Rs 3,70,000), Dutch Embassy (Rs 19,61,968), Association for India’s Development (Rs 15,00,000), India’s Friends Association (Rs 7,86,500), United Nationals Development Programme (Rs12,52,742). A paltry Rs 11,35,857 were collected from individual donations between 2007 to 2010.

Besides the Ford Foundation, the UNDP and India Friends Association are US-based. PRIA and AID are headquartered in Asia.

In the light of what has happened in Iraq and now Libya – where foreign-funded dissidents brought down supposedly dictatorial regimes that gave an enviable standard of living to their citizens – we may legitimately ask why US-based bodies that have Zero Compassion for US citizens are funding a war against corruption (sic) on the other side of the world.

Just as the Iraqi stooges have no shame for bringing ruin upon their nation and people so American oil majors could loot the wealth of this ancient land, the Libyan stooges will feel no remorse when the white oil majors lick their lips and line their pockets with Libya’s high grade oil. They will feel no dishonour in bringing down the Caesar who was set to lead Africa into the era of the Gold Dinar.

Shall we, children of Chanakya, legatees of Arthasastra, the world’s most ancient manual of statecraft, be swayed by the rhetoric of men and women who owe their eminence and so-called moral profile to foreign recognition and foreign purses?

Let there be no mistake on this score. What has just been attempted in India is nothing but a US-manipulated Colour Revolution, a kind of non-violent Arab Spring, with ample provision for violence should the need arise.

Consider three points.

First, in the preparatory Delhi seminars in April, where he lobbied with RSS think tanks for their cadre support, Mr Arvind Kejriwal constantly enticed his audience to make Anna Hazare’s fast at Jantar Mantar into India’s Tehrir Square.

I was astounded. At Tehrir Square, as everyone knows, emotive crowds pressured Mr Hosni Mubarak to quit office. But the Army remained in full control, and even now there is really no change in governance in Egypt. Where is the great revolution?

Can making Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister be the fruit of India’s Tehrir Square (Ramlila Maidan)? What an anti-climax.

Secondly, Anna Hazare openly encouraged the crowds to gather at the houses of Ministers and MPs and force them to support his movement (he did say they should be non-violent). Thus demonstrators arrived at the official residence of the Prime Minister in Assam and at the homes of ministers in some cities, including Delhi, and thus created an opening for agent provocateurs to indulge in mischief...

Third, both Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal openly exhorted the crowd to resist the authorities if they tried to remove the fasting agitator to hospital. The hysteria on this count only rose after the all party meet declared Parliament was supreme and refused to be hustled into passing his half-baked Jan Lokpal Bill.

Such resistance can only be violent, and let’s not fudge this issue. It was a call to chaos, and any violence that may occur in future should be laid at their doors.

http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisp ... px?id=1936

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 25 Aug 2011 06:53

shivajisisodia wrote:
paramu wrote:If BJP joins Anna Hazare movement now, it will make others to brand it a communal movement (ARoy is already trying to do that). Let AH fight Congress and table the bill in parliament. BJP can support the bill to show true support for the movement.

Any premature support may not be good for the effort.

And by associating itself with not only a popular cause, but also a moral and righteous cause such as anti-corruption, maybe those who have a habit of branding everything "communal" and getting rewarded for it in the media and in the polls, will get discredited and perhaps the so called "secular" media will be exposed too, in the eyes of a large section of the population. Maybe, by taking the correct stand, the BJP will insulate itself from the damage that this "communal" charge does to it and Anna Sab's movement will not be affected negatively at all.

I think BJP taking the correct stance at this point is far more likely to discredit the purveyors of this " branding people communal" mantra, than Anna Sab's movement itself. Against all political and media calculations, the anti-corruption movement and Anna Sab have managed to make the Congress stalwarts and government look shell shocked and at its wit's end, making them look like bumbling idiots. Perhaps its time, those Aholes that cry "communal" any time a fly sits on them, also get exposed as bumbling idiots of the anti-national variety.

BJP cannot come out as a party and support AH openly in the maidan. It has political ramifications beyond the current hype around the venue. It is not just about "communalism" colour - but also "fascist" "extra-constitutional" "extra-parliamentary" labels. I guess the BJP has not yet been able to come out of its cautious mode after supposed reversals in the last general elections - and it is on a go-slow go-cautious mode. With such a possible mindset it will not take the risk of direct identification. Moreover, I am sure the AH camp hangers on will send the appropriate signals to BJP wannabe supporters to stay away from close quarter approach to the "core".

The AH movement is based on a group of elite civil-society activists - who will make sure that their group-clout is not diluted by allowing much bigger organized political groupings to be seen as "close". By keeping BJP at arms length they can extract more bargaining power from the congrez. I would suggest that the BJP already has done what it can safely do and will be "allowed" to - by sending in skygod to sit in with the aam-janta in front of the temple to righteousness.

I think if any outside influence had thought of egging this on [there is an attempted restructuring of markets at a global level, and older cold-war stage understandings are being thrown out to enforce new rules to reduce costs of extracting profit from productive countries like India by global financial networks] they have miscalculated.

The recent din about the importance of Gulf capital for India takes on a new significance in the light of the new confidence being shown by congrez in terms of the AH movement, and the peculiar noises being made right from the beginning from the congrez-leftie camp about how AH's movement uses "communal symbols" etc. The ruling regime has perhaps managed alternative sources of capital/funding to withstand western origin/controlled financial interests pressure to reduce costs for big-biz.

If such an angle is taking place, I would not be surprised to find BJP's position as it is. Any deviation from their current stand - they stand to lose.

shaardula · Post by **shaardula** » 25 Aug 2011 07:00

Lower communities have said do this through the constitution. If you don't like the government get enough MP's to switch then bring it down, get your own group in power and change the Lokpal rules. A new Lokpal will almost certainly get captured by vested interests and turned into a harassment mechanism, esp. of people like Maywati or Laloo, who despite our distaste were clearly elected by the poor. What Middle class wants is to get even with the poor traffic constable who is able to stop their car and demand Rs100.

As you have noted the ability to do illegal stuff consensually will not change. IMO this is the the vast majority of corruption in India, people trying to avoid rules, even if many times the rules are stupid.

this is a very cynical post theo and i'm surprised you of all people here made it. you have seen the world and the village, and you make this post?

the implications of your post are loaded. i will not get into those. but i dont think 'lower communities' are merely satisfied with power switches. i dont think they see their MPs as the representatives of their plight and aspirations. We all know most voting is along caste lines, but I dont think MP's themselves do or say anything to safe guard the interests of their constituents. i dont think voter behaviour can be captured in terms of simplistic analyses. Mayavati in her current avatar is a product of dalit + brahmin vote bank. this by itself such a fascinating cocktail that there are people drooling about its possibilities in KA, even when KA does not have nearly the population of brahmins as UP. laloo himself was kicked out unceremoniously, and his replacement nitish kumar represents a complex matrix of allegiances.

and it is presumptious to assume a JJ, BSY, etc., are not going to be tried. Even without JLPB, JJ as you know is being hounded by what is essentially is a upper caste lobby across the states. BSY got pulled down by a banta. ofcourse it takes pedantics of southern states for that to happen, but it is happening.

all that matters is the availability of a level playing field for multiple satraps.

medha patkar herself does not buy that this is just a 'middle class' thingie.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 25 Aug 2011 07:02

SaiK wrote:what the heck? one needs motivation to fight corruption? yeh kya how raha hai bhai saabs?

one need not be literate to understand this.

Imagine the motivation some BRFites need to drop their bad habits and write clearly or more than one liners; especially when not a whole lot is at stake. And now imagine the people who depend on the monetary benefits to better their life; they would need more motivation to drop their bad habits, no?

Pranav · Post by **Pranav** » 25 Aug 2011 07:03

Irom Sharmila to support Hazare campaign - http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/oth ... 393902.ece

Ready to leave job and court arrest for Anna and #Janlokpal Prof. P P Bahuguna, ISM, Dhanbad - http://twitter.com/#!/janlokpal/status/ ... 7156649986

Aamir Khan's brain behind picketing MPs - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 725975.cms

Pranav · Post by **Pranav** » 25 Aug 2011 07:06

IndraD wrote:A shocking read

prisoner of ram lila ground-Anna

Kiran Bedi & Kejriwal don't allow any one near AH

he has been kidnapped by two

Anna is being pushed to death by them

Fight is now on between Anna's new handlers vs old

K Bedi wants to be India's next chief information commissioner

This is silly. Anna is not an idiot, he has been a shrewd, but idealistic political agitator for decades.

Pranav · Post by **Pranav** » 25 Aug 2011 07:13

shivajisisodia wrote:
SaiK wrote:BJP f-ed this whole thing up.. they could not get anna on to their likings. They will face dark matter soon.

I pray anna start a new party, and get this settled... he gets 2/3rd majority, of course without booth capturing and the electronic fraud votes onlee.

BJP's failure of coming out in open and strong support of Anna Sb is one of the biggest blunders that Hindus have committed in their history- another Hindu self goal. When you brush aside all the apologies and obfuscation blind BJP supporters will make, what you have in the end is a party that fittingly represents the bulk of the Hindu population of today - weak, dhoti shivering, cowardly, stupid, idiotic and totally devoid of any sense of self respect, masquerading every blunder as "Chanakyan", not to mention treacherous, too clever by half and always second guessing everything to self-defeat.

Poor Chanakya, good thing he got cremated, otherwise he would be turning in his grave, witnessing all the stupid and moronic things Hindus are doing today and attributing it to "Chankyanism".

Although, I must say here, that Anna Sab and company's lack of clear and strong support of Babaji also could be categorized almost in the same category.

I think it was the venerable Sita Ram Goel who had said that the BJP will have to die before the Indic civilization can emerge from colonialism. IMHO, there needs to be a split, at the very least.

shaardula · Post by **shaardula** » 25 Aug 2011 07:15

agree JM, this pulling in muslim and dalit angle is a product of the worst of indian politics. there is a sinister calculation behind this. people who have actually have done things like this, like medha patkar refute this claim.

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 25 Aug 2011 07:17

A bloody nose end to AH's movement, deification of AH, making a martyr of his core group - etc, even a gov-polished version of the bill - all of these are good for the future. The congrez has stepped into one trap it should not have stepped into. By resisting AH it has sent out a signal to one global side that it has essentially chosen the other global side trying to assert itself now against the old power block. I had once suggested that even the congrez is not immune to the HR culling now going on after the end of the cold war. MMS, AH are all pawns in a game. In being too clever by half congrez pushed MMS into a position of having to put AH down and score a same side on the interests count. This will not go down well with ex-clients.

But then again the family is known to be magnanimous enough to allow offering up of one of its children as sacrifice for continued power. Looks like the sacrificial victim has already been chosen.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 25 Aug 2011 07:19

Dalits to rally for Bahujan Lokpal Bill

Fearing anti-quota protest, Dalits see no friend in Anna

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 25 Aug 2011 07:21

abhishek_sharma wrote:Dalits to rally for Bahujan Lokpal Bill

This is what we were waiting for - now a reservation quota on Lokpal bills. Each "backward" minority must have its own Lokpal.

shaardula · Post by **shaardula** » 25 Aug 2011 07:21

udit raj. lets see how much it does.these intellectuals & leaders think their constituency is a bunch of idiots and dumbos.

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 25 Aug 2011 07:23

Belated, but Nagaland warms up to Anna campaign

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 25 Aug 2011 07:24

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 25 Aug 2011 07:28

Why the Ramlila surge worries minorities and those on margins

Jarita · Post by **Jarita** » 25 Aug 2011 07:29

brihaspati wrote:A bloody nose end to AH's movement, deification of AH, making a martyr of his core group - etc, even a gov-polished version of the bill - all of these are good for the future. The congrez has stepped into one trap it should not have stepped into. By resisting AH it has sent out a signal to one global side that it has essentially chosen the other global side trying to assert itself now against the old power block. I had once suggested that even the congrez is not immune to the HR culling now going on after the end of the cold war. MMS, AH are all pawns in a game. In being too clever by half congrez pushed MMS into a position of having to put AH down and score a same side on the interests count. This will not go down well with ex-clients.

But then again the family is known to be magnanimous enough to allow offering up of one of its children as sacrifice for continued power. Looks like the sacrificial victim has already been chosen.

Do elucidate

shivajisisodia · Post by **shivajisisodia** » 25 Aug 2011 07:32

Bpati,

The very public coming together of the very socialist JP (Jaiprakash Narain) and Jana Sangha (predecesor of BJP) around the anti-emergency issue, neither hurt Jana Sangha nor JP.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 25 Aug 2011 07:33

Bali mange Rajmaa !!

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 25 Aug 2011 07:37

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 726459.cms

Meanwhile, police presence has been sharply increased at the Ramlila Maidan, raising fears of the 74-year-old fasting Anna of being forcibly removed from the grounds. Kejriwal expressed the fears while appealing to the people to maintain peace. Government sources, too, admitted that that some "intervention" might become inevitable.

Late at night at 11.30pm, Anna addressed the vast crowd repeatedly urging it to ensure peace. He said if the government wanted to pick him up, he would readily submit to the authorities. Any violence, he said, would defeat their movement. He told his followers to embark on a "jail bharo" agitation if he was arrested and peacefully picket government leaders and MPs.

Speaking at an iftaar hosted by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh told journalists, "We are caught in a bind, and we have to get out of it." Government sources asserted that Jan Lokpal Bill can't be the sole reference point for an anti-graft law. They also rejected Team Anna's demand that the Lokpal bill be passed within the next four days after extending the current session of Parliament, bypassing scrutiny by the Standing Committee.

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 25 Aug 2011 07:40

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?732414

Apprehending forcible removal, Anna Hazare tonight asked his supporters to start a jail bharo agitation by gheraoing residences of MPs and getting arrested.

Addressing his supporters at Ramlila grounds after the virtual breakdown of talks, he said the way the government has now reacted to the demands of the civil society has exposed its real face, that of dictators and Black British.

However, later Team Anna member Kiran Bedi said she had received an SMS message from the Delhi police commissioner that Hazare will not be removed till the doctors declare that his condition is critical.

Hazare had earlier said that team has got information that he would be removed and taken away "somewhere" at 4 am.

"If such a thing happens I appeal to all of you not to resort to violence... I understand the government's design. If you try to stop them there will be huge violence. To break this movement, they want you to resort to violence," he told the cheering crowd late in the night waving the national tricolour and lapping up every word that Hazare said.

Hazare appealed that if he is taken to jail they should maintain calm. He said if there is any violence he will not be able to bear it.

Hazare said if he was arrested then his supporters should gherao the residences of MPs and start a "jail bharo" movement.

JwalaMukhi · Post by **JwalaMukhi** » 25 Aug 2011 07:43

shivajisisodia wrote:
The very public coming together of the very socialist JP (Jaiprakash Narain) and Jana Sangha (predecesor of BJP) around the anti-emergency issue, neither hurt Jana Sangha nor JP.

Frankly, Anna's stature is very uncertain. Is he a paper tiger, who has been carefully propelled up in recent times? Comparing Anna to others such as JP and others may not be correct. The answer to these questions will be known once the saga ends. Till then, it is safe to assume Anna is no JP, and stakes are lot less for the party.

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 25 Aug 2011 07:46

shivajisisodia wrote:Bpati,

The very public coming together of the very socialist JP (Jaiprakash Narain) and Jana Sangha (predecesor of BJP) around the anti-emergency issue, neither hurt Jana Sangha nor JP.

Then they were taking position against "extra-constitutionalism", but now they would be taking position in favour. The rashtryia establishment is still too strong. Then even the establishment was feeling the pressure, and the external side could be more decisive in ramping up the pressure too after having brought Mao over to their side by 72. 77 was a warning shot to behave. But then an unintended consequence was the rapid legitimization and transformation of janasangh - so this time the externals have to be more careful, and no drastic action. They also have other fish to complete boiling around the Mediterranean first. Hence I feel the BJP hotshots have their ears to the poison grapevines of raajdhani - and are not taking the risk. Sending of skygod to show solidarity with the aam-junta was a kind of hedge, I suppose.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 25 Aug 2011 07:47

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/08/ ... .html?_r=1
Insight: Anti-Corruption Campaign Awakens India's Middle Class

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Mahesh Kundu paid $45 for a driving license, Rupam Bhatia $110 to be admitted to hospital and Vishrant Chandra $130 for a marriage certificate. These are the commonplace bribery stories experienced by middle-class Indians who have poured into the streets to say "enough is enough." Corruption in India is as old as the Ramayana, when the evil giant Ravana bribed a guardian of hell to avoid punishment in the ancient Indian epic. What is unprecedented is the spontaneous middle-class anti-graft movement coalescing around hunger-fasting activist Anna Hazare, a former army soldier- turned-social activist, who has created an Indian "spring" of rebellion against politics as usual.The near-double-digit economic growth India has enjoyed since the economy was opened up in the early 1990s has elevated millions of people to the middle class. They have long been apolitical, with many of them shunning the ballot box and forking out bribes to get by, sustaining a system where corruption became an unchallenged way of life.
"What is happening is a collective guilt," Shekhar Kapur, a critically acclaimed Indian film maker, told CNN-IBN. "Many of those who are coming out haven't voted or were not of voting age. They realize they have to take charge to change society." Can this movement, in other words, transform a deeply embedded culture and make bribery socially unacceptable?
"I OPTED TO BRIBE"
In small discrete ways, it has already begun to do so. A website set up last year to anonymously report bribes, I Paid A Bribe (http://www.ipaidabribe.com), has received 13,000 reports, most linked to the police.
"When I was departing for U.S. from Mumbai Airport. Customs officer asked me to pay $100 because my wife's last name was not changed to mine in her passport. I opted to bribe because it was 1 a.m. ... and we were traveling with our new born baby 2 months old," said one anonymous post on the website dated August 18.
A series of high profile scandals -- including the disastrous mismanagement of the Commonwealth Games and the sale of lucrative mobile phone licenses that cost the state possibly $39 billion in lost revenues -- appear to be a key tipping point. Corruption has been worsening in India over the years. Transparency International's corruption index in 2010 ranked India 87th, level with Albania and below China in 78th place. India was in 84th place in 2009 and 69th a decade ago.

brihaspati · Post by **brihaspati** » 25 Aug 2011 07:51

jarita ji - jara Prem se!

shivajisisodia · Post by **shivajisisodia** » 25 Aug 2011 07:51

JwalaMukhi wrote:
shivajisisodia wrote:
The very public coming together of the very socialist JP (Jaiprakash Narain) and Jana Sangha (predecesor of BJP) around the anti-emergency issue, neither hurt Jana Sangha nor JP.
Frankly, Anna's stature is very uncertain. Is he a paper tiger, who has been carefully propelled up in recent times? Comparing Anna to others such as JP and others may not be correct. The answer to these questions will be known once the saga ends. Till then, it is safe to assume Anna is no JP, and stakes are lot less for the party.

JMukhi,

You miss the point.

It is not about Ana Sab or JP Sab. It is not about personalities at all. It is about the issue and how important it is. I would argue that anti-corruption as an issue is even more critical for India than emergency was. Therefore, associating oneself with an issue as powerful and potent as anti-corruption cannot be a loser for anyone. If Ana Sab and BJP bahadur were to come together under the anti-corruption banner, BJP will still gain, even if Ana Sab turns out to be a fraud and Ana Sab will still gain, if BJP bahadur turns out to be a fraud and frankly, even if both turn out to be frauds, they both will be better off for having associated themselves so strongly with the anti-corruption plank.

Also, before the Janata Party won the elections after Mrs G lifted the emergency, JP was also doubted, second guessed and his bonafides were also questioned by a lot of well meaning people. So when Jana Sangha decided to align itself with him, he had not attained God status yet.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 25 Aug 2011 07:52

A Dung Beetle Burps

For too long, Indians have tolerated the situation by saying chalta hai (a Hindi phrase meaning "it goes" – the equivalent of a shrug of the shoulders, or "that's just the way it is").
But beneath the surface, there are potentially troubling sides to Hazare's movement: a developing personality cult, an authoritarian tendency and the essentially urban, middle-class nature of the phenomenon. "Anna is India and India is Anna," proclaimed one of his leading followers recently, a disturbing echo of Indira Gandhi's dictatorial "emergency" during the mid 1970s, when a sycophantic politician came up with the slogan "Indira is India and India is Indira".Some members of "Team Anna", as the Indian press has taken to calling it, are showing symptoms of the same sense of arrogance and self-righteousness – the belief that their man and their methods have the answers. They would do well to remember that theirs is only one set of voices among many who share the same general goal of extirpating corruption. An unelected, self-appointed group can't represent all India.
A largely middle-class movement such as Hazare's cannot claim to speak for the vast majority of Indians – the rural poor, Dalits and tribals, among others. In a functioning democracy with a free press – which India, for all its faults, is – governments need to listen to all these voices. As a former chief justice of the Delhi high court said recently: "Anna is not civil society and civil society is not Anna." Nevertheless, in the current mood of disillusionment with politicians, Hazare's air of purity, his straightforward message and his methods evoke a ready response.

Victor · Post by **Victor** » 25 Aug 2011 07:52

What I've been struggling to understand is how anyone would expect the politicians of any party to willingly hang themselves from the nearest lamp post.

The JLPB calls not only for draining bank accounts and assets of the corrupt but also handing out jail terms and life sentences. "The corrupt" is essentially 99% of the Lok and Rajya Sabhas which also shelters murderers. Does anyone believe there is a single politician who would pass unscathed if the law went into full effect? The entire political machinery and bureaucracy would be wiped out overnight.

The BJP had kept quiet so far but realized that they had to come out and take a stand, if only to save their own collective skins. Not having done so would have finished every last one of them when the JLPB came into effect.