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Time To Bid Farewell To Anna Hazare And Carry The Revolution Forward!
More from Sukant Khurana
By Sukant Khurana:
We all love to say, hey look, I said so. I regret to say but I did say so. I foresaw the danger of deification of Hazare and the lack of a democratic process in the then burgeoning anti-corruption movement. Back then, when it was blasphemous to criticize Hazare, I had urged to focus on issues and not leaders. You can read it here and here.
I will again argue that no one, absolutely no one, including the man in the mirror is above petty personal issues and whims. Now, given the sainthood, the saint of Ralegan Siddhi is cannibalizing the newborn child of the anti corruption movement, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), either because he is envious of the attention to the rebel Kejriwal or maybe the simpleton “siddha sadha bhola” saint is being played by others, the actual brains, who are dealing cards for Congress and BJP. It gives me no pleasure but the chickens have come home to roost.
It is sad to see that the AAP is still not taking off its gloves against Hazare. Apart from respect, the reason could be a short-term political expediency, as not much can be gained by poo-pooing Saints and Gods in the super Holy land of India. I think it is not smart thinking on the part of AAP because this passivity will come to bite them in the rear. The consequences of a delay in confronting the Jokepal fiasco and willingness to form government in Delhi are dire for the people’s movement, as it will eliminate AAP from national stage and keep them preoccupied in Delhi. I think Hazare has had his hazar nakhare and now it is time to completely part ways with a medieval minded self-anointed dictatorial saint. Back then too, I could not find much admiration for someone who sets rules for his village as a complete patriarchal dictator and then claims to fight for democracy. Now, with his backstabbing, I absolutely cannot. Knowing my people, us Indians, if I can use the cheesy phrase of “my people”, I will make another prediction. My people are too full of superficial respect, so we will push the simpleton saint off the throne only once he has done all the damage. I hope the young of India prove me wrong but I am not holding back my breath.
I am not just giving a call to boycott Hazare but it is the same warning about deification of leaders as I did before. If and when the time comes, I would have no problem to take up a crusade against Kejriwal or anyone else. In fact, if Kejriwal goes ahead with making the government in Delhi with the support of either the Congress or the BJP, he loses my support. My struggle still goes on but I will find another face. I have my loyalty to issues and not individuals. I hope that one day India learns to hold ideas rather than individuals dear too. When it does, there will be no Mahatmas and Annas, Saints and still more newer Gods being born but a real progress that puts India front and center on the Globe in every respect.
I think anyone who is against corruption must be willing to go bark and bite for Aam Admi Party at this moment, because AAP is changing the way politics is done in India. It is not just about Lokpal and other issues of corruption, but it is about public accountability. Maybe one day AAP will degrade into Congress. Maybe very soon, maybe tomorrow if they decide to form the government in Delhi but until that day comes, they are our best hope.
AAP is by no means a panacea of all ills. They hardly have any serious vision on economic, defense, foreign policy and environmental issues, but who does? They are “andhon mein kana raja” (have one good eye in the middle of completely blind). Of all the options that we have, AAP is leaps and bounds less rotten, so I hope people and AAP are not distracted to cater to whims of some saint or other reasons of a short-term political expediency. It is time to say goodbye to Hazare and fight the battle for a national revolution, with or without AAP, as the need be.
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Nivedita Rai
I loved your article. I so wanted to express the same thought and address the same issue but it couldn’t have been better than this fabulous piece of writing 🙂
Sukant Khurana
Thank you for your kind words. Let us all make a difference by fighting for ideas and not individuals.
Shiva Doshi
Brilliant commentary but is India smart enough? I am sure not. Indians like Gandhi, Anna, saints and Gods. Asking Indians to think and fight for themselves is a delusion someone like author who is a brilliant scientist, intellectual, artist and writer can have. Most Indians like their leaders to do thinking for them. It is a brilliant formula but would not work in India. Indians would stupidly stick to Anna and only leave him when he has done all the damage.
Abe
such a stupid article…what is the basis of the author’s assumption tht he is being misled by his FOLLOWERS???? ppl shld understand tht aap is not the ONLY torchbearer of honesty in India!!! Wen the time is very crucial for India to progress fast(cz of a demographic time bomb) the author supports a party tht has absolutely no sensible vision to govern this Country….i feel sorry for the ppl who hv bcum vitim of a propaganda of “only me or my followers r honest others corrupt”
Sukant Khurana
Can the brilliant commentator tell me which other party is honest? Also, did he or she read till the end of the article or even get the central point that we do not need saints? If AAP proves worthless, which at present it is the sole party that hasn’t then we should get rid of it.
dev malya
Country is in crisis and we need a strong and experienced party and I think Narendra Modi can provide that leadership, this is not time for experiment and I am not dismissing AAP but let them prove themselves in Delhi, let them take the tests of time and after 10 years if they stay honest then we will think about them for the current situation of weak economy, enemy intrusion etc and now IM mastermind Yasin Bhatkal said to NIA that he wanted to nuke Surat so these kinds of situation can only be handled by BJP so I am not ready to take the risk this time at least for a novice who also supports Azad Kashmir!! Thank you!!
vikas chandra
Time has come to say good bye to persons like kejriwal & co
daniel
Excellent article both in analysis and execution. There is an aversion at best and more commonly a hopelessness among the citizenry of many nations (which I witness here in the US) to fight for what they know to be right and just. It’s a disease that prevents a broken system from healing itself. I support your encouragement for positive revolution and find people’s doubts about success to ultimately be irrelevant in making the choice to try to better a nation.
Parvathi Preethan
Sadly, many people are turning against AAP because of the same facts that you listed while urging us to support AAP. The fact that Hazare has now twice publicly disapproved of the party and also because they refuse to form the Govt in Delhi by taking support from other parties. The strong stand taken by the AAP acts as a stimulant as a well as a deterrant where garnerning support is concerned. I personally stand by the AAP’s decisions and hope elections take place again in Delhi where people will make AAP win by majority.
Astrid Laurent
Poignant. Tendency to worship heroes is not new or unique to India. I hope this piece wakes up few people to start thinking and making a difference. Very powerful writing! Brilliant ideas!
Shiva Doshi
I would agree with one thing author says: if AAP forms government in Delhi they are finished.
Saurabh Guptata
And you are stupid in saying that AAP will lose your support if they form govt with Congress and BJP.. May be you didn’t follow them much and started writing this article with old notions.. If people of delhi can vote for AAP, they can also dictate if they want a govt from AAP now or not. It’s the people would would vote for forming the govt or not. Saying that you won’t support it is your opinion..But before that consider this fact that if AAP (even with 8 MLAs from Congress) gets able to deliver key promises in Delhi, then there would be no bigger claim of dedication than this in appealing at national level.
Put yourself in their shoes and then tell me what would you do if 75% of your supporters ask you to form govt and deliver results.. Would you make 75% happy or 25%.. Think before you write…
dev malya
Now he took 3% of people’s opinion, we can’t call it people’s decision can we?
Anonymous
Good article!
Ajay Sinha
yes, it is true that it is time to part ways with ANNA…. But at the same time, AAP is so much vision less that it seldom attracts people who are seriously involved in the struggle for basic changes….
Ashish Raj
A critical view of everything like in this article is definitely needed. He is right, issues are important, people are not, at the same time acknowledging the importance of leadership. However, AAP is more than just andhon mein kana raja, I cant imagine anything better than this.
As far as making government at Delhi, this is a bullet that had to be bitten. Congress has given in writing everything that AAP had asked for, so, there was no reason left apart from lofty idealism, to not form government. I trust Kejriwal to save AAP from the obvious pitfalls of such an alliance. This will however give AAP a chance to prove that they can actually govern, the only thing that was left to prove to the skeptics…
Navin Nunna
Your said day has come in dude.. AAP formed govt with Cong support. Beginning of the end of your HOPE.
Very difficult to stay away from the temptation of POWER.
sri1ram
Let us give the benefit of doubt to AAP. I am all for principle and black and white lines, but Indian politics is full of grey areas instead of definite morality markers. One thing, although it is a party of educated idealists, AAP cannot be blamed for being indecisive or rudderless or not-taking-responsibility.
It remains to be seen how they manage to deflect the saam-dhaam-dand-bedh by the established street-smart political parties. To maintain their status-quo the established parties (especially the UPA crooks like Congress, NCP) And *bureaucracy* will be calibrating their responses. This will involve covert political moves and of course the overt induction into AAP of two-timers, blackmail like kidnappings of families of leaders, accidents/assassinations and cooking up scams and traps. Their major thrust will be making the government machinery understand the actual import of a party like AAP – for instance, Congress mastered diluting and corrupting the impact of ground-breaking laws like RTI. Today Government employees opine openly that RTI is a big waste of time and resources – expressly because “people” (corrupt, politicians) keep asking for and delaying information.
The major lesson for AAP is without proper implementation of laws and policing, it is difficult to do anything in India. So their first thrust is on supporting the police department and weeding out ALL Corruption there.
PKJ
AAP needs to prove its words and lead by example. This is an opportunity to do constructive politics for the people, provide a responsible and effective government which indian mass have been expecting. Extreme views should be avoided, negative actions paused and action for progress without corruption and leakages required. Anna’s think tank seems to be biased however such persona needed to have non-aligned views. His advisers may note Satyamev Jayate.