By Ashish Tripathi
Ashish Tripathi is a principal correspondent with The Times of India in Lucknow.
There is no doubt that Baba Ramdev has a political agenda, if not a communal. He has floated a political party and is using corruption as an issue to carve out a political space. But the Yoga guru would have now realised that the politics is the game of scoundrels and that he is no match to the Congress.
Congress leaders first made Baba speak against Anna Hazare's proposal to include prime minister under the jurisdiction of Jan Lokpal. They also tried to break the unity of team Anna by questioning the induction of father-son duo Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan in the Lokpal drafting committee, while ignoring Kiran Bedi. Efforts were also made and are being made to discredit the team Anna through CDs, questioning its funding and doubting the efficacy of Lokpal. Team Anna had an inclining about the nefarious designs of Congress leaders, hence it insisted on videography of the committee meetings. But Baba tried to act smart and ended up with egg on his face. Kapil Sibal threw himself to Baba 's feet only to pull the rug from under it later, while Digvijay Singh labeled the movement of Baba and Anna as Sangh Parivar's 'communal conspiracy' to destabilise the UPA government.
The conduct of Congress leaders and police action against innocent people demonstrating peacefully at Ramlila ground in Delhi has shown how desperately Congress wants to suppress the issues of lokpal, corruption and black money. Some incidents which took place under the UPA government in the past one year can help analyse as to who (in Congress leaders' words) is 'cheat' and 'darmebaz'. On June 11, 2011, over 400 tribal children at Dhinkia in Odisha, while lying on hot sand, formed a human chain to protest against acquisition of 3,700 acres of land for POSCO steel plant which will leave them homeless. The tribals are wondering where is Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi who last year in August, while addressing a rally in the state, assured tribals that he is their 'sipahi' in Delhi but later his government gave 'conditional' nod to the plant but has now washed its hand off saying "it's state government's problem"
In April this year, a former Supreme Court judge, VR Krishna Iyer wrote to Rahul Gandhi questioning why he is mum over anti-corruption campaign of Anna. The Gandhi scion replied sarcastically that he is fighting corruption quietly and do not want to become a hero by publicising it. The fact, I presume, was that he was aware of his party's strategy to destabilise anti-corruption campaign. Congress's heir apparent obviously wants to become prime minister and not a hero. While Rahul claims that he is fighting against corruption, the people have lost count of scams taken place under his party's government .
Now sample this: On April 30, 2011, at a Congress's rally at Bundelkhand in UP organised by Rahul, prime minister Manmohan Singh, while announcing a package for the poverty-ridden area, said that he is working as per Sonia ji's 'prerna' (inspiration). The package had nothing but recycling of old announcements.
On August 14, 2010, five persons, including four farmers , were killed in police-farmer clash at Tappal in Aligarh. Farmers were opposing acquisition of their land at low rates by the UP government for construction of Yamuna Expressway township. On August 25, 2010, Rahul escorted a farmer's delegation from Aligarh to meet prime minister. Farmers demanded amendment in the Land Acquisition Act 1894.
The prime minister assured that it will be done in the next session of Parliament. But nothing was done. On May 7, 2011, four persons, including two farmers, died at Bhatta-Parsaul in farmer-police clash over land acquisition. On May 20, Rahul again took a delegation of farmers to meet prime ministers. And, farmers got an assurance again. Rahul's allegations that men were burnt alive in the village were found to be untrue. So, is Rahul really concerned about farmers or playing politics?
Congress leaders first made Baba speak against Anna Hazare's proposal to include prime minister under the jurisdiction of Jan Lokpal. They also tried to break the unity of team Anna by questioning the induction of father-son duo Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan in the Lokpal drafting committee, while ignoring Kiran Bedi. Efforts were also made and are being made to discredit the team Anna through CDs, questioning its funding and doubting the efficacy of Lokpal. Team Anna had an inclining about the nefarious designs of Congress leaders, hence it insisted on videography of the committee meetings. But Baba tried to act smart and ended up with egg on his face. Kapil Sibal threw himself to Baba 's feet only to pull the rug from under it later, while Digvijay Singh labeled the movement of Baba and Anna as Sangh Parivar's 'communal conspiracy' to destabilise the UPA government.
The conduct of Congress leaders and police action against innocent people demonstrating peacefully at Ramlila ground in Delhi has shown how desperately Congress wants to suppress the issues of lokpal, corruption and black money. Some incidents which took place under the UPA government in the past one year can help analyse as to who (in Congress leaders' words) is 'cheat' and 'darmebaz'. On June 11, 2011, over 400 tribal children at Dhinkia in Odisha, while lying on hot sand, formed a human chain to protest against acquisition of 3,700 acres of land for POSCO steel plant which will leave them homeless. The tribals are wondering where is Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi who last year in August, while addressing a rally in the state, assured tribals that he is their 'sipahi' in Delhi but later his government gave 'conditional' nod to the plant but has now washed its hand off saying "it's state government's problem"
In April this year, a former Supreme Court judge, VR Krishna Iyer wrote to Rahul Gandhi questioning why he is mum over anti-corruption campaign of Anna. The Gandhi scion replied sarcastically that he is fighting corruption quietly and do not want to become a hero by publicising it. The fact, I presume, was that he was aware of his party's strategy to destabilise anti-corruption campaign. Congress's heir apparent obviously wants to become prime minister and not a hero. While Rahul claims that he is fighting against corruption, the people have lost count of scams taken place under his party's government .
Now sample this: On April 30, 2011, at a Congress's rally at Bundelkhand in UP organised by Rahul, prime minister Manmohan Singh, while announcing a package for the poverty-ridden area, said that he is working as per Sonia ji's 'prerna' (inspiration). The package had nothing but recycling of old announcements.
On August 14, 2010, five persons, including four farmers , were killed in police-farmer clash at Tappal in Aligarh. Farmers were opposing acquisition of their land at low rates by the UP government for construction of Yamuna Expressway township. On August 25, 2010, Rahul escorted a farmer's delegation from Aligarh to meet prime minister. Farmers demanded amendment in the Land Acquisition Act 1894.
The prime minister assured that it will be done in the next session of Parliament. But nothing was done. On May 7, 2011, four persons, including two farmers, died at Bhatta-Parsaul in farmer-police clash over land acquisition. On May 20, Rahul again took a delegation of farmers to meet prime ministers. And, farmers got an assurance again. Rahul's allegations that men were burnt alive in the village were found to be untrue. So, is Rahul really concerned about farmers or playing politics?
Manmohan Singh, on May 24, 2010, had defended telecom minister A Raja on 2G spectrum scam saying "Raja had only followed the policies of the previous BJP led NDA regime." He also said that the case was being probed. But the fact is that the investigations would have not progressed and resulted in Raja's arrest, had the Supreme Court not taken a strict stand on it. Even after Raja's arrest, the prime minister defended his government in Parliament on February 24, 2011. He said that by giving telecom licences at low prices, the government ensured that cell phones were made affordable to the masses. On skipping an auction for the 2G (which as per comptroller and auditor general caused a loss of 1.75 lakh crore to country's exchequer) mobile network licences in 2008, prime minister said, "while the policy was sound , the way it was implemented, I think, gave rise to the problems."
Sibal took over the telecommunication ministry after Raja's arrest. Initially, he acted as if he would be tough against corruption but later questioned the methodology adopted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in calculating losses in 2G spectrum allocation saying that the CAG was utterly erroneous in pegging the loss at Rs 1.75 lakh crore while awarding airwaves for 2G phone services in 2008. He claimed that there was a zero loss. But later, not only the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) proved Sibal wrong but he was also slammed by the Supreme Court. Again, it was after the Supreme Court struck down the appointment of SV Thomas as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner on March 4, 2011, the prime minister 'realised his mistake' that he was not apprised by the officials about Thomas' credentials. Till then, he chose to overlook all the objections raised by the Opposition parties.
SC Agarwal, an activist, recently accessed some letters on Commonwealth Games (CWG) under Right to Information. The letters were written between 2006-07 by the then sports minister Mani Shankar Aiyar to prime minister alerting him how money was being squandered by CWG organising committee chief Suresh Kalmadi on unreasonable things which has increased the expenditure of the games to over Rs 20,000 crore. But Manmohan Singh only sent back one liner 'acknowledgements' of the letters. It has also been reported that Aiyer even met prime minister and apprised him about the situation. If Aiyer was so vocal about the affair, it can be safely presumed that Soniaji and Rahulji as well as Sibal-Singh duo were also aware of the scam in making but nothing was done. Kalmadi was arrested in April 2011 following CBI probe but why no action was taken earlier to prevent the scam?
In January this year, the Supreme Court pulled up the UPA government describing black money stashed abroad as "plunder of the nation" and "a pure and simple theft of the national money". But the government has not done anything substantial so far. The issue of black money and corruption is older than Baba Ramdev. The question is why none of the successive Congress governments or for that matter governments of other parties at the Centre did not act earlier? Political parties have today taken different stands over the issue but I am sure none will stop "plundering of the nation" because most of the politicians and their corporate cronies are involved in it. They know that public memory is short and media can be managed. They also know that people can be manipulated to vote on caste, communal and regional lines in elections. After all, they have doing it successfully for years.
It's not about corruption alone. Last year, when the issue of price hike was giving UPA government sleepless nights, the Congress introduced women reservation bill in parliament to divert public attention. After few months, when the issue of spiralling inflation cropped up again, Digvijay Singh tried to shift focus through his statement that joint commissioner, Mumbai police, Hemant Karkare, who attained martyrdom during 26/11 Mumbai terror strike, was facing life threat from the saffron terrorists. In fact, price rise, poverty and corruption are also inter-linked. The business community use the black money to fund political parties and later reap rich dividends by manipulating prices, grabbing contracts and financial waivers for business. Governments carry on committing one scam after another because we (privileged class) is also involved in corruption and poor is fighting for its survival.
Instead of clinging on to the power, I think it's high time for Congress to follow Gandhi's "Last Will And Testament" written on January 29, 1948, a day before his assassination. He was aware of corrupt and opportunist elements making way into the Congress to grab power, hence he wanted Congress to be disbanded and converted into an Lok Sevak Sangh, an association for the service of the people.
Bapu even prepared the Constitution of the Lok Seval Sangh. Here are some excerpts: "...the Congress in its present shape and form, i.e, as a propaganda vehicle and parliamentary machine, has outlived its use. India has still to attain social, moral and economic independence in terms of its 7,00 thousand villages as distinguished from its cities and towns. The struggle for the ascendancy of civil over military power is bound to take place in India's progress towards its democratic goal. It must be kept out of unhealthy competition with political parties and communal bodies.
For these and other similar reasons, the AICC resolves to disband the existing Congress organization and flower into a Lok Sevak Sangh...the duty of the Sangh will be to serve its master, the whole of India...Every worker of the Sangh shall be a habitual wearer of khadi made from self-spun yarn and must be a teetotaller...The workers will organise villages so as to make them self-contained and self-supporting through their agriculture and handicrafts, educate the village folk in sanitation and hygiene and take all measures for prevention of ill-health and disease among them... The workers will organise the education of the village folk from birth to death...The Sangh shall raise funds from people and make public all accounts.....The Sangh shall have autonomous bodies – All India Spinners Association, All India Village Industries Association, Hindustani Talimi Sangh for basic education, Harijan Sevak Sangh to serve untouchables, Goseva Sangh for Cow-protection..."
Sibal took over the telecommunication ministry after Raja's arrest. Initially, he acted as if he would be tough against corruption but later questioned the methodology adopted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in calculating losses in 2G spectrum allocation saying that the CAG was utterly erroneous in pegging the loss at Rs 1.75 lakh crore while awarding airwaves for 2G phone services in 2008. He claimed that there was a zero loss. But later, not only the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) proved Sibal wrong but he was also slammed by the Supreme Court. Again, it was after the Supreme Court struck down the appointment of SV Thomas as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner on March 4, 2011, the prime minister 'realised his mistake' that he was not apprised by the officials about Thomas' credentials. Till then, he chose to overlook all the objections raised by the Opposition parties.
SC Agarwal, an activist, recently accessed some letters on Commonwealth Games (CWG) under Right to Information. The letters were written between 2006-07 by the then sports minister Mani Shankar Aiyar to prime minister alerting him how money was being squandered by CWG organising committee chief Suresh Kalmadi on unreasonable things which has increased the expenditure of the games to over Rs 20,000 crore. But Manmohan Singh only sent back one liner 'acknowledgements' of the letters. It has also been reported that Aiyer even met prime minister and apprised him about the situation. If Aiyer was so vocal about the affair, it can be safely presumed that Soniaji and Rahulji as well as Sibal-Singh duo were also aware of the scam in making but nothing was done. Kalmadi was arrested in April 2011 following CBI probe but why no action was taken earlier to prevent the scam?
In January this year, the Supreme Court pulled up the UPA government describing black money stashed abroad as "plunder of the nation" and "a pure and simple theft of the national money". But the government has not done anything substantial so far. The issue of black money and corruption is older than Baba Ramdev. The question is why none of the successive Congress governments or for that matter governments of other parties at the Centre did not act earlier? Political parties have today taken different stands over the issue but I am sure none will stop "plundering of the nation" because most of the politicians and their corporate cronies are involved in it. They know that public memory is short and media can be managed. They also know that people can be manipulated to vote on caste, communal and regional lines in elections. After all, they have doing it successfully for years.
It's not about corruption alone. Last year, when the issue of price hike was giving UPA government sleepless nights, the Congress introduced women reservation bill in parliament to divert public attention. After few months, when the issue of spiralling inflation cropped up again, Digvijay Singh tried to shift focus through his statement that joint commissioner, Mumbai police, Hemant Karkare, who attained martyrdom during 26/11 Mumbai terror strike, was facing life threat from the saffron terrorists. In fact, price rise, poverty and corruption are also inter-linked. The business community use the black money to fund political parties and later reap rich dividends by manipulating prices, grabbing contracts and financial waivers for business. Governments carry on committing one scam after another because we (privileged class) is also involved in corruption and poor is fighting for its survival.
Instead of clinging on to the power, I think it's high time for Congress to follow Gandhi's "Last Will And Testament" written on January 29, 1948, a day before his assassination. He was aware of corrupt and opportunist elements making way into the Congress to grab power, hence he wanted Congress to be disbanded and converted into an Lok Sevak Sangh, an association for the service of the people.
Bapu even prepared the Constitution of the Lok Seval Sangh. Here are some excerpts: "...the Congress in its present shape and form, i.e, as a propaganda vehicle and parliamentary machine, has outlived its use. India has still to attain social, moral and economic independence in terms of its 7,00 thousand villages as distinguished from its cities and towns. The struggle for the ascendancy of civil over military power is bound to take place in India's progress towards its democratic goal. It must be kept out of unhealthy competition with political parties and communal bodies.
For these and other similar reasons, the AICC resolves to disband the existing Congress organization and flower into a Lok Sevak Sangh...the duty of the Sangh will be to serve its master, the whole of India...Every worker of the Sangh shall be a habitual wearer of khadi made from self-spun yarn and must be a teetotaller...The workers will organise villages so as to make them self-contained and self-supporting through their agriculture and handicrafts, educate the village folk in sanitation and hygiene and take all measures for prevention of ill-health and disease among them... The workers will organise the education of the village folk from birth to death...The Sangh shall raise funds from people and make public all accounts.....The Sangh shall have autonomous bodies – All India Spinners Association, All India Village Industries Association, Hindustani Talimi Sangh for basic education, Harijan Sevak Sangh to serve untouchables, Goseva Sangh for Cow-protection..."
No comments:
Post a Comment