By four o'clock, it was raining and the ochre dust had turned to mud. The plastic sheets that had been stretched in front of the stage at Delhi's Ram Lila parade ground did little to keep out the monsoon downpour. On the stage itself, looking out over thousands of followers sat a diminutive, bespectacled 74-year-old man wearing white and a distant, enigmatic smile.
If Anna Hazare, the veteran social activist, was bothered by the rain falling on this particular parade he did not show it. Hazare shows little and says little at the best of times, his associates say. His only lengthy intervention during the last turbulent week in India came in a video, recorded before his arrest at 7am in the morning by Delhi police on Tuesday and released the moment he and a thousand or so of his followers were rounded up. In the video, broadcast on YouTube, Hazare called for a "second freedom struggle". The first had been against the British. Now it was time to fight corruption, he said.
Those standing under the warm downpour fervently agreed. "I am Anna Hazare," said Lalita Kapoor, a 22-year-old student, repeating the slogan on tens of thousands of T-shirts, banners, caps and newspaper front pages last week. "We are all Anna Hazare." More...
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If Anna Hazare, the veteran social activist, was bothered by the rain falling on this particular parade he did not show it. Hazare shows little and says little at the best of times, his associates say. His only lengthy intervention during the last turbulent week in India came in a video, recorded before his arrest at 7am in the morning by Delhi police on Tuesday and released the moment he and a thousand or so of his followers were rounded up. In the video, broadcast on YouTube, Hazare called for a "second freedom struggle". The first had been against the British. Now it was time to fight corruption, he said.
Those standing under the warm downpour fervently agreed. "I am Anna Hazare," said Lalita Kapoor, a 22-year-old student, repeating the slogan on tens of thousands of T-shirts, banners, caps and newspaper front pages last week. "We are all Anna Hazare." More...
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To all the people of India who are annoyed by Anna's struggle against corruption :-
ReplyDeleteDear fellow country-men/women,
Anna and his supporters had to take this stern step, not because they wanted to annoy people. But because the Govt and its politicians were adamant in their stand i.e. not to bring an useful & effective bill so that corruption would end. But instead till now Govt has tried deceptive tricks to ward off Team Anna, & also shamelessly introduced a pro-corruption & anti-whistleblower bill. In the beginning Team Anna was trying to cordially talk to the politicians to bring an effective bill. But the Govt deceived & showed adamancy, & all signs of nurturing & legitimizing corruption. So Anna had to take to Satyagraha. I would like to ask humbly the people who are criticizing this movement that; have you anybody, ever, in your life, critcised CORRUPTION as passionately as you are criticizing Anna now. I haven’t heard of anyone since the last fifty years who has so sincerely felt & taken initiative about corruption as Team-Anna. And now you people want to stop Anna.
Anna does not have a family, no wife, no son, no daughter. He is doing this for us Indians and you also, [and the corrupt also, because "corruption does not pay" anybody. Ultimately the corrupt would also suffer, for lack of good governance due to corruption.]
Before thinking of stopping Anna please stop corruption. Anna will vanish immediately. Anna is the effect of Corruption. Don't try to stop the effect, but stop the cause. Anna is not one person. 'Anna' is the 'face' of the DISGUST of the humble common man against greed of the mighty. And if you try your dirty tricks to stop it, a volcano will erupt. And the nation will be burnt to ashes. Neither the corrupt will remain nor the anti-corrupt. Better mend your ways before it is too late. You have kindled the volcano by your greed. You yourselves have to cool it. By showing to it that you will tame your greed. If you do not cool the volcano, the future is not in the hands of anybody.
I labled your 'trying' to stop Anna, as 'dirty tricks'. Because, THEY ARE DIRTY. Because they are not directed towards the root cause. The root cause is the greed in every politician and his/her follower, Bureaucrat, Corporates. Your tricks are not directed towards stopping that greed, but are directed towards stopping Anna or pacifying Anna. SHAME ON YOU. That's why you too are called 'corrupt' and 'anti-national' and 'anti-social'. Because you are such. Because you are not pained by greed, much. You are not pained by corruption, much. You are not pained by throat cutting tactics of filthy politicians, much. But you are pained by Anna, more. Because your souls are corrupt. I repeat again, have you ever in your life criticized CORRUPTION so passionately as Team Anna. No. That is why we call you corrupt. YOU ARE CORRUPT. CORRUPT TO THE CORE. If you want Anna to stop. Criticize Sonia Gandhi, Advani, Mayavati, the filth eating bureaucrats, for abetting or not stopping corruption. Ask them to stop Corruption. Ask them what steps they have taken ever. If they stop it, All Annas will stop. Or else Annas will be there as long as Corruption is there. And the volcano will erupt one day. You won't be there, I won't be there, and the filthy will not be there. Good luck.