Has Anna Hazare Lost the Battle?: (English); Anna's Fight Against Corruption;

Has Anna Hazare Lost The Battle?: (English)

Anna's Fight Against Corruption

I was in anguish when I saw the face of Anna Hazare on TV during his fast in Mumbai. He was adamant to carry out his fast despite running high temperature and he tried his best to keep his promise to the nation.. This frail old man of 74 has personally nothing to gain out of this struggle but wants to see Rama Rajya established in Bharat. I have purposely used the words 'Rama Rajya' and 'Bharat' because they are drawn from our ancient culture and not imported. However, let me make it clear that I have not been advised by any party or social group to use these words. Nor has Anna Hazare been advised by any party or social group to undertake a crusade against corruption. Had it been so, the Shiv Sena supremo would not have expressed his dislike for him.
Mumbaiites failed this selfless soul for reasons best known to them. Reasons can be many. One, Mumbai people are time conscious and do not have time to spend for political rallies since time has a cost for them and they attend the rallies of Politicians only because they are paid for the same. Two, proper logistics was not planned by IAC to ensure proper attendance coupled with State Government sabotaging it by creating transportation hurdles. Three, people found no reason why Anna should undertake fast when the bill was being tabled in the Lok Sabha. Whatever reason may have weighed heavily on the minds of the people, fact remains we failed this sincere crusader against corruption. I refrain to call Anna a Mahatma or a Second Gandhi because such tags raise the expectations of the people from the mortal human beings.
During the past several months the Government used many a method to bring down the image of Anna and his team. Initially they questioned their integrity and their past record. I do not know how much truth is there in such allegations but question arises as to why did the Government not take action against them at proper time and preferred to undertake a smear campaign now. Fortunately,this adverse publicity did not find favour with the public. I would like to add here that no body in this world is perfect and there is a possibility of some mistake having been committed by any one of them. What has to be seen is whether the act committed was with an intention to amass wealth and become rich or was it a mere act of oversight? I would advise all the members of IAC to declare their assets and let any one conduct scrutiny as they please.
When the Government failed to smear the good name of  IAC activists, it resorted to communalising the whole issue through their hounds who day in and day out publicized that the movement had the backing of RSS. For the sake of discussion, let us presume that the movement has a backing of RSS, what then? Is fighting against corruption an anti-Muslim act or anti-Christian act? Does rooting out corruption adversely affect the rights of Scheduled castes, Scheduled tribes and Other backward Classes? Muslims are known to have least representation in Government jobs. Would anti-corruption measures not reduce nepotism, communalism and money power in recruitment and ensure that all deserving Muslims get their due? Would machinations of high-caste babus not be exposed if Lokpal bill was in place? Would we not get a society which believed in equality of opportunity? If RSS backs a movement which benefits all the citizens of the country should we oppose it just because a Hindu body supports it. I feel we should welcome any step taken by anybody if it is for the welfare of the entire society and not for a few. In fact it is today I wish that Muslims and Dalits had sincere and selfless leaders like Maulana Abulkalam Azad and Baba Saheb Ambedkar who would have shown them the right path.
An objection was raised whether a nominated body could take to task the Prime Minister or the elected representatives of the people who indulge in corruption? The answer is make the Lokpal also an elected body. Let the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha elect the members of Lokpal. Even by selecting the members of Lokpal through PM, Vice President, Speaker,Chief Justce and an eminent Jurist , he becomes indirectly elected as majority of the selectors are elected representatives of the people. The only thing an independent Lokpal ensures is that it will focus on eradicating corruption from the country and would expedite such cases.
And then the big questions that Prime Minister will be belittled if he comes under the purview of Lokpal. May I ask a counter question as to why should a Prime Minister do an act which calls attention of a Lokpal?  If he is upright , every citizen of India including the Lokpal will bow before him and he will write his name in golden letters in the history of India.
Last but not the least , I feel that there is still time for the Parliamentarians to rise above party politics and petty personal gains and give to the people of India a Lokpal which is truly an independent body so that the generations to come will remember them the way they remember B R Ambedkar and the constitution makers.

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Kashmir: An Open Letter To Prashant Bhushan: (English); Deepak Budki

Kashmir: An Open Letter To Prashant Bhushan:

 (English); Deepak Budki

Dear Shri Bhushan,

At the very outset let me introduce myself. I am neither a rightist nor a leftist, nor even a centrist. I am just one out of one hundred and twenty crores of Indians, and I belong to Kashmir. I am the original inhabitant of Kashmir with history dating back to five thousand years which is older than Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Over a period of last seven centuries I have been reduced to a minuscule minority of not more than five lakh souls due to repeated invasions, proselytizing and persecution. However, I rejoiced the day my country was declared independent in 1947 though I remained in a state of fix because my brothers and sisters in Baramulla were facing genocide and rapine till such time Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir finally decided to accede to India. From that day onwards I preferred to exist without complaint in a state of continuous deprivation and denial.The only solace for me was that I lived in my own homeland and country.

But your recent statement pained me immensely. I had heard similar things earlier from a few more self styled activists like Arundathi Roy who has taken upon herself the burden of the nation just because she has written a book in English which has won her acclaim.Had she written the same in any other language she would not be known even beyond her street for you know the fate of other writers in India. Incidentally I have written seven books in Urdu till date. Your statement came as a bolt from the blue because I had pinned many a hope upon the Anna team since I regard Anna as the saviour of the  country in modern times.

May I again emphasise that I am the original inhabitant of Kashmir which has a hindu tradition of five thousand years. Not only that, Jammu and Kashmir is not inhabited by only Kashmiri Muslims but by Dogras, Sikhs, Budhists and Christians as well. Even among Kashmiri Muslims there are differnt sects and schisms such as sunnis and shias, gujjars, Kargil and Ladakh muslims who do not see eye to eye with each other. When you talk of Plebiscite as the ultimate resolution of Kashmir problem you seem to ignore these facts.The Plebiscite carries certain obligations on the part of all the parties involved viz India, Pakistan and the State of Jammu and Kashmir. You may be aware of Pakistan having annexed parts of erstwhile J&K State like Gilgit, Skardu, Hunza, Nagar and Baltistan with mainland Pakistan and having ceded a part of the state to China for strategic purposes to encircle India. Whatever was left was assigned the nomenclature of Azad Kashmir by Pakistan which ironically never enjoyed freedom and democracy in the past six decades as opposed to the Jammu and Kashmir State, a part of India, where liberty, equality and freedom of worship is enjoyed by all the citizens. The original idea of plebiscite was that it was required to be undertaken on return of normalcy in in whole of J&K state without any attempt of ethnic cleansing in any part. Is this practicable now when whole of Pakistan occupied Kashmir has been homogenised  by the Pakistan government and no hindu, sikh or budhist can be seen in the entire Pakistan occupied Kashmir so much so they carried out this ethnic cleansing in Kashmir valley across the LOC by sponsoring terrorism in the valley.

I would perhaps still agree with you if I could understand the basis of such an opinion. Kashmiri separatist leaders have been asserting all through that they are muslims and would like to be part of a Muslim State called Pakistan or form a separate state with Islam as the state religion. That would mean that we accept the two nation theory once again in the same manner as we accepted in 1947 by default though our leaders have been continuously denying the same notwithstanding the creation of Islamic state of Pakistan. In the event we accept this secession of part of our country what prevents other inimical forces to gain strength and seek independence for states like Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Nagaland, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur, Arunachal and Sikkim.Would this situation be acceptable to you to witness this country get fragmented into small innumerable states just because we could not administer them properly and that people like you and Roy lived in posh glass houses with security given at our nation's expense.

May I further ask you whether Pakistan would also hold such a plebiscite in Sindh, Bulochistan and NWFP? I have not noticed you or Arundhati Roy taking any steps or doing anything substantial to coerce China to hold plebiscite in Tibet or grant independence to them. What action did you take when Sri Lankan Tamils were massacred and butchered by the Sri Lankan Army  recently? You and Arundhati Roy could at least have gone to Colombo, courted arrest and gone on indefinite fast to stop the army of Sri Lanka to conduct such a heinous massacre. But you would not do that because no body would care for you. More so they would have annhilated you in no time. Here in India you can get recognition and big name by speaking such things and posing as pseudo human rights activists and our mass media would give you maximum coverage because they increase their market share by such methods.

I understand your love for human rights and sympathise with you. May I know how many Kashmiri Pandit refugee camps did you visit after their exodus in 1990. How much financial help did you render to them from your personal wealth. How many Kashmiri Pandit refugees did you lodge in your house till they could find some accommodation on their own? If you have not done any of these it does not behove you to talk of human rights and human suffering.

Needless to remind you that USA and European nations, after realising what wrong they had done to the Jews in the past, atoned for it and re-established them in Israel by creating a separate home land for them notwithstanding the opposition from the middle east countries and the whole Islamic bloc. On the contrary, you are keen that Kashmir should secede from India and the Kashmiri Pandits should be deprived of their home land and not allowed to return as also perish in due course of time. I only wish good sense prevails upon you and people like you because parasites grow only at the expense of other's.

With regards,
Yours sincerely, 
Deepak Budki.