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

[sanjeevpunj]

Ram Jethlmalani speaks up in RS.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... dYmsEzWKco
The ending lines of Ram Jethmalani carry the warning.........to INC. Listen to the end.

[madhu]

Some times I think the non-sense diggi’s words do has some sense.

If Anna Hazare does not have any political agenda and is not backed by certain political parties, why would he say "Two years are left for the general elections. In between, I will go to various parts of the country and keep awakening the people ...I will tell them not to vote for traitors" !

After all corrupt are in every party. Why target only congress.

[suryag]

The answer for the above question lies in the talk by Arvind Kejriwal from the NDTV link posted above. According to him, they are opposing the INC because as a ruling party it has failed to bring in the much needed law despite acts of brazen corruption. This should not be construed as support for others and they will oppose the next party in power if it stays the same course as INC vis-a-vis lokpal

[suryag]

Narayana Murthy in the show sounds like a good old free-advise debating commie(the group that he so vehemently despises) who has no solutions. He either willfully didnt allude to any solution which should have come so easy to him given his credentials and his long exposure to bureaucracy or has bought INC's line hook line and sinker.

[VinayB]

Some times I think the non-sense diggi’s words do has some sense.

If Anna Hazare does not have any political agenda and is not backed by certain political parties, why would he say "Two years are left for the general elections. In between, I will go to various parts of the country and keep awakening the people ...I will tell them not to vote for traitors" !

After all corrupt are in every party. Why target only congress.

such innocence.

If you understand numbers, try these numbers - approx. 50 (years) and approx. 10 (years).

[Pranay]

http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=746115

Frustration along expected lines...

Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh today asked social activist Anna Hazare to get rid of "street-smart people" around him and alleged their whole campaign was anti-Congress and pro-BJP.

"I cannot advise Annaji... For God's sake Anna get rid of street-smart people around you," he told reporters on the sidelines of a private function here.

Singh said Hazare has unwittingly been driven into the 'quagmire' of the Lokpal controversy kicked up by "street-smart" Team Anna members.

"Team Anna's whole campaign is anti-Congress and pro-BJP, in spite of the fact that BJP opposed giving constitutional status to Lokpal by voting against it in Lok Sabha," he said.

"Not a word from Team Anna and Annaji (against BJP for not voting in favour of giving constitutional status to Lokpal in Lok Sabha). Their whole purpose is to defame Congress,"he said.

Moreover, Congress does not enjoy two-thirds majority to pass the Lokpal Bill in Rajya Sabha as some of its allies are not with the party on certain issues, Singh said.

He alleged that Team Anna has taken up Lokpal issue to divert attention from the Sangh Parivars' terrorist activities. "This is not a mass movement. It is driven by BJP and RSS," Singh said.

[Pranay]

http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=746076

The government road map ahead for the Lokpal Bill...

Indicating that ally Trinamool Congress' demand for total deletion of provisions relating to Lokayukta in the Lokpal Bill may not not be easy to meet, Home Minister P Chidambaram today said the government may accept one or two of its amendments.

Blaming the BJP for Rajya Sabha's failure to pass the Bill on Thursday, he told a press conference here that the government was keen that Bill is passed in the next session and has "hard work ahead".

"On December 29, they (Trinamool Congress) insisted that they are not satisfied with the provision and that we must altogether delete part 3. Deletion of part 3 would have gone against the 'sense of the House' statement, which was that there must be a chapter on Lokayukta," he said.

The Minister said said the government had thought it had convinced Mamata Banerjee's party in the Lok Sabha when a proviso to Clause 1 sub-clause 4 was added. "But after December 27, they changed their position."

"You are right. We failed to convince TMC. But we are confident that in the time between now and the budget session, we will be able to refine or redraft the provision and carry the TMC with us," Chidambaram said.

Indicating future strategy on the Bill, he said "We may have to refine and redefine. As far as passing the bill in Rajya Sabha is concerned, we may accept one or two amendments. It will be the same bill, with one or two amendments. We cannot accept 187 amendments, it will be unrecognisable bill."

Chidambaram said "Since it is the same set of political parties (in both Houses), one can expect may be one or two or three amendments. I can't recall a single example where 187 amendments were introduced in the second House, in this case the Rajya Sabha.

"And the last of those amendments was presented at 6 pm. How can anyone make sense of 187 amendments in a short space of time?" he asked.

"The moment they gave 187 amendments and the last one at 6 pm, it was pretty clear to anyone familiar with parliamentary proceedings that that it was not their intention to pass the bill," Chidambaram said.

There was no way the bill could have been passed on the night of December 29, he said. "The only prudent course was to take the bill to the budget session," he added.

Even if one amendment is accepted in Rajya Sabha, the bill will go to Lok Sabha, he said. "BJP wanted to force all those amendments down the throat of the government," he said.

"How do you expect the minister to rise in the chair and move the bill as amended against my wish...Against our wish, we can't, a minister can't move such a bill for passage," Chidambaram said.

On accusations that the Rajya Sabha fracas was "fixed", the Home Minister said," I don't know who fixed with whom. Certainly Congress and BJP didn't fix it. We were rivals then, we are rivals today and you saw how the debate unfolded in parliament. We were clearly rivals, there was no fixing."

[Pranay]

http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=746070

Smarting under Opposition attack over the issue of Lokpal Bill, Congress today insisted that the measure is not dead and will be back soon.

"The Lokpal Bill is certainly not dead. It is not even in ICU or Emergency. It is merely under rest and recovery (R and R) and it will be back soon," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.

A political war has broken out between government and Opposition over Rajya Sabha's failure to pass Lokpal Bill, with both sides accusing each of carrying out "well choreographed" chaos to scuttle it.

The assertion by the Rajya Sabha MP, who headed the Parliamentary Panel that went into the Lokpal Bill, comes a day after after Rahul Gandhi promised not to rest till a strong Lokpal Bill with constitutional status is brought.

Addressing a rally in Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh yesterday, Gandhi had hit out at the BJP for failure to give constitutional status to Lokpal. He insisted that this was not only his dream but that of the youth of the country and the Congress will not rest till it is achieved.

"We will not stop till we achieve constitutional status for the Lokpal," Gandhi had said.

The Congress general secretary had said that he felt "the strongest Lokpal will be one with constitutional status, but the opposition defeated it in the Lok Sabha".

Attacking the BJP, Gandhi had said, "those who used to talk about India Shining (in 2004) defeated a strong Lokpal Bill" that represented the aspirations of the country's youth.

"The BJP has openly stated that they had defeated the motion that would have given constitutional status to Lokpal because it was Rahul Gandhi's dream. It is not my dream alone, it is the dream of the youth of the country. We will not stop till we achieve constitutional status for the Lokpal," he had said.

[prahaar]

http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=746115

He alleged that Team Anna has taken up Lokpal issue to divert attention from the Sangh Parivars' terrorist activities. "This is not a mass movement. It is driven by BJP and RSS," Singh said.

[/quote]

First it was the "Foreign Hand" now it is the "RSS hand". Any half-decent media would have demanded some sort of proof for wild allegations but as Jethmalaniji said, our media is silent to most of the important questions.

[somaz]

Some times I think the non-sense diggi’s words do has some sense.

After all corrupt are in every party. Why target only congress.

such innocence.

If you understand numbers, try these numbers - approx. 50 (years) and approx. 10 (years).

well said VinayB

[Jeff Lira]

We often question that why Ana Hazare and team and BJP is targeting only congress, we forget that BJP was also in power in 1999-04 they also didn't do anything despite Lokpal bill is not a new thing.

The Article on the website The World Reporter analyzes and answers to such questions coming to some of us' minds.

The Article written in timeline format, well supported with sources says that BJP led NDA government introduced the bill 3 times during its term but was rejected all the times in the parliament due to tough criticism from opposition and other parties on inclusion of Prime Minister and MPs in the proposed bill.

Why BJP, NDA Government Could Not Pass the Lokpal Bill in 1999-04 Term

Reading the article and watching Atal ji's speech has made me hi fan once again.. looks like BJP was really serious on passing this bill as a law.

[Pranay]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 318737.cms

Anna Hazare is suffering from severe chest congestion and Doctors advised today that the anti-graft crusader be hospitalised in Pune tomorrow for further treatment.

Dr Sancheti of the Sancheti hospital in Pune said he had made the suggestion for shifting the 74-year-old Gandhian from his native village in Maharashtra to Pune after medically examining him. "There is enough congestion in his chest and he has strong cough. He can't remain in a single position for a minute. Thefore I've suggested to admit him in Pune," he said.

[suryag]

What a powerful orator was Shri.Vajpayeeji. Hats off to him

[suryag]

What a powerful orator was Shri.Vajpayeeji. Hats off to him

[CRamS]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 318737.cms

Hope he gets well. But this doesn't sound good. Without him the whole movement will loose its sting. And I also hope there is no hanky panky. Recall all the death threats he received with one dealing with administering HIV virus.

[sum]

M.J.Akbar with his theory about the shadow boxing on-going in UPA-II based on his INC sources. Very inetersting reading.

He says Rajmata playing along with Lokpal drama to discredit MMS even more:

On the record

The principal difference between an ''off the record'' and ''on the record'' conversation with a politician is that the former is likely to be much closer to the truth.

Off-the-record does not mean outside-the-discourse; after all, the best way to keep anything to yourself is to remain silent. When a politician chooses to talk without attribution, it only means he, or indeed she, is sending a message with an in-built denial clause. Off-the-record is a means of placing frustration and anger into public play. This is par for the course, and far more fun than the carefully chosen phrases of official fudge.

One senior Congress politician has an extraordinary wish for 2012. He wants the Opposition NDA to come to power in the new year for just one reason — so that NDA might suffer Mamata Banerjee’s tantrums just as the present coalition has had to bear them. His assumption, that no government in Delhi is possible in this Parliament without an alliance with the Bengal Chief Minister, is correct. He could think of no greater curse than survival with the support of Mamata Banerjee.

But give the feisty Banerjee credit for daring; with just 19 MPs she has defeated the 206-MP strong Congress four times this year, and each time in a crucial game. She tripped Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Bangladesh by refusing to part with the Teesta river waters. She lassoed him at home over foreign direct investment in retail, and pensions. And she left UPA flat on its face on the Lokpal Bill. She understands a basic rule, that the best strategy vis-à-vis Congress is to replicate how Congress treats its allies. Congress does not consider an alliance to be a cooperative. It plays by what might be called the Frank Sinatra method: my way, or the highway. Suddenly, Mamata Banerjee is telling her senior partner that if it wants to stay in power, then it will be on her terms. She knows Congress culture intimately; after all, she has been there.

Mamata Banerjee may sometimes succumb to mistakes, but she does not believe in accidents. Her moves are deliberate. Her message for 2012 is obvious: her options are open. She has no reason to be as docile as the DMK, since she is not vulnerable on any corruption charge. She does not fear exposure because she has no great scam to hide from the CBI. She is not worried therefore about Delhi’s blackmail. She doesn’t know how to be meek; that particular gene was left out of her DNA.

Wolf in sheep’s clothing

Congress is used to lambs in its fold, even when sometimes it feels that there is a wolf lurking inside in sheep’s clothing. As long as the wolf bleats, all is well. Suddenly, Congress is faced with the prospect, in the words of the Urdu poet, of watching the house go up in flames because of a domestic lamp. It will burn slowly, corner by corner.

Congress politics, therefore, will be centred in the first half of the new year on a single objective: how to find a hedge against Mamata Banerjee’s 19 MPs. Congress does not necessarily want to replace Mamata; it only seeks to make her irrelevant. It wants honey without the sting. This is what makes Mulayam Singh Yadav so crucial to its prospects. In its ideal scenario, Mulayam would be the largest single party after the UP Assembly elections, but dependent on Congress MLAs for a majority. His MPs would be collateral hostage in Delhi, keeping Prime Minister Rahul Gandhi stable for two years until the 2014 general elections.

Here is the nuanced sub-plot, a drama within the drama. Why have Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul been silent while Mamata Banerjee sabotaged the PM’s initiatives? Because, wittingly or not, she did Rahul Gandhi a service by weakening Dr Manmohan Singh. It is not easy to dislodge a strong and loyal PM, which is what Dr Singh was in his first term. His helplessness on the night that Congress allowed the Lokpal Bill to wither in fomented confusion, was visible to the country. Live television coverage is far more dangerous to government than any hostile news anchor. It is still a whisper, but the question being raised in Delhi recalls what that great cricketer Vijay Merchant once said: you should retire when people still ask why, not when. In politics, a whisper can turn into a clamour very quickly. All it needs is circumstance, and a puppeteer behind the curtain.

There are enough reasons for the senior Congress notable to prefer anonymity; verbal interventions have to be timed, as well as graded. Congress has given permission to its Bengal unit to attack Mamata Banerjee with vitriol, but it is only Delhi’s acid that can burn relationships. Messages are flying in both directions, but the moment has not yet come to switch off-record to on-record. Wait another twelve weeks or sixteen.

[Pranay]

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/w ... eststories

BJP's Arun Jaitley One on One on the Lokpal Bill, RS episode, Team Anna and looking ahead...

[Pranay]

http://www.timesnow.tv/NHR-Direct-Salma ... 392666.cms

... and this is how the Law Minister Mr. Salman Khurshid speaks.

[vijayk]

The question on UP is whether BJP is doing anything to get 20-23% of votes. Use every weapon available: Anna, Lokpal,Bharat mata, Ramdev, OBCs losing out because of Muslim reservation. Play the game of CON gandoos on themselves. Is there any hope?

[anmol]

The question on UP is whether BJP is doing anything to get 20-23% of votes. Use every weapon available: Anna, Lokpal,Bharat mata, Ramdev, OBCs losing out because of Muslim reservation. Play the game of CON gandoos on themselves. Is there any hope?

Asked a senior guy in RSS about BJP's strategy and chances in UP polls . Strategy is: Sanjay Joshi is running around to make various factions led by Karaj Mishra, Rajnath Singh, Vinay Katiyar etc to work together instead of working against each other. Uma Bharti is still now welcome because of Vinay Katiyar.

IF they work together then they have chances of coming out as biggest party.

Another thing, regarding Ramdev he said that Rajat Sharma was misguiding him.. don't know who is guiding him now.

And biggest bombshell: He said that there is nothing wrong with EVM, and external forces are behind those who claim that there is something wrong.

His prediction: BSP may need BJP's help in forming government.

[Pranav]

Asked a senior guy in RSS about BJP's strategy and chances in UP polls . ...

And biggest bombshell: He said that there is nothing wrong with EVM, and external forces are behind those who claim that there is something wrong.

Did the "senior rss guy" give any logical argument or did he just utter something like an oracle.

What is wrong with EVMs is their opacity ... which nobody can seriously deny.

IMO the fellow must be a shill, or perhaps a useful idiot ... there are many of those. After all, Shri Vajpayee ji himself was a big defender of the Mainos.

[anmol]

Asked a senior guy in RSS about BJP's strategy and chances in UP polls . ...

And biggest bombshell: He said that there is nothing wrong with EVM, and external forces are behind those who claim that there is something wrong.

Did the "senior rss guy" give any logical argument or did he just utter something like an oracle.

What is wrong with EVMs is their opacity ... which nobody can seriously deny.

IMO the fellow must be a shill, or perhaps a useful idiot ... there are many of those. After all, Shri Vajpayee ji himself was a big defender of the Mainos.

He said that EC had asked these people who were claiming that EVM can be tampered, to demonstrate that before them. And they failed to do so.

[Pranav]

He said that EC had asked these people who were claiming that EVM can be tampered, to demonstrate that before them. And they failed to do so.

The terms for the demonstration were never realistic. The issue is rigging by insiders, so you have to give any demonstrator the same access as the manufacturers.

Nevertheless when Hari Prasad and Subramanian Swamy went to demonstrate the EC panicked and cut it short.

You can't detect Trojans unless you look at software and the circuitry on the microcontroller chips, which the EC is not willing to let anyone do. And you could also have rigging at the "totalizer" stage, which is when results of different EVMs are being mixed and added.

There is an extended discussion of technical issues in the EVM thread in the technology forum.

[anmol]

He said that EC had asked these people who were claiming that EVM can be tampered, to demonstrate that before them. And they failed to do so.

The terms for the demonstration were never realistic. The issue is rigging by insiders, so you have to give any demonstrator the same access as the manufacturers.

Nevertheless the EC panicked and cut short midway a demonstration by Hari Prasad, who was accompanied by Subramanian Swamy.

You can't detect Trojans unless you look at software and the circuitry on the microcontroller chips, which the EC is not willing to let anyone do. And you could also have rigging at the "totalizer" stage, which is when results of different EVMs are being mixed and added.

There is an extended discussion of technical issues in the EVM thread in the technology forum.

As you said.. the system is too opaque. But its confusing why this old guard in RSS who worked extremely closely with former PM in BJP government have such confidence in EVMs.

[Pranav]

As you said.. the system is too opaque. But its confusing why this old guard in RSS who worked extremely closely with former PM in BJP government have such confidence in EVMs.

He could be ignorant about the technical issues. But then the former PM in BJP government always protected the Mainos. So less innocent explanations are possible ...

[Pranay]

http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=746323

The Centre should talk to all political parties before arriving at a consensus on the Lokpal Bill, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said and stuck to her stand that it should be left to the states to set up Lokayauktas on models they choose.

"We think that the Lokpal should be made on the basis of consensus and that the Centre should talk to all parties in this regard. All parties support the Lokpal. But let it be left to states to decide what model they should choose for the Lokayuktas," Banerjee told reporters at the state secretariat here.

She said that when her party raised the issue in the Lok Sabha, it was told by the government that suitable amendments would be brought to accommodate the Trinamool Congress views on the Lokayuktas.

"But when the bill came, it was found that it left the option open to the states to set up Lokayuktas, but on the model determined by the Centre. I want to set up Lokakukta but what if I do not follow the central model? What if we can set up a better model of Lokayukta?

Speaking on the Lokpal logjam, he said, "In the Lok Sabha we said 'do not bulldoze the federal structure'".

Rubbishing reports that she had entered into a a deal with the Congress, she said, "Some are saying that Mamata Banerjee has entered into a deal with the Congress. To them I say few do the kind of transparent politics as Mamata Banerjee."

Banerjee said her party's stand on Lokayukta was the stand of all states.

Pointing out that she was not in favour of toppling the UPA government, Banerjee said she, however, would continue to 'speak on issues that affect common people'.

[member_21708]

passing Jan Lokpal will be a death sentence to congress, their real agenda lies in looting the nation to keep its people in perpetual poverty, so as to easily control them

if lokpal bill gets passed, corrupt will be investigated by agencies other than those directly controlled by congress, making it impossible to hide corruption and eventual imprisonment of top congress leaders.

everyone from sonia to manmohan is involved in some type of scam from bofors to 2G, currently CBI does the job of protecting the congress by stalling and misleading investigations.

CBI has proof of sonia gandhi and her bosom pal Quattrochhi's involvement in bofors scam but wont file charges against her.
Quattrochhi case: Can the CBI ignore hard proof? http://www.timesnow.tv/articleshow/4361863.cms

Shows unprofessional attitude of CBI and the reason why congress wont allow CBI to be under jan lokpal authority. Nothing will change until congress is removed from power at centre and that wont happen until paper ballots are reintroduced in general elections and currently used rigged EVM's are done away with. Catch 22 situation

[VinayB]

As you said.. the system is too opaque. But its confusing why this old guard in RSS who worked extremely closely with former PM in BJP government have such confidence in EVMs.

But the former PM was not supposed to be close to RSS in the first place. so who could this old guard be?

That apart, it is possible that some people in BJP, not just former PM, may have developed an interest in INC / dynasty. Some points

- before the 2009 elections, Swapan Das Gupta wrote that some in BJP scuttled alliance in Haryana to favor INC. He linked it to real estate.

- Swapan again wrote before 2009 that some in RSS were scuttling BJP in Rajasthan. He had written off BJP even before polling, and he was proved right.

- BJP's near silence on 2G and CWG (I know this will invite protests that BJP did protest, but if you search you will find BJP leaders protesting Yeddyurappa more than they did Delhi CM). It was alleged that because of Yeddy the Dilli stars in BJP could not talk about CWG. Santosh Hegde delivered Yeddy's scalp to Advani faction. But BJP still did not say anything about the delhi CM or CWG.

I think some in BJP have an interest in BSP doing well in UP, and some in SP.

Arun Shourie must have seen it all up close and direct. Sadly, he also had a thing to say about journalists running BJP. It is evident Swapan has ties to AJ. You find him writing about how BJP will all lose middle class vote because of FDI, but he wont write about INC's communal reservations in lokpal.

[anmol]

But the former PM was not supposed to be close to RSS in the first place. so who could this old guard be?

How can one not be close to the organization that he/she is member of ? And Old guard worked together with former PM because RSS wanted that to happen.

- before the 2009 elections, Swapan Das Gupta wrote that some in BJP scuttled alliance in Haryana to favor INC. He linked it to real estate.

Sudhanshu Mittal-IREO ?

- BJP's near silence on 2G and CWG (I know this will invite protests that BJP did protest, but if you search you will find BJP leaders protesting Yeddyurappa more than they did Delhi CM). It was alleged that because of Yeddy the Dilli stars in BJP could not talk about CWG. Santosh Hegde delivered Yeddy's scalp to Advani faction. But BJP still did not say anything about the delhi CM or CWG.

Then what is this :- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPSn5GLWgUM http://ibnlive.in.com/news/initiate-pro ... 37-64.html

Some may get such impression, but that is because our Media filters out such stories.

I think some in BJP have an interest in BSP doing well in UP, and some in SP.

If BSP-SP would do too well, they won't need BJP

Arun Shourie must have seen it all up close and direct. Sadly, he also had a thing to say about journalists running BJP. It is evident Swapan has ties to AJ. You find him writing about how BJP will all lose middle class vote because of FDI, but he wont write about INC's communal reservations in lokpal.

Doesn't that explain why Swapan have written certain articles ?

[kmkraoind]

How netas and ‘superbabu syndicates’ shield the corrupt - Firstpost

Previously I had wondered why Firstpost (a sister concern of CNN-IBN) is going after Congress establishment. Probably it because Mukesh Ambani has taken control of TV18 and ETV group. It seems he got pulse of national mood and he is hedging his positions.

[Prem]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/world ... .html?_r=1
MANU JOSEPH
( EJ man of Congress)
Indian Revolution Born in Farce Ends in One

NEW DELHI — Last week in Mumbai, an old man accepted defeat. Anna Hazare sat cross-legged on a stage, enduring yet another fast and staring bleakly at a massive public ground that can fit 100,000 people but was not filling up with supporters as he had expected. Just a few thousand had turned out to watch, a small fraction of the numbers the 74-year-old man had attracted during his earlier fasts in New Delhi to demand the creation of a powerful anti-corruption body called the Lokpal that would primarily roast politicians and bureaucrats. The news media, too, had grown tired of his fasts. All this and poor health forced Mr. Hazare to end his demonstration just a day after he had begun his three-day fast.
is over not for want of ideals or self-righteous rage, but because of the way it began, last April, as a spectacle on television news channels. The news anchors projected a man with outdated rustic ideas, including flogging as a cure for alcoholism and chopping off limbs as a punishment for corruption, as the new hero of the middle class. Television news quickly converted Mr. Hazare into a saint who had arrived from his village to fight the corrupt authorities in New Delhi. On the first day of his fast, there were no more than 300 people around him, but the cameras framed the fast in such a way that it gave the impression that something big was going on.
Among his core supporters there were several impoverished poets whose laments were chiefly against “people who go in cars” and “people for whom there are big shiny roads while the poor have nothing to eat.” In short, their laments were not only against politicians, but also against the newly prosperous middle class. At the time, the television news media, which are largely headquartered in New Delhi, had very little understanding of Mr. Hazare, who is from the western state of Maharashtra. Until last April, his influence was confined to rural parts of Maharashtra. By the time the anchors asked the important question — “Who exactly is Anna Hazare?” — it was too late. They had already proclaimed him a modern saint, and he had amassed millions of supporters in a matter of days. As it turned out, Mr. Hazare is not a man the urban middle class would normally call a saint.

[Pranay]

http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=746547

Setting at rest speculation over Anna Hazare's proposed tour of five poll-bound states, his close aide Kiran Bedi today said he would not campaign as planned earlier on medical advice.

"Anna is not going to campaign. He has been advised by doctors not to undertake fast or travel as he needs total rest," she told reporters after visiting the 74-year-old activist, who is undergoing treatment for bronchitis at Sancheti Hospital here since December 31.

Bedi said Hazare's condition was "good" but he needed total hospital care and rest as per medical advice to avoid any relapse.

She said Hazare's health is "really important" for them and he could not be exposed to sudden changes in temperature.

The former IPS officer said she would be conveying the anti-graft crusader's "message" to the Core Group of Team Anna, which would meet on Saturday to chalk out the future course of action.

[Pranay]

http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=746563

Accusing the government of "complete subversion" of Parliament, BJP top brass today met President Pratibha Patil and sought her intervention for reconvening of the session to enable voting on the Lokpal Bill in Rajya Sabha.

Led by L K Advani, party president Nitin Gadkari and leaders of opposition in both Houses Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, the BJP delegation handed over a memorandum to the President seeking a special Parliament session.

The party charged the government with deliberately paralysing Parliamentary proceedings and "contrived disturbances" on the last day of the extended Winter Session to escape the crucial vote on the Lokpal Bill as it lacked a majority in the Rajya Sabha.

"We have sought the President's intervention and expressed our grievance and dissatisfaction on the events that took place in Rajya Sabha on the night of December 29," Advani told reporters after meeting Patil.

Jaitley later said, "We have suggested to the President that she should take the initiative and give a concrete suggestion for reconvening the Parliament session for the voting for creation of a strong Lokpal which was postponed earlier."

The President has said that she would examine various aspects on the matter before taking any action, he said.

The BJP memorandum stated that "this incident has left a blot on India's parliamentary democracy and the nation looks up to you to restore the credibility of India's Parliament."

The BJP memorandum states that "when such a breakdown of the constitutional machinery takes place, the President as a protector and guardian of Indian Constitution must act".

The memorandum states, "The President could advise the government to reconvene the Session and immediately take a vote. The Government must be asked to explain the reasons why the House was disturbed through such contrived disturbances."

Jaitley said the opposition had moved many amendments some of which were common amendments by several opposition parties, which infact constituted the majority in Rajya Sabha.

These common amendments included that the investigating agency with Lokpal be made independent, and also process of appointment and removal of Lokpal be freed of government influence, he said.

"The government kept trying for the support of parties, when it was clear that the government did not have a majority it contrived disturbances, to avoid voting on the Bill," Jaitley charged, adding "it was an open secret that the government, for the first time in the history of Parliament, contrived disturbances to avoid a vote".

In its memorandum, the BJP stated that the government benches "engineered" disturbances, initially through a friendly party and subsequently by its own members and these disturbances were "contrived" to earn an adjournment so that a voting could be avoided.

"When Government disturbs proceedings and the House is adjourned, it sets a terrible precedent which would always be pointed out by potential disturbers. The legitimacy of the House to question such future disturbances is dented.

"The effort to avoid a vote through contrived disturbances is a clear subversion of parliamentary democracy. A government which avoids a vote has no moral authority to continue in office", the BJP memorandum states.

[devesh]

Manu Joseph and others like him are failing to see the long-term, big picture. for that, I am thankful. by attacking AH and BRD with such virulent commentary like "farce" etc, they will only end up fueling the hatred of the masses against them. they are forgetting how their ilk has come to power: mainly by riding on the coattails of the "peaceful, non-violent" Gandhi and his legacy and careful reconstruction of Indian history based on this "legacy". AH mainly is a product of the same thinking. by attacking and de-legitimizing AH so vociferously, they are actually attacking their own roots. they are failing to realize, in their shark-like hunger frenzy to beat back a perceived "threat", that they are basically making sure that the commons have no option but to take refuge and retaliate in a more organized and ideologically committed manner.

vinasha-kale-vipareeta-buddhi...

[ramana]

Not shark-like but piranha-like mentality. They dont want any competition to their power to loot with out restraints. In other words might without mercy.

[ramana]

X-posted from India forum...

A very interesting news item I discovered while looking for the pre-lokpal Anna on google. It is somewhat funny when considered in the present scenario:

Hazare, Darsheel Safary, Malkit Singh get Rajiv Gandhi Award
Sunday, August 17, 2008

And of course, I'm sure member of IF must be aware of the boycotted-by-media public rally at Delhi at which BR and AH shared the dias; till that time Shri Hazare was a relatively regional figure and was full of reverence for Baba Ramdev. Incredibly interesting!

And from whom!

[ramana]

Could be x-posted in 2G thread too....

NVS writes

Congress Inc.

Congress Inc.
Here's the answer, says N.V.Subramanian, to why UPA-2 is the worst government since Independence.

4 January 2012:
The Congress party battles with its allies, has failed to give a half-decent government in two terms, and has become synonymous with corruption, because it follows the operating model of a big corporation. The model focuses on profit and brand dominance to the exclusion of everything else. The results are there for all to see.

It was easy for the Congress to cast its clashes with the CPI-M-led Left in UPA-1in ideological terms. Manmohan Singh came with an as-yet-undiminished "economic reformist" image. The world had not seen capitalism collapse in its Mecca, America, in September 2008. And although it was sound in content and nearly prophetic, the Left's language of opposing neoliberal economics looked old-fashioned.

When, therefore, the Left and the Congress parted, and UPA-1 won a corrupt confidence vote in Parliament, and pushed the Indo-US nuclear deal to conclusion, only a minority of thinking people felt pained. Uncontainable in their joy were establishment cheerleaders in overwhelming numbers. But now, when Congress-Trinamool clashes are making the front page, no easy explanations are forthcoming, justifications fail, but venom against Mamata Bannerjee is in peak supply.

The Trinamool Congress and the Congress fell out over the Lok Pal bill where state rights were encroached upon. Being a woman of her word, Mamata says she will continue to oppose the bill till it is redrafted to solely apply to the Centre. Seeing her tough stand, the Congress's on-off allies like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) have rejected the Lok Pal bill on the same grounds. The BJP and Left have made their opposition on this aspect already clear.

If the Congress were a committed political party and not a profit-motivated corporation, it would have prevented such a great split with the Trinamool Congress. Mamata says her Delhi representatives were tricked into supporting the bill in the Lok Sabha, which is why she opposed it forthright in the Upper House. Scheming against allies and upstaging them are not new traits in the Congress. It has sought to keep BSP and SP in line by threatening its bosses with the CBI.

It is, of course, suicidal to run a coalition government in such fashion. You can have a problem with one or two allies. The Congress has a problem with all its allies. In consequence, the government is always tottering, and every Parliament session brings insurmountable new problems to the regime. Certainly, the Congress scorns its allies, and takes unilateral decisions as though it runs a single-party government at the Centre. But the disease runs deeper, and may have become malignant. {Again the medical analogy!}

In this profit-motivated corporate model that the Congress follows, except ownership, which remains with the Gandhis, everything else has been delegated, within tightly demarcated turfs. The prime minister is cubbyholed in the PMO, the finance minister in finance, the home minister in home, and so on. To further keep some of them in check, a second layer of control has been imposed, in the form of junior ministers, secretary-level loyalists, OSDs, etc.

A similar system operates in the Congress party. Party managers are designated to handle different things, including disinformation, dirty tricks, allies- and opposition-bashing, Anna Hazare-trashing, keeping cabinet ministers at loggerheads, media-fixing, and the like. Most of these functions proceed on an autonomous basis.

For example, if a minister is gaining eminence, efforts to cut him down to size automatically kick in. Sooner or later, he or she may have to pay public homage to the Gandhis, lately Rahul. If an ally is troublesome, or shows independent spirit, attacks commence automatically, as in Mamata Bannerjee's case. But through all this, the interests of the owners are never betrayed or compromised, and the corporate-like focus on profit and brand immortalization remains obsessive and undiluted.

It may or may not be okay to run a corporation on these lines. But to supplant the model on a political party, as the Congress has done, is disastrous, and it shows. An unabashed profit motive has led to corruption. 2G, CWG, Adarsh, Antrix-Devas, etc, are some of the biggest scams India has seen. The brand domination impulse has mutated to become the compulsive need to remain in power, and everything foul is fair in that pursuit: mendacity, dirty tricks, slander, abuse of CBI, telephone-tapping, midnight attacks on peaceful protestors, et al.

Obviously, this cannot go on forever. A country and a state need vision and purpose to achieve their highest destinies. An elected government is the enabler of such vision and purpose. But transformed into an evil, profit-minded corporation, the Congress party has stripped the government of everything of value, and turned it into India's own worst predator.

INC is the brown EIC.

[vijayk]

http://incredibleorissa.com/en/wp-conte ... a-list.jpg

Not sure how much is true. But I have rcvd this in an email. List of Swiss account holders

[Pranay]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 383019.cms

MKG too went through periods of deep introspection, despair and depression. In this itself lies the answer to the road ahead...

The anti-corruption movement is at the crossroads today. Where do we go from here? We are conscious that a wrong decision at this stage could prove disastrous for the movement. I met Anna in hospital two days back. Most of the time, I found him in deep thought. More than his physical ailment, he is suffering from a deep sense of being cheated. He is deeply hurt.

When I met Anna in the hospital , he kept on repeating - "If the PM and the seniormost leadership were to cheat the nation like this, where is the hope for our country? If parliamentarians were to behave like the way some of them did, what is the future for our country ?" He was feeling very sad.

We were in back-channel talks with the government in December. In our last meeting, they almost challenged - "You can't hurt us electorally. We will win. We will form the government and make laws. You carry on with your movement and fasts." This means if any people's movement can't hurt them electorally, they don't care. That's dangerous.

What should we do now? Should we campaign against Congress or UPA? Some people are objecting - why has this anti-corruption campaign turned anti-Congress ? My response is - haven't we been pushed to the corner? We are certainly not anti-Congress. Why should we be? All those who were looking for a hidden agenda have miserably failed.

Some people have created an atmosphere in the country that if you are anti-Congress , you are pro-BJP . There is no middle space. If someone called us anti-Congress today , we could still accept that charge with some reservations as we have been pushed to the corner.

There is absolutely no evidence of our being pro-BJP . In fact, the evidence indicates to the contrary. Due to the report of Justice Santosh Hegde, who happens to be one of our key core committee members , the BJP CM of Karnataka had to resign. How could we support a party which admits the likes of Kushwaha in its folds? If we do not go for the tour of election-bound states, what should we do? Should Anna go for another fast? But the government has already indicated that if people participating in the movement don't translate into votes, they don't care. Some have suggested we should form our own party. But we neither have the will nor the capacity. This is a people's movement. The movement was successful because thousands participated. The people should now suggest the way ahead. Send your suggestions to iacsuggestions@gmail .com.

[vijayk]

http://blogs.outlookindia.com/default.a ... 694&eid=31
Madamji.. Forever at your feet