The Contrast

    Mitt Romney was pleasantly graceful in his defeat. Barack Obama was simply marvellous in his winning address to his people. Just for a moment contrast their speeches with those of Sonias and Modis in India and you will know the chasm between the two countries and the two people. There is hardly anything but mud slinging when Sonias and Modis speak. The emphasis all the time is on trying to prove who are the worse rogues. Don't be mistaken that the difference is between the quality of leadership in the two countries. The contrast is between the character and the culture of the two people these leaders represent.

Mahesh Jethmalani

      Mahesh Jethmalani resigns from the Executive Committee of BJP as tainted Gadkari continues to be its President. Good. But what does he and millions of his educated and intelligent brothers and sisters do, even though the country continues to be governed by an outright corrupt Cabinet of Ministers (as its overall character, not necessarily each and every member is corrupt). They do precious nothing. Led by Indian Media they just make false noise and continue to enjoy themselves.

No limit to Absurdity

   "PM vows to root out corruption" says the headline in today's The Statesman. He must have meant corruption by others excluding the first family, himself, his council of Ministers, and the Congressmen. Or did he mean that all of them were holy cows and no act by them, howsoever corrupt, could amount to corruption. How does one maintain sanity in this country - touching new depths of depravity each passing day!

Third World = Third Rate

No doubt, India is a third world country. No doubt, it has been ruled by third rate leaders, third rate journalists and editors, third rate judiciary, third rate bureaucrats, and has been inhabited by third rate intelligentsia. Now, we also have third rate crusaders (who don't require any outside force to divide them) on the scene.

Challenge for Debate

  Arvind Kejriwal, no doubt, is an intelligent man. That is because he has challenged Sonia Gandhi, PM Manmohan Singh, and Rahul Gandhi for a debate. He could not be more intelligent in choice of his competitors, who could be challenged even by the mentally retarded. Sonia Gandhi will have to ask her speech writers before she could argue any point, Manmohan will have to ask Sonia, and Rahul Gandhi will keep on wondering whom to ask.   

Arvind Kejriwal - Death before Birth

 Some recent developments resulting in loss pf credibility for IAC and Arvind Kejriwal have made it necessary that I make an email dated 19/9/12 to Mr Prashant Bhushan/Mr Kejriwal public. Here is the mail:

"Dear Mr Prashant Bhushan/Arvind Kejriwal,

 I have received no reply to my last mail to Mr Kejriwal. I am not sure whether you are undecided about me or you have made up mind that I am insignificant and shouldn't matter to your cause.

Anyway, I am sharing here my thoughts and giving some inputs, I feel necessary.

Anna Hazare never appeared to be a man with vision. His strength has been his simplicity, selflessness, a life devoted to social service, and his integrity. By some of his utterances and actions today, his integrity comes under cloud. Wasn't it he who publicly announced decision to go political and gave green signal to Mr Kejriwal for proceeding in that direction? If now he has chosen to turn his back on his own team, the team should simply say 'good riddance' and look forward. It is the cause that should matter, and not the individuals, whosoever they be.

I learn that Mr Kejriwal also has stated today that 'the country is passing through a difficult phase, and I'll do everything possible to save it.' No doubt, very commendable spirit. But one can't achieve much by rhetoric alone. One has to act. And it is not so easy for a few individuals to save a country of 120 crores, a country having men of straw at the helm of affairs and a corrupted people. The rhetoric of 'Janlokpal' and 'remove corruption' alone can't achieve much. This rhetoric has served its purpose. It has created some awareness, and brought you and your team to the center stage,  under media attention. Now a lot, lot, lot more needs to be done  beyond lokpal and corruption. 

First of all, the core team must do honest introspection. What is the motivation? What force binds you people together? Is it ambitions or a deep desire for systemic corrections? The people who have  nothing but a deep desire to make Indian society free from inequalities and injustices at their heart alone should form the Core Team. They shouldn't be egotists and must have a sense of purpose above everything else. There are many such Indians, I am sure. The need is to identify them, unite them and bring them to one platform. This is neither very easy nor very difficult. The task at hand -- to correct systems rotting at the roots for years -- is no child's play and very challenging. But where there is a will, there is a way.

I feel encouraged by presence of Sh. Yogendra Yadav, the psephologist, with you. I feel he has a very mature political mind and appears to be a very balanced individual. 

Once you decide to form a political outfit, the work increases exponentially, and you will have to have a detailed road map for a variety of issues. You have to act a lot, and act fast.

I also have an idea, which can be implemented just through creation of a website, may be even more effective than Lokpal, for people seeking justice across the length and breadth of country, not only from govt but also from unscrupulous private players. With your organisation, it will not be much difficult to implement it, and if implemented by you - your credibility will get established beyond doubt.

I shall close now as I am feeling like sleeping. If I look like sermonising, kindly excuse me as that is not the intention in the least. I am sure that you will find nothing new in most of above. If you feel that I am intruding into your space and time unnecessarily, kindly excuse me and let me know. I shall find my peace.

Regards,
Atul Kumar"

It is not so disappointing that they chose to pay no heed to this mail. What is really disappointing is that what has followed since. It is disappointing to know that they have allowed themselves to be blinded by the media glare (did media lead them to this on purpose?), have allowed their credibility to be lost beyond redemption in near future (if they don't realise it and chose to be blind to this fact also, God alone can help them!), and have betrayed the thousands of middle class Indians whose hopes they had raised. An article by Mr Rajinder Puri in 'The Statesman' today raises serious doubts about the credibility of Mr Kejriwal. And Mr Y P Singh, the retired IPS, drew the proverbial final nail in the coffin yesterday. 

What appears now is that Mr Kejriwal and the bunch surrounding him tend to continue to be-fool the people through the slogan of 'remove corruption,' on the same lines as Congress had been doing for half a decade through the slogan of 'remove poverty.' Though Mr Kejriwal continuously talks of need to change the system, he has yet to come out with a plan for the same. He has been doing nothing beyond telling people what they already know, that most of our leaders are corrupt. And posing himself as the champion against corruption, he has had kind words to say about the fountain head of corruption, the first family, as the article by Mr Rajinder Puri reveals. His not bothering to respond even to the italicized para of my mail confirms that he has allowed himself to become nothing but a self seeking politician just like those whom he attacks.  

Now Baba Ramdev remains the only hope for us. Let us see whether he also fails us or we fail him, or together we succeed.

Anna Hazare

 Anna Hazare has been expressing his annoyance at Arvind Kejriwal entering politics. But he himself has already become a politician. That's why one fine morning he is with Kejriwal, next morning annoyed with him, and next morning again not annoyed, the ground reality remaining same all the time.

So much so for the so called non-political movement.