Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Anna ignites a flame that will burn UPA and Congress for a long time


As a child my mom used to warn me when playing with fire. She used to always tell me that do not play with fire, you may hurt yourself. I think the UPA government and the Congress party are orphans and they do not have a motherly figure to give them such an advice. Else, how could you explain them playing with a fiery character like Anna Hazare? 


I really do not know how good or bad a person Anna Hazare is. However, I know for sure that the cause he is fighting for is the need of the hour. We can’t expect the corrupt politicians to bring a strong law that will restrict them from looting the nation. If you catch hold of a thief, will you allow the thief to decide the kind of punishment he should be given? How can we then allow these corrupt politicians to decide on a punishment for themselves? 


After Anna’s fast at Jantar Mantar, the UPA government was forced to discuss the Jan Lokpal bill. However, even after those discussions, the initial draft that they prepared for the bill was a weak one. The Congress accused Anna of undermining the Parliament by not waiting for a debate on the bill that the Congress is proposing. However, I do not understand why the draft proposed by Anna and his team could not be considered for discussion in Parliament. Let all points be discussed. Why should points like including the Prime Minister and judiciary in the ambit of Jan Lokpal be left out from being discussed in Parliament? Whether or not such a bill gets passed should be left to the Parliament.

Anna had given ample time to the UPA government and had also warned the government about going on an indefinite hunger strike if they fail to bring a strong Jan Lokpal bill. He being a citizen of India has every right to protest but the Indian government made sure that they laid down conditions like hunger strike should not go beyond 3 days and the number of people assembling should not cross 5000. There were many other stupid conditions laid out to frustrate and dissuade Anna Hazare and his team from going on a hunger strike. Around 8 am on 16th August, 2011 (Tuesday), Anna Hazare was detained from lawyer Prashant Bhushan's house in Mayur Vihar in Delhi. Hazare was sent to seven-day judicial custody in Tihar Jail. It is ironical that a person fighting corruption is being held at the same Tihar jail where most corrupt politicians of all times Suresh Kalmadi and D Raja have been jailed. I do not understand which law was imposed to arrest Anna since he had not even stepped out of the house to begin the hunger strike. Nationwide protests followed his arrest. Supporters of Anna Hazare courted arrest to express their solidarity with him. The support for Anna and his cause has been overwhelming. Unlike political parties that pay people to come for their rallies, this was something spontaneous. Noticing the support that Anna Hazare was getting, the jail authorities were ordered to release Anna by 9:30 pm on Tuesday.  However, Anna refused to come out of jail. 


I really pity the Congress and at the same time I feel that Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India has to come out and explain to the nation. He being the Leader of the nation cannot keep tight-lipped about the whole issue. I strongly feel that the way the Indian government has acted can be termed as an attempt to murder democracy.

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