I would like to express my sincere apologies to Mahatma Gandhi for disbelieving in his ideology. Yes, I didn’t believe in the power of Satyagrah (till yesterday) and I hated it because it taught high tolerance against ill behaviour and also because of its time consuming nature. But while thinking so I missed out on a point that though Satyagrah teaches high tolerance and takes time as compared to a quick fix (not always effective) violent protest, it also teaches us to be perseverant and strongly consistent when its time to stand by the truth and fight for it. Now, I sincerely thank Mahatma Gandhi for gifting India a weapon which I call as WMU (Weapon of Mass Unification)
Yesterday, I saw and felt the power of Satyagrah with thousands walking down the streets in support of Janlokpal Bill and Anna Hazare (Gandhian). The sight of this protest march was overwhelming. People from different walks of life pumped up the streets keeping all reservations behind. Around me I could see a 5 year old waving the flag with joy, a sixty year old marching down and shouting slogans with teenagers besides him. Hindu, Christians, Muslims, and people from different religions all were a part of this march.
I was astonished because these were the same people (including me) who, sometime back, used to say, “kuch nahi ho sakta is desh ka” (nothing good can be done about this country) and now, with their hearts out, were shouting, “ye aandhi nahi rukegi” (this storm will never stop). How did this happen? Who invoked the sleeping spirit of fighting for owns right in them? Answer is one man – Anna Hazare, a man with clear conscience and a man who possesses WMU (Weapon of Mass Unification).
Anna Hazare has come a long way and holds a record number of such protest/fights for bringing in the change which is good for the society. Anna is ex-military man who took voluntary retirement to come back to his village and devote his rest of the life for betterment of the society. He started off with his efforts at his home town Ralegaon Siddhi where he successfully transformed a village plagued by acute poverty, deprivation, a fragile ecosystem, neglect and hopelessness into a developed self sufficient village and that too without any industrialization. For these efforts he was awarded with Padma Bhushan. He has also fought for bringing into force many laws one of them being the RTI Act in early 2000.
Anna is now fighting for Janlokpal Bill. A bill, which if passed, will open the system naked in front of general public. It is believed that Janlokpal will ensure that common man won’t have to endure the corrupt system. He can freely raise his voice against it and expect justice within two years.
I won’t explain much about Janlokpal bill here because the point that I want to address here is that when on one hand we can see people coming out in numbers in support of it, at the same time, on the other hand there is a small sect of people who are questioning Anna Hazare’s motives and the sensibility of having Janlokpal. Some have also gone to the extent of saying that Janlokpal will be a parallel govt. which is harmful to the constitution of this country. Some ultra pessimist and cynics question “Do even half of the people who support Anna and bill know what it is? “ I pity those who think and say so.
Firstly, please study a little bit about Anna’s background before questioning his motives you will then answer yourself. About Janlokpal being a sensible option or not, and it being a parallel govt. ,well, if voting consistently for 64 years and despite supporting a system for 64 years if all that we get to see and talk about in the end is that “Corruption is killing this country” then why not give Janlokpal a chance.
Isn’t Janlokpal a parallel govt.? Is CBI a parallel govt.? Is CAG a parallel govt.? We have many other independent agencies which are there to keep a check on executives? Are they a parallel govt.? Likewise Janlokpal will be an independent body but unlike other agencies it won’t be in the clutches of the govt.? It doesn’t have to seek the permission of the same corrupt officials against whom the complaint is launched asking them shall we arrest you’re not. To learn more please see this video in which Arvind Kejriwal explains very well in detail.
Friends, this is not the time to be cynical. It’s time to be a part of a revolution which if successful will change our lives and that our upcoming generation for the better. We should take pride in the fact that we’re witnessing and we are getting a chance to be a part of this iconic revolution. Iconic in the sense that it’s happening across the country with people demonstrating their anger peacefully and not a single stone is being pelted. Isn’t this something in which we should take pride and say “Mera Bharat Mahan”? Its time to fight, fight for a corruption free system.