Anna rchy
A writer’s block can and usually ends when the favorable elements of free time, inspiration and content occur at exactly the same point in time. For the writer in me, fortunately, the three came together because of the happenings at our national capital. I would be doing injustice to myself if I did not photo frame my emerging, evolving thoughts, however lame or wild, into an article. So much so for an introduction
Anna Hazare. A simple, earthy, septuagenarian from a nondescript village called Ralegaon Siddhi has all but taken the country by a viral storm which has, to my biased delight (I admit), brought a corrupt and more pertinently arrogant, high handed Govt to its knees. The events have brought to my mind a few questions, the answers to which, I believe would only help people understand the events much better and accordingly frame their thinking as per their free will. The questions are
1.What is the reason for the scale of Anna’s success? There have been protest marches in Andaman & Nagaland!!
2.How many from that sea of humanity following Anna file their IT returns religiously? I will explain the deeper logic behind this crucial question in a separate post.
I can think of four broad based reasons behind the scale of Anna’s success. Off course there can and must be other reasons as well, so please let me know. The first reason is the very cause for which they are fighting – corruption. There is no other malaise that is more pandemic than corruption. It is the fabric of our society. It is even more ingrained in our ethos than other evils like dowry. Each and every person, irrespective of age, sex, socio economic profile, caste has experienced it. Right from an honest student who gets beaten by his vile friend by bribing the peon to get the papers leaked, to the goondas who have to pay hafta to police or vice versa!! Compare and contrast this with other proposed reforms that have been in the news recently viz land acquisition bill, women’s reservation bill, and the finally Baba Ramdev’s black money stunt. Question is this, does a day laborer toiling in the wet paddy fields of Orissa care about land acquisition when he doesn’t even eat thrice a day?, does he want woman empowerment?, does he even know where Switzerland is? Answer is a clear no. These are not mass appeal causes; on the contrary these are very much the exclusive domain of the cognoscenti. Corruption hits and cuts across everything. This, I believe, is the underlying and most fundamental reason for Anna’s magic.
The second reason I see is the people behind this campaign. Even if we remove Anna from the picture, his tier two team comprises of real heavyweights. For instance look at Kiran Bedi, a lady whom my family deeply admires and respects. She was commissioner of Police at no other place than Tihar itself! There is Sri Sri Ravishankar, Swami Agnivesh, ex Lokayutka Santosh Hegde, Arvind Kejriwal, Bhushan father and son duo and the opportunist yet dashing Ramdev. If the second line of defence behind the commander is as formidable as this, the man in front can do what he is supposed to do – provide vision. Compare and contrast with the government. The captain of the warship is a man of unquestionable integrity, immense wisdom and capacity but lacks the killer instinct. Both Anna and Dr. Singh are the same age, but see the difference. The lieutenants in the likes of Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Digvijay Singh are conceited, arrogant and still riding on the already ebbing tide of Congress’ 2009 electoral triumph.
The third reason is Anna, Anna and Anna. The last time he went on a fast, the episode had missed me as I was busy with work or vacation don’t remember. As is natural, my first impression about this man was… must be x,y,z. And then I heard people calling him a living Gandhi. Ok, I was still skeptical. However two events just clean bowled me with all stumps broken to smithereens. First was a video of his speech taken by Kiran Bedi from her mobile and eventually uploaded to YouTube on the third night of his stay in Tihar jail. I honestly fell in love with the simplicity of the man. The way he talked, the way he smiled, his thoughts, his messages. Quoting Anna - heart attack se marne se accha, arre desh ke liye maroo. Someone who thinks like this is not you or me. Truly, truly self less. Smelt of rain on earth to me. And there are those cunning, salivating foxes in the government’s team. But this did not break the stumps. Today Anna left Tihar Jail and visited Rajghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial, to pay his respects. There were thousands of people around crowding the park in every imaginable direction. After he had finished, he did something incredible. He broke into a sprint surprising everyone, including his security, police, followers and media. This 75 year old man who in his fourth day of fasting, broke into a run with that amusing boy-like mischievous grin was the defining moment in my lifelong enrollment as an Anna fan club member. He is special.
There is one last reason which has contributed to Anna’s campaign spectacular success. The exceptional and flawless execution and PR activities carried out by Team Anna. They have beaten and outwitted the government hands down with backs bent over double. Read this http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story/anna-hazares-media-strategy-decoded/1/148483.html
Team Anna has taken the twitter world by storm it being a top trending topic. They have built a good, simple to use bilingual website. Even the team has worked smartly. When Anna left Tihar Jail in a open truck procession, Kejriwal and Swami Agnivesh accompanied Anna but Kiran Bedi was already at the venue Ramlila Maidan holding forte, singing patriotic songs, galvanizing the crowds. Clever thinking, everbody is not running after the cameras.
There is Anna rchy in India. While I have no clue how the Jan Lokpal Bill will change things if it does become a law someday, I am certain all people of my age should know a little more about Anna Hazare and his values. He is definitely the closest to someone we are truly unfortunate never to have seen in person – Mahatma Gandhi
to be continued…
Anna Hazare. A simple, earthy, septuagenarian from a nondescript village called Ralegaon Siddhi has all but taken the country by a viral storm which has, to my biased delight (I admit), brought a corrupt and more pertinently arrogant, high handed Govt to its knees. The events have brought to my mind a few questions, the answers to which, I believe would only help people understand the events much better and accordingly frame their thinking as per their free will. The questions are
1.What is the reason for the scale of Anna’s success? There have been protest marches in Andaman & Nagaland!!
2.How many from that sea of humanity following Anna file their IT returns religiously? I will explain the deeper logic behind this crucial question in a separate post.
I can think of four broad based reasons behind the scale of Anna’s success. Off course there can and must be other reasons as well, so please let me know. The first reason is the very cause for which they are fighting – corruption. There is no other malaise that is more pandemic than corruption. It is the fabric of our society. It is even more ingrained in our ethos than other evils like dowry. Each and every person, irrespective of age, sex, socio economic profile, caste has experienced it. Right from an honest student who gets beaten by his vile friend by bribing the peon to get the papers leaked, to the goondas who have to pay hafta to police or vice versa!! Compare and contrast this with other proposed reforms that have been in the news recently viz land acquisition bill, women’s reservation bill, and the finally Baba Ramdev’s black money stunt. Question is this, does a day laborer toiling in the wet paddy fields of Orissa care about land acquisition when he doesn’t even eat thrice a day?, does he want woman empowerment?, does he even know where Switzerland is? Answer is a clear no. These are not mass appeal causes; on the contrary these are very much the exclusive domain of the cognoscenti. Corruption hits and cuts across everything. This, I believe, is the underlying and most fundamental reason for Anna’s magic.
The second reason I see is the people behind this campaign. Even if we remove Anna from the picture, his tier two team comprises of real heavyweights. For instance look at Kiran Bedi, a lady whom my family deeply admires and respects. She was commissioner of Police at no other place than Tihar itself! There is Sri Sri Ravishankar, Swami Agnivesh, ex Lokayutka Santosh Hegde, Arvind Kejriwal, Bhushan father and son duo and the opportunist yet dashing Ramdev. If the second line of defence behind the commander is as formidable as this, the man in front can do what he is supposed to do – provide vision. Compare and contrast with the government. The captain of the warship is a man of unquestionable integrity, immense wisdom and capacity but lacks the killer instinct. Both Anna and Dr. Singh are the same age, but see the difference. The lieutenants in the likes of Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari, Digvijay Singh are conceited, arrogant and still riding on the already ebbing tide of Congress’ 2009 electoral triumph.
The third reason is Anna, Anna and Anna. The last time he went on a fast, the episode had missed me as I was busy with work or vacation don’t remember. As is natural, my first impression about this man was… must be x,y,z. And then I heard people calling him a living Gandhi. Ok, I was still skeptical. However two events just clean bowled me with all stumps broken to smithereens. First was a video of his speech taken by Kiran Bedi from her mobile and eventually uploaded to YouTube on the third night of his stay in Tihar jail. I honestly fell in love with the simplicity of the man. The way he talked, the way he smiled, his thoughts, his messages. Quoting Anna - heart attack se marne se accha, arre desh ke liye maroo. Someone who thinks like this is not you or me. Truly, truly self less. Smelt of rain on earth to me. And there are those cunning, salivating foxes in the government’s team. But this did not break the stumps. Today Anna left Tihar Jail and visited Rajghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial, to pay his respects. There were thousands of people around crowding the park in every imaginable direction. After he had finished, he did something incredible. He broke into a sprint surprising everyone, including his security, police, followers and media. This 75 year old man who in his fourth day of fasting, broke into a run with that amusing boy-like mischievous grin was the defining moment in my lifelong enrollment as an Anna fan club member. He is special.
There is one last reason which has contributed to Anna’s campaign spectacular success. The exceptional and flawless execution and PR activities carried out by Team Anna. They have beaten and outwitted the government hands down with backs bent over double. Read this http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story/anna-hazares-media-strategy-decoded/1/148483.html
Team Anna has taken the twitter world by storm it being a top trending topic. They have built a good, simple to use bilingual website. Even the team has worked smartly. When Anna left Tihar Jail in a open truck procession, Kejriwal and Swami Agnivesh accompanied Anna but Kiran Bedi was already at the venue Ramlila Maidan holding forte, singing patriotic songs, galvanizing the crowds. Clever thinking, everbody is not running after the cameras.
There is Anna rchy in India. While I have no clue how the Jan Lokpal Bill will change things if it does become a law someday, I am certain all people of my age should know a little more about Anna Hazare and his values. He is definitely the closest to someone we are truly unfortunate never to have seen in person – Mahatma Gandhi
to be continued…
Labels: Anna Hazare, Corruption, India
1 comments
:) Quite liked the post !
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