Anna Hazare's corrupt past catches up with him

 

With Justice Satwant Commission Report exploding in the face of Team Anna, read our latest post: Anna Hazare: Only in India can a man indicted for corruption become an anti-corruption icon

The Times of India reported that Maharashtra's Food and Civil Supplies Minister Suresh Jain on Thursday alleged that a trust floated by social reformer and anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare had misappropriated Rs 45 lakh released by the Central government for setting up a training centre at Ralegaon Siddhi in Ahmednagar district of the state.He was addressing a news conference on Thursday. The funds, according to him, were released under the National Watershed Development programme. Jain claimed that the Hind Swaraj Trust did not exist when the amount was disbursed to it on March 31, 1995. The trust was registered only on April 6, 1995, he alleged.Jain is one of the several ministers belonging to Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party, who are at the receiving end of Hazare's campaign against corruption. Incidentally, both Hazare and Jain have filed criminal defamation suits against each other. 

So we may not take Jain at face value. But perhaps more embarrassing to Hazare is that the Justice PB Sawant Commission of Inquiry 2005 has come to haunt him. The Commission inquired charges into corruption charges against NCP ministers in the Maharashtra cabinet and also into complaints against  Anna Hazare and his NGOs and damned him. On the basis of the Justice Sawant Commission Report, these NCP ministers were forced to resign from their ministerial berths. What about Hazare? He apparently had a makeover to poise as the modern day Gandhiji, the embodiment of virtue!!

Read the full report of the  Justice PB Sawant Commission of Inquiry 2005 by clicking this link. We reproduce the summary of Hazare's indictment here

The Commission inquired into complaints against Shri Hazare and his NGOs and found as follows:

Hind Swaraj Trust:

p.269 - illegalities and maladministration in land transactions

p.271 - illegal utilisation of the trust's funds

Sant Yadavbaba Shikshan Prasarak Mandal:
 
p.281 - "committed illegalities" - its audited accounts for 1982 to 1994 were filed in 1995 and for 1995 to 2002 in 2003.  These are "punshable" illegalities. [Not known whether punishment ensued.]

p.285 - legal requirement flouted from 1985 at least till 2005 of submission of the annual budget to the Charity Commissioner p.297 - did not list all its properties as legally required to the Charity Commissioner

298-99 - did not have its accounts in scheduled banks as required by the law, it advanced a loan that was illegal, it spent money on objects outside its charter

p.304 - maladministration

p.305 - illegalities in regard to a fixed deposit

Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Andolan Trust:

p.316 - registered contrary to law

pp.319-21 - at least since 1998 onwards to 2005 the trust was not functioning legally

p.323 - from 10/11/2001 the accounts were not maintained as per the rules of the trust

p.323 - donations collected in the name of the trust were not properly receipted nor were accounted for in it

p.326 - audited accounts were not submitted to the Charity Commissioner for 1998-2002 

p.327 - illegal cash transctions were made

pp.329-30 - Hazare made key appointments illegally, and these appointees "lost" money collected by them

pp.359-61 - "activists" close to Hazare took bribes from supplicants to Hazare, and Hazare did not act against these "activists"

Krishna Pani Puravatha Yojana Sahakari Sanstha:
p.363 - Hazare a member when not eligible to be one.

Supreme Court rap Jayalalaithaa's knuckles

TN schools reopen after Supreme Court order
Courtesy: Deccan Herald

 

Schools reopened in Tamil Nadu today with the Supreme Court order directing continuance of uniformed system of education for Classes I and VI, clearing uncertainty caused by the state government's decision to defer it.

However, the government announced that till the text books for Classes II to V and VII to X are made available, schools would follow activity-based learning (ABL). The decision would leave over two crore students without books at the start of the academic year.

"As per ABL system, the teaching will be student-centric and not book-centric," School Education Minister C Ve Shanmugam said in a statement, adding that books will be supplied to students at a later stage free of cost.

"Therefore, schools should give no room for confusion and adopt the ABL for teaching," he said. The apex court yesterday set up an expert panel to examine the syllabus and text books for over two crore school children sought to be altered by the Jayalalithaa government.

The state government is mired in a controversy over its decision to defer implementation of uniformed system of school education (USSE) introduced by the previous DMK regime. The Supreme Court turned down the government's appeal against the Madras High Court staying its amendment to the USSE Act 2010 to defer its implemention.

A vacation bench of the court also directed that USSE should continue to be implemented for Classes I and IV during the present academic year. The Act passed by the previous DMK Government had introduced a common curriculum for school children till Class X doing away with four streams - Matriculation, Anglo-Indian, Oriental and State Board on the ground they lacked quality.

The high court had on June 10 stayed the amendment to the USSE Act by the new government which claimed it wanted to withold implementation of the law as the syllabus and contents in subjects like Mathematics, Science and English undermined quality education.

The AIADMK Government had also argued that the previous government had incorporated several references to boost the image of the DMK government, Kanimozhi and had also introduced her poetry as part of the syllabus.

Reacting to the government's announcement, a cross-section of school managements said implementing ABL was not possible right away as many of them did not have the required material.

Academicians, who did not want to be named, said classes would be held, in some cases, using previous year's books since 'important' subjects such as science and languages 'have similar components.'

''We dont have textbooks (for this year as such). But teachers will teach subjects that have common components,'' a school principal said. However, schools said they were prepared to change over to the new syllabus once it was implemented.

Jayalalitha says re-alignment rumors "premature"

Courtesy: Real Time News

 

Jayalalitha, leader of the AIADMK party and the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, has called rumors of her negotiating an entry into the UPA coalition as "premature."

"No one from the UPA has approached me," she said, when asked about the possibility of her joining the UPA at the centre.

Asked about her previous offer of an unconditional support to the UPA, she said:

"That offer was made 7 months ago.. The situation then was completely different. After that, much water has flown down the bridge... The Congress too has made its stand clear that it continues to have an alliance with the DMK at the centre.. If anyone wants my support, they have to ask for it."

"As of today, the Congress continues to have an alliance with the DMK.. In such a situation, it will not be proper for me to call on Sonia Gandhi," she said, when asked her not taking up the 'breakfast' off that Congress President had made to her.

When asked if she would join if the Congress abandons its alliance with the DMK, she said, "that is a hypothetical question."

The 'water' reference is taken to be her thumping victory in Tamil Nadu state elections, bigger than was expected by the Congress or even the AIADMK.

Asked whether she would not soften her stand on the controversial re-election of home minister P Chidambaram and the Court case around it, she said there is no question of such a move.

"There was a fraud committed by the data entry operator and votes won by Chidambaram was credited to my candidate and our votes were were credited to him," she said, asking Chidambaram to resign and fight the election again. "Mr Chidambaram has committed a fraud on the Nation.. We have given all the details to the High Court," she added.

Jayalalitha was in the Capital to meet up with the Prime Minister and other political leaders for the first time after a land-slide victory in the Assembly elections last month.

Her visit has come in the wake of rumors that she may join the Congress-led UPA coalition at the centre, in return for the alliance junking her rival DMK.

She said her visit was intended to maintain friendly relations with the Central government for the development of the state of Tamil Nadu.

Both the BJP, more ideologically aligned to her, and DMK itself are worried about Jayalalitha joining the Congress alliance. She also repeated her position that the Prime Minister must drop Dayanidhi Maran, the DMK leader, from the council of ministers.

"Today there are a number of charges against.. leading lights of the DMK.. Many of them are appearing in Courts on a regular basis.. None of these cases have been initiated by me, my party-men, or my government.. Any action that we may take or propose to take depends on specific complaints," she said.

Asked about the ongoing anti-corruption campaign and the government's attitude to it, she said "any citizen should be allowed to exercise his democratic rights to protest against corruption." The government had dispersed such an agitation by a Yoga guru by force, claiming that RSS -- a right wing political and cultural organization -- was supporting the protest.

Asked whether she thought the Centre was serious about fighting corruption, she pointed out that the Supreme Court was monitoring the probes directly -- a reference to the 2G probe -- and said people should be happy that the Court is doing so. The answer is seen as neither an endorsement nor a denial of the Centre's bona-fides in its proclaimed fight against corruption.

She said she has asked for a temporary allocation of 1,000 megawatts of power to tide over shortage for one year. She also promised that the state's own power capacity will be doubled from around 10,000-12,000 megawatt by the addition of another 10,000 megawatt over the next five years.

The Lokpal Debate: It’s not a ‘Jan’ bill but an elite NGO venture

Courtesy: DNA, Rajeev Dhavan

The ‘Lokpal’ has become the symbol for a movement against corruption. Everyone assumes it provides the single most complete answer to our ills. But does it? In my view, the Jan Lokpal proposal is out of focus and could prove to be self-defeating.

The Lokpal’s chequered history shows that it has always been mired in political and administrative intrigue. The Administrative Reforms Commission’s Lokpal included state and Union ministries and was considered anti-federal though its maladministration proposal for the bureaucracy was within the federal framework.

The 1971 proposal distinguishing between maladministration grievances and corruption allegations was passed by the Lok Sabha in Mrs Gandhi’s heyday. But after the Emergency, the Janata Bill 1977 targeted political corruption amongst ministers — as did the Congress bill of 1985, which was hurriedly withdrawn by Chidambaram on the excuse of including the bureaucracy, but actually to save Rajiv Gandhi from Bofors.

From then on, in 1996, 1998, 2001, and 2005, it was the political corruption model that prevailed. Politicians were only interested in targeting each other, with controversies limited to whether the PM should be included - the Constitutional Commission (2002) having pleaded for his exception. Thus, we can see that the Lokpal initiatives were a game, and bureaucrats were laughing at their exclusion.

In walks Anna Hazare and the trouble-shooting PIL impresarios, the Bhushans, the free-for-all Agnivesh, the self-publicist Kiran Bedi, and the conscientious Kejriwal. What worked in their favour was the huge outcry against corruption. The ‘fast’ became a national campaign.

Few supporting the campaign had really considered the Lokpal idea. It was readily, and without foundation, supposed to bring redemption.

The fact is that lok ayuktas have been miserable failures, with frustrated retired judges reduce to impotence by politicians. In 2010, former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde’s abortive resignation supposedly demonstrated that a strong Lokpal could be effective under the right conditions.

It was on this premise that a Jan Lokpal Bill was mobilised and an elite team of Hazare, Hegde, Bhushans and Kejriwal was created to confer with the wily government team. If the proposed Act succeeds, the government gets the credit. If it fails, the ‘Jan’ is to blame.

Though initially supportive, I think this campaign is pitched too high and too wide.

If the Lokpal is a success, it will eclipse Parliament as the primary forum of accountability. Anyone who wants to expose anyone will go to the Lokpal, whose processes can be as punishing as the result. Parliament will be for noise, votes and legislation.

To invoke examples of Scandinavian countries with small populations and disciplined political morals is wasteful. The Lokpal and his team will be the most powerful in the country - with no control over them. Who will be the Lokpal? Any chief justice of India? Who else? Chosen by whom? How?

Even if these questions are settled, there remain concerns about the Lokpal’s jurisdiction. The political corruption model targets PMs and ministers; the administration model wants to include bureaucrats; and the Janwallahs want to include everybody for maladministration and corruption so that the Lokpal will be so extensively stretched that he and his team would miss the wood for the trees.

The Lokpal Bill is not a Jan bill but an elite NGO venture. The proposed Lokpal will be a great opportunity for elite NGOs to find a new platform in the public interest, of which they claim to be special trustees.

Why should the Lokpal cover the judiciary? The independence of the judiciary has to be saved from random public-spirited attacks. A special national judicial commission is required. Don’t mix it up with the Lokpal.

But let us get away from this negative criticism. It is obvious that the Lokpal cannot be shelved again after 45 years of misadventure. Today, corruption is rampant. It does not have to be controlled but combated.

The answer is to have a more focused proposal that concentrates on corruption alone, as defined in the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, and which carries criminal conviction for illegal acts or omissions for extraneous benefit.

If the Lokpal’s purview is limited in this way, its sweep should not. It should cover all cases of corruption amongst PMs, ministers, MPs, and civil servants performing Union functions or answerable to it. If there are complaints against the lower judiciary, send them to the respective chief justice; if against the higher judiciary, to the national judicial commission.

The Lokpal should have a special investigative capacity, with the best of officers whose findings can be sent directly for the framing of charges to special courts. After that, a special team under the Director for Public Prosecutions (DPP) should take the cases to their final conclusion.

I am not doubting the need for examining ‘maladministration’ other than criminal corruption. We need both intra and oversight mechanisms for that. That needs careful handling and further thought, lest the Lokpal be swamped.

Right now, we need an anti-corruption commission that is focused and equipped with sufficient capacity. A Lokpal for 1.2 billion people cannot change every misdemeanor. But it can start the drive against corruption in real earnest.

— The writer is a constitutional lawyer

The Hazare hazard - Unelected do-gooders cannot arm-twist elected officials

Courtesy: Business Standard

Social activist Anna Hazare wants an equal number of self-proclaimed civil society activists to be part of an official committee drafting a new Lok Pal Bill. “There should be as many representatives of government as there are of the people” is his submission. Hello? What is a government in a democracy if not an extension of the will of the people? Can self-appointed do-gooders, however well meaning, usurp the role of “representatives of the people” without due process of election? Mr Hazare is a good man. Unfortunately, he is “fasting unto death” for a wrong cause.

The idea of a Lok Pal, an anti-corruption ombudsman, based on a Scandinavian model, was a bad one when it was first mooted in the mid-1960s and remains a bad one 40-odd years later. The creation of the institution of a Lok Ayukta at the state level has not helped reduce corruption in state governments, so a new Lok Pal at the national level is unlikely to do a better job at the central government level. The recent experience with the nomination of the Central Vigilance Commissioner shows that it is individuals rather than institutions that matter and there is no guarantee that a Lok Pal will necessarily inspire confidence and be effective. No one will deny that the problem of corruption in high places needs to be dealt with. There is no better way of doing this than strengthening existing institutions of democracy, including the legislature, the judiciary, the executive and even the media. Greater transparency in the functioning of these institutions will reduce corruption in public life. No Lok Pal can do what members of the four estates of the nation cannot and will not do.

It is a pity that despite the obvious shortcomings of this idea, it has been floated repeatedly. Bills have been repeatedly tabled in Parliament and successive governments, comprising almost all political parties in India today, have repeatedly spoken in favour of it, without doing anything about it. Somebody must call a spade a spade. The Lok Pal Bill should be buried, not kept alive by a threat of a fast unto death, even by a well-intentioned person like Mr Hazare.

It is tragic that an assortment of non-accountable activists, publicity-seeking busybodies and an assortment of do-gooders have all managed to push the gentle Mr Hazare into going on a fast unto death. No government in a democracy can approve of such blackmail. Merely because Mahatma Gandhi used a fast unto death as a means of exerting pressure on an alien, colonial government does not mean that in a democracy such tactics can be tolerated, much less eulogised. The situation in which the government finds itself is partly of the ruling party’s own making. By elevating the status of non-government organisations (NGOs) that are not accountable to anyone, and by not activating its own cadres on development and other issues of public concern, the Congress party has given a larger-than-life role to NGO leaders. Nothing should be done, even in the name of fighting corruption, that can weaken the Indian state and the office of the head of government, who is the embodiment of national sovereignty and answerable only to Parliament. 

If necessary, Mr Hazare should be force-fed and hospitalised, but not allowed to browbeat an elected government of the people.

Against Jan Lok Pal and the politics of hunger strikes

Courtesy: The Acorn
 

Tackling corruption requires economic reforms and a popular re-engagement with electoral politics.

The idea of a Jan Lok Pal is flawed and profoundly misunderstands the causes and solutions of corruption in India. It seeks to create another chunk of government, more processes and rules, to solve a problem that, in part, exists because of too many chunks of government, too many processes and rules. [See Pratap Bhanu Mehta's column and this editorial in the Business-Standard] If the Jan Lok Pal presides over the same system that has corrupted civil servants, politicians, anti-corruption watchdogs, judges, media, civil society groups and ordinary citizens, why should we expect that the ombudsman will be incorruptible? Because the person is handpicked by unelected, unaccountable ‘civil society’ members? 

Those who propose that Nobel laureates (of Indian origin, not even of Indian citizenship) and Ramon Magsaysay Award winners should be among those who pick the Great Ombudsman of India—who is both policeman and judge—insult the hundreds of millions of ordinary Indian voters who regularly exercise their right to franchise. For they are demanding that the Scandinavian grandees in the Nobel Committee and the Filipino members of the Magsaysay foundation should have an indirect role in selecting an all-powerful Indian official. [See this post at Reality Check India]

The argument that people should be involved in drafting legislation is fine, even if it misses the point that the government is not a foreign entity but a representative of the people. It is entirely other thing to demand that the legislation drafted by an self-appointed, unaccountable and unrepresentative set of people be passed at the threat of blackmail. If we must have representatives of the people involved in lawmaking, we are better off if they are the elected ones, however flawed, as opposed to self-appointed ones, whatever prizes the latter might have won.

The Jan Lok Pal will become another logjammed, politicised and ultimately corrupt institution, for the passionate masses who demand new institutions have a poor record of protecting existing ones. Where were the holders of candles, wearers of Gandhi topis and hunger strikers when the offices of the Chief Election Commissioner, the Central Vigilance Commissioner and even the President of the Republic were handed out to persons with dubious credentials? If you didn’t come out to protest the perversion of these institutions why are you somehow more likely to turn up to protest when a dubious person is sought to be made the Jan Lok Pal?

But this is us. Given this reality, the solution for corruption and malgovernance should be one that does not rely the notoriously apathetic middle classes to come out on the streets. The solution is to take away the powers of discretion, the powers of rent-seeking from the government and restore it back to the people. This is the idea of economic freedom. Societies with greater economic freedom have lower corruption. We have long argued that we are in this mess because we have been denied Reforms 2.0.

How can we have Reforms 2.0 if “those politicians” are unwilling to implement them? The answer is simple: by voting. Economic reforms are not on anyone’s political agenda because those who are most likely to benefit from them do not vote, and do not vote strategically. At this point, it is usual to hear loud protests about how voting doesn’t work, most often by those who do not vote. This flies in the face of empirical evidence—when hundreds of millions of people turn up to vote. If it were not working for them, why would they be voting? They might not be demanding Reform 2.0, but something else, and are getting what they want. Instead of ephemeral displays of outrage—what happened to those post 26/11 candle-light vigils?—it is engagement in the electoral process that is necessary. There are some innovative ideas—like that of voters associations—that can be attempted.

There are no better words than those of B R Ambedkar on the place of satyagraha in India after Constitution came into force on 26th January 1950:

“…we must abandon the bloody methods of revolution. It means that we must abandon the method of civil disobedience, non-cooperation and satyagraha. When there was no way left for constitutional methods for achieving economic and social objectives, there was a great deal of justification for unconstitutional methods. But where constitutional methods are open, there can be no justification for these unconstitutional methods. These methods are nothing but the Grammar of Anarchy and the sooner they are abandoned, the better for us.” [B R Ambedkar/Constituent Assembly]

In my view civil disobedience in general and hunger strikes in particular must be used in the most exceptional circumstances where constitutional methods are unavailable or denied, and only till the time constitutional methods remain unavailable or denied. 

Some contend that the system isn’t working, or has been so perverted by the incumbent government, that it is necessary to resort to public agitation. This is a dubious argument. Constitutional democracy is an enlightened way to make policy by reconciling—to the extent possible—the diverse interests, opinions and levels of political empowerments of a diverse population. Any other way amounts to coercion in one form or the other. 

If we are to allow that hunger strikes and street protests do better than constitutional methods, then how would you decide issues where there are sharp differences? If two Gandhians go on hunger strikes asking for polar opposites, do we settle the issue by seeing who gives up first? What if competing groups escalate the agitation to violence against each other? Should we condone civil war?

The working of those constitutional mechanisms can and must be improved. By us. The anti-defection law must go. India doesn’t have a comprehensive law governing political parties. It needs one. Police reforms have been stalled for decades. There is a substantial reform agenda that must be pursued. By us. 

However, the inability to implement these reforms is no excuse for resorting to civil disobedience or, as it happens in other countries, calling in a dictatorship of the proletariat, the military or the priesthood. 

The Jan Lok Pal bill is not a solution to the problem of corruption. It risks making matters worse. Hunger strikes are not the right means to promote a policy agenda in a constitutional democracy like ours. The promoters and supporters of Jan Lok Pal and the public agitation to achieve it are profoundly misguided. Their popularity stems from having struck a vein of middle class outrage against the UPA government’s misdeeds. That doesn’t mean that the solutions they offer are right. 

The Acorn opposes Jan Lok Pal and the politics of hunger strikes as much as it opposes corruption and misgovernance. 

Related Links: Offstumped has a series of posts on the subject. See also Atanu Dey, Satyameva Jayate, Sanjeev Sabhlok and the Filter Coffee here on INI. The March 2011 issue of Pragati covered these themes: see Rohit Pradhan’s take on the importance of constitutional morality.

Yechury speaks of a possible merger of CPI and CPI (M)

Courtesy: Asian Age

Top CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury on Monday spoke of a possible merger of CPI and CPI(M) hoping the two Left parties can come together in the near future after their split nearly five decades ago.

Yechury, a Polit Bureau member, however said that no time-frame could be given as to how long the process might take but noted that all the well wishers of the Left Front wanted it to happen “as soon as possible.” CPI-M was formed in 1964 after some leaders of CPI broke away from the parent party.

He was speaking at a “Meet the Press” organised by the Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ).

“The merger of the two parties, however, desirable it may be, has to undergo a certain process. One way of doing it is through the unification of various mass organisations and joint activities at the lower level, which will percolate to the top,” he said.

“I think that is a more sustainable path, rather than the leadership coming together. So that is a process that is on. The parties are working together now at the mass organisation level,” Yechury added.

When asked if the process could eventually lead to the merger of the two parties, he replied, “Hope so”.

At the same time, he refused to give a time-frame. “We cannot give a time table. But all the well wishers of the Left want it to happen as soon as possible,” he said.

Highlighting the CPI(M)’s commitment towards fighting corruption, he said his party demanded comprehensive anti-corruption measures, including an effective Lokpal legislation bringing the Prime Minister under its ambit, setting up of a National Judicial Commission to oversee the judiciary and electoral reforms to curb the use of money power.

Why Baba Ramdev lost the plot

Courtesy: Times of India

 

 

 

Like a profligate, Baba Ramdev blew it away. Last Sunday, he was handed a winning situation on a platter: the government ordered a police raid on the Ramlila grounds to evict him and hundreds of followers.

The result was unthinkable: Baba won the support of not just his believers but also his detractors. The public outcry had UPA running for cover.

Eight days later, it is Ramdev who wishes he could hide. Right now, he is recovering in Dehradun's Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences. Doctors say he is stable, though speaking with difficulty. No longer in the intensive care unit, he has been shifted to a VIP room to recuperate. But Ramdev's campaign continues to be in deep trouble.

Sages say what comes easy goes faster. The wave of support came too easy for Ramdev. He did little to earn it. The public sentiment was more anti-government than pro-Ramdev.

Perhaps this is why he couldn't handle it. The campaign suddenly became bigger than Ramdev or his aides had conceived. Earlier last week, many expected him to put final touches to a victory. Instead they found him floundering: unable to handle the media or garner support on his home turf.

A combination of both factors derailed Ramdev's plans. The jury is out on his financial probity, his trusts and his companies. But the very fact that such questions were raised seemed to disqualify him as a leader of a campaign against corruption. ET on Sunday analyses how Ramdev unravelled his own game with blow by blow accounts from his ashram Patanjali Yogpeeth, Haridwar.

Naive Comments to the Media

It began to go downhill on Wednesday. During one of his customary public appearances at the yogyashala, an open-air auditorium, Ramdev claimed he would launch an 11,000-strong force for self-defence. It was unclear if he meant an 'armed' force.

But Ramdev did claim constitutional backing for the right to self-defence: "We all have this right. Don't people across the country learn judo and karate? This is perfectly legal. We will raise a force of young people like that." He added: "We will not assault any one. But neither will we be assaulted."

And then came a statement which exemplified his naivete: "I know my media friends won't twist my words. I have full confidence in them." Whether twisted or not, the channels reported those words widely.

Pushed to be Defensive

By Thursday, events turned farcical. Everyone had been told that Baba and Acharya Balkrishna would address the media, till then both had been relatively inaccessible. At about 6.15 pm, they appeared together.

In contrast to Ramdev, who is more comfortable talking to large supporters, Balkrishna seemed more media savvy. Dressed in white (the garb of a brahmachari), he constantly viewed news channels to be updated on developments at the Centre. Balkrishna wanted to be ready with the next move even while talking on the mobile phone.

Did Baba Ramdev fail Devender Sharma or the other way round?

  

"As the UPA battles the political shocks that its handling of the Ramdev rally has evoked, there is a growing controversy over a letter that Baba Ramdev's aides wrote before the fast began. Union Minister Kapil Sibal says the letter had agreed to call off the fast even before it began, acknowledging the progress in talks.

But speaking to NDTV, Ramdev's aide Devender Sharma, who was part of the talks with the government, says Ramdev wrote the letter because the government was brow beating them into cancelling the dharna. Calling it a legitimate tactical move that fooled the government, the Ramdev camp now claims that without the letter, their protest would have been cancelled."

Watch the full NDTV interview HERE

The key take away from the whole NDTV interview was the image of Devender Sharma, a key aide of Baba Ramdev committing one faux pas after another. Try hard as Sharma did in defending Ramdev's actions, he only succeeded generating even more negative PR for the Ramdev movement.

Devender Sharma chose to not give an explanation why a Baba Ramdev needed to carry out secret parleys with the Government. Sharma being a key member of Baba’s negotiating team is suggestive that perhaps he too may had no qualms on the propriety of this step. Compare this with the position of the Anna Hazare movement who all along demanded their entire negotiations with the government be televised for the sake of full public transparency. It is contrast like this that gives Anna Hazare a clear edge over Ramdev in their battle for leadership of the country’s anti-corruption movement and why the Ramdev movement eventually ended up losing the plot.

However Sharma’s biggest gaffe was his revelation that the Baba Ramdev's negotiation team were basically playing games with the government. He admitted that they signed an agreement with the government to use the Ram Lila grounds for a yoga camp - an agreement they never intended to keep. They viewed this agreement as only a ploy to fool the government and instead conduct a fast, which is what they actually did.  Showing no signs of remorse, Sharma boasted that their intention was to entrap the government and drew great satisfaction that they fell for it.  He also spun this exercise of willful deceit as

“a remarkable tactic or strategy”

Here lies my basic disappointment with Devender Sharma. No matter how lofty the goals pursued, this kind of duplicity was not only uncalled for but treachery at its finest. Barkha Dutt, NDTV’s seasoned anchor immediately understood how incriminating Sharma’s confession was. So she re-stated it again -

“So you are saying that when you signed the agreement you are laying a trap for the government?”

Presumably, this was the point when Sharma realized that he goofed up badly. But by then, it was too late. The damage was already done. Ramdev and his negotiating boys were inadvertently exposed by Devender Sharma as crafty schemers plotting to fool the government to grant them permission to use the Ramlila grounds on a false pretext.

So betrayed, no wonder the government got so miffed that they displayed their anger by unleashing the police at midnight to forcibly evict Baba Ramdev and his supporters from the Ramlila Maidan. Obviously such an action was not possible without being cleared at the highest level and their intention was to convey this as a strong message across to the likes of Ramdev viz. never mess with the government.

Unfolding later events of high drama left Ramdev as a national laughing stock while giving cartoonists a field day.  The 46-year-old yoga guru almost gave the police a slip by jumping from the dais in Ramlila Maidan and vanishing into thousands of his supporters. Ramdev hid behind women and finally ran away wearing female clothes, leaving his followers to face the consequences of his mobilization!  

Ultimately caught, he meekly submitted to his captors. He was caught outside the protest site while posing as an injured woman wearing a white-coloured salwar suit with his head covered with a dupatta. At the time of arrest, he was pretending to be moving with the support of two women around whom he put his arms. By the time it was over, his claim to leadership of an anti-corruption movement was shattered by exhibition of cowardice.

However, Devender Sharma tries to spins this cowardice into an act of bravery by using the Shivaji analogy of hiding in a basket of fruits to escape his enemies. Baba Ramdev also tried to reinforce the image of Shivaji when he claimed that the intention of the government was to physically eliminate him. The government may not have exactly covered themselves with glory in handling of this crisis. But to expect government’s buffoonery to extend to a brazen plot to kill Baba Ramdev seems far-fetched by any stretch of imagination. 

Till this incident, Baba wore the mask of the Mahatma. But once it was removed in exchange of a Shivaji’s mask, the bridge to go back playing the Mahatma was once for all burnt down. Who dare now claim Ramdev as a modern day Gandhi with his critics reminding us that Gandhiji courted arrest without hesitation when the police came to arrest him and not like Ramdev trying every trick in the book to evade arrest. 

That Ramdev is no Mahatma is besides evident from their differing capacities to fast.  The Mahatma once fasted 21 days in a single stretch to promote respect and compassion between people engaging in communal riots due to deep hatred for each other. But by the 5th day of Randev’s fast, he had to break this by taking lime juice and honey and by the 7th day, he was rushed to hospital, given intravenous injection of glucose. By the 9th day, he broke his fast, without any of his demands being met.

Ramdev’s gimmicks aside, it was pathetic to watch Devender Sharma a renowned  member of civil society taking to the Machiavellian "the end justifies the means" argument . One blog tells the dangers to this:

“If the vision, the goal which we have set ourselves is incomplete or flawed, then the worst thing that could happen to us is to accomplish that goal with all means necessary.

At that point, we would realize that the goal we have set ourselves is not the goal we have desired - we have failed to clearly create our vision. ..And when you do, no amount of justification will help you.”

So did Ramdev fail Devender Sharma or did Devender Sharma fail Ramdev? Or did they both simply fail each other?

DMK: Caught In A Pincer

Courtesy: Outlook India

 

 

 

An SMS doing the rounds in Chennai aptly describes the deep hole a demoralised DMK has dug itself into: “We don’t care about the Tamil Nadu assembly results. We are going to get an absolute majority in Tihar.” That’s exactly how it looks, if one was to go by the steady stream of bad news for the Karunanidhi family. The Delhi High Court has rejected Kanimozhi’s bail plea and textile minister Dayanidhi Maran is the latest DMK minister in the UPA cabinet in danger of losing his berth. Maran, who preceeded A. Raja in the telecom ministry, has now become another DMK target in the 2G spectrum scam probe.

While a stunned DMK holds an emergency ideating session, it’s now taken for granted that the party holds precious little bargaining power at the Centre to bail any of its leaders out of the crisis. Experts feel the hard option of the DMK pulling out of the UPA government is risky because it is their sole remaining connection to power. The other option being bandied about is the DMK withdrawing its ministers from the UPA cabinet: an under-attack Maran’s position is looking increasing untenable in any event.

Such a scenario would fit neatly into the power play crafted by the Congress—Maran is the DMK’s last national face in the government (the party’s other Union minister, M.K. Azhagiri, is more keen to focus on state politics). When (and not if) Maran goes, the Congress can strengthen its stranglehold over the DMK at the Centre and pick ministers of its own choice to hold the plum portfolios hard-bargained-for by the DMK during government formation.
 
Isolated on all fronts, the latest move doesn’t augur well for Maran. His relationship with his party has been in the doldrums for some time now. It’s significant that the party leadership has distanced itself from Maran’s current troubles. There hasn’t been a word of support for him. Sources in the know say Karunanidhi’s game plan is to pull the Marans down: If the party is to go down, so should he. While Maran is viewed as being close to the Congress, the recent spate of allegations shows that the grand old party isn’t siding with him either. The resultant fallout already shows on his brother, Kalanidhi Maran’s, business empire.

Indeed, the CBI’s charges against Maran look serious. The investigative agency claims Maran played a role in the 2006 sale of telecom service provider Aircel to Malaysia-based firm Maxis, whose owner is said to be close to the DMK and the Maran family. Maran denies playing any role in this—but the testimony of former Aircel owner and serial telecom entrepreneur C. “Siva” Sivasankaran before the CBI last week didn’t help his cause any.

Siva, who was Aircel’s owner when Maran was the telecom minister, said Maran had forced him to sell out by not parting with licence and spectrum. Ironically, Siva is under the scanner himself and has reportedly been charged by the Enforcement Directorate of funding S-Tel and then buying the company after it obtained telecom licences. Observers make reference to Siva’s reputation as a reclusive and mercurial businessman—he is also close to the Tatas, who were then at loggerheads with Maran.

There’s more. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has also noted that rules were changed during Maran’s tenure—by the Department of Telecommunications’ revision of the terms of reference—to exclude the Group of Ministers from playing a role in spectrum pricing. And older stories—like the virtual exchange of 323 BSNL lines at Maran’s Chennai residence—are now getting new play. Maran, as well as the DMK, is running out of options to call for help.

Baba Ramdev not mature enough to lead: Anna Hazare

Courtesy: Times of India

 

 

PUNE: A day after he declared his campaign would have no truck with Ramdev's call to arms, social crusader Anna Hazare on Friday said the yoga guru was "not mature enough to lead a social movement as he does not have expertise other than yoga".

In an interview to TOI, Hazare said: "To get involved in social work, one needs to be alert about many things and Baba is yet to learn it. Baba has the habit of taking decisions unilaterally."

After news came in that Ramdev, who has been on an indefinite fast at Haridwar, was shifted to hospital, Hazare urged the government to open a dialogue with him on "humanitarian grounds". Hazare said Ramdev had a right to protest against the government as it was a legitimate right of an individual in a democracy.

Hazare who is pressing the union government for enacting the Jan Lokpal Bill before August 15, explained why he distancing himself from Ramdev. "In our agitation, we discuss the developments with other activists, share ideas, welcome suggestions before taking a decision. This is the way to run any campaign or agitation. Baba's thought process is not like us, hence there are some shortcomings in his way of protest which has benefited the government." But he acknowledged their target was the same.

Meanwhile, a group of Ramdev's followers from Pune visited Ralegan Siddhi on Friday morning to extend their support to Hazare's campaign. The followers said that though Baba was their spiritual guru, they did not agree with his call to arms in the fight against corruption and they would join Hazare's protest.

Need to relook strategy in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry: Congress

Courtesy: Times of India

 

 

 

NEW DELHI: Blaming DMK for the drubbing in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Assembly elections, Congress has said there is a need to take a "relook" at its strategy in the southern state as the party must not lose its vote bank due to "mistakes of its coalition partners".

The remarks made in the editorial and an article of the latest issue of party mouthpiece 'Congress Sandesh' have come at a time when DMK chief M Karunanidhi is holding an emergency meeting of the party's high-level Action Committee.

"The results in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry were affected by the 2G scam and these states were lost to other parties," the editorial said.

Another article in the journal says, "The Congress has to have another look at their strategy in the southern state. It must not lose its vote bank due to the mistakes of its coalition partners." Congress was part of the DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu.

Sarvajit Singh, who is one of the two-member editorial board of 'Congress Sandesh' along with Union minister Salman Khurshid, also categorically says in the article that results in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry were influenced by "public discontent" on the 2G scam being faced by members of the DMK.

"A lot of good work done by the ruling party was lost in the public anger against the alleged huge loss to the exchequer being attributed to a DMK minister," it says.

Noting that the UPA government at the Centre has allowed law to take its own course and "many important political figures associated with DMK and others are currently interned", the article insists "the Congress has to regain its old glory and be in a position to be in power by itself."

The article stresses, "There is a strong need to revive the fortunes of the party at the grassroots once again."

The editorial said, "Investigating agencies are looking into many high profile cases of corruption that have attracted a great deal of public attention. The handling of these cases constitutes a litmus test and the agencies involved should act without fear or favour and bring to book all those who are guilty, irrespective of their position or status."

The DMK's high-level meeting, the first after the party's drubbing in the Assembly polls in which it finished a poor third, is being held in the wake of the Delhi high court denying bail to DMK MP and Karunanidhi's daughter, Kanimozhi, in the 2G case. She is currently in Tihar jail.

The DMK's direction to all members of the committee to "participate in the meeting without fail" has fuelled talk in Congress that an important decision is likely to be taken by the Dravidian party.

Of late, the 87-year old DMK patriarch has been critical of the Congress, telling the cadres that bad friendship ends in trouble. He had on Sunday blamed the Centre for the arrest of Kanimozhi, saying it was either due to its "orders or complacency."

The party has been going through a rough patch of late, with Kanimozhi and Karunanidhi's trusted junior colleague and former telecom minister A Raja lodged in jail for their alleged roles in the 2G spectrum scam allocation.

Karunanidhi's grandnephew and Union minister Dayanidhi Maran is also under the scanner in the 2G case and his resignation is being demanded by the opposition.

There was talk in the political circles that if the DMK decides to withdraw from the government, it could avoid the ignominy of Maran having to quit like Raja. Besides Maran, other DMK ministers at the Centre are M K Alagiri, S S Palanimanickam, Gandhiselvan, D Napolean and S Jagatrakshakan.

On the issue of corruption, the editorial noted, "For an investigating agency, there can be only one guiding beacon, only one gold standard and that is the law of the land, whoever transgresses it, however mighty, has to be brought to book."

The editorial says, "The issue of ethics and transparency in governance is a subject, which has attracted a great deal of attention in the recent days. There is a growing feeling in the people that our laws, systems and procedures are not effective in dealing with corruption. "We must recognise that there is little public tolerance now for the prevailing state of affairs. People now expect swift and exemplary action and rightly so...It is a challenge that we must tackle boldly..."