The deal with Congress, Anna and the Lok Pal Bill is very clear. Tyranny has virtually struck our country, and before we knew it, police (having not much power or soundness of their own) started arresting innocent citizens, including 11 year old kids for protesting against the corrupt. It was foreseen that the corrupt would react, but it was not foreseen that they would react in the most childish ways.
I was thinking that they would plot some moves, or moreover give in to the Lok Pal; but their strategy seems different. I mean, I used to give them the credit of being politicians (and hence be political about their moves), but these people, as I realize come from a different root. The reason why they have managed to earn this power and this ton of money was not because they are more intelligent or shrewder than you or me. It is simply because our laws want them to be corrupt, and hence it has always been difficult for the ordinary / honest person to even approach these positions because the basic criteria is not education / past background / a test to check your knowledge of the country or the people; the basic need is to be heartless and the courage to ruin and destroy the people (let go infrastructure and other institutions) who are their brothers and sisters and are sometimes at the brim of death.
The way corruption has grown in our country we have started to feel that we cannot live without it. This feeling is very legitimate as every single person, from bottom to top is corrupt. Hence any work you have to get done, which usually is legit (unless you are in some real illegal stuff), takes longer, is sloppier, and the rude environment is so overwhelming that you’d rather be outside the passport office gate, pay 200 bucks and get the most expedite delivery of your passport. Yes I will not deny being corrupt. I will, however, deny being corrupt since Anna’s movement.
Many people, even from the general public fear the Jan Lok Pal Bill. Their fears, as what I believe are very short termed. It reminds me of what Sarkar (yes Bollywood again) once said, “Pas ke fayede ko nahi, door ke nuksaan ko dekho”.
The public fears things like – how will they bribe a cop if the Lok Pal Bill is passed.
Well let me bring light to this: without corruption many more entrepreneurs will rise who cannot, due to the 7 million permissions needed before a bribe (none after). There will be a better education system where only the necessary quota will be applied (no “management” quota as Jai Hind taught me), you can commute faster from one place to another given that the nexus between road developers (aka Mahavir Road Construction) will break, and there will be plenty more roads built. Builders can’t build buildings at the dividers, again increasing a half an hour for you to get to work, and the biggest of all, the commodity prices of your foods and every single molecule of air you breath will not go up the days Sharad Pawar has a bad hair day. There are many things, and moreover these things are not just bogus – they are in the open, and not one individual from the public is unaware of these issues. There is only one problem left. us.
We all need to get out of our comfort zones, quit whatever we can and more, add your count to the movement, and I want to see how the government denies us our right. Every single individual that adds to this will strengthen the movement; will strengthen our shot at getting this done at the earliest. Let me also correct those who doubt the power of one individual: Anna Hazare! The biggest example. At this long weekend of holidays I want your support at as many rallies as you can attend. I want each rally to look like a Godzilla from the top that is going to inhale the government in one shot if it wants to. These rallies will only be peaceful as they always have been. I have been arrested and have gone to jail, and it was more than peaceful the way we went about it (pics and videos below). Infact we cooperated so much that the cops did not even have to as much touch us to put us in the police vans. We ran in and refused to come out. We helped the police fill in registrations for new inmates as there were 20 cops and 700 inmates… I can understand the difficulty they faced. Finally they had to beg us (I’m not exaggerating now) to leave as the “Azad” Maidan Jail (as my friends like to call it) was packed.
The gist of this article is: the country needs you. Come to rally and help as much as you can, and you will see how satisfying that is.
Inquilab Zindabad!
Author: Naman Saklecha
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