Vote Against Congress, if.... : Anna

After having taken on the cetral government with his hunger strike in new delhi recently, anti-graft activist Anna Hazare now goes political. He has appealed to people in all the poll bound states to vote against congress if the Manmohan Singh government does not pass the Jan Lokpal Bill in the winter session. Team Anna has already begun to shape electioneering with a bypoll scheduled in Hissar in Haryana
on October 13th. Next in focus is Uttar Pradesh, where Anna will set up his camp three days before the date of voting. Other poll bound states of Uttarakhand, Goa, Gujarat and Punjab will also see a different kind of poll campaign by Team Anna.

Clearly, Anna Hazare made a bold statement again on Tuesday by challenging the UPA govt once again over Jan Lokpal Bill. His renewed threat to undertake another hunger strike should Parliament fails to enact the Janlokpal Bill will surely compound problems for already embattled UPA think tank.

The veteran Gandhian, who has become a national symbol against corruption, on Tuesday refuted all the charges of him siding with the right wing parties. He said that only people with vested interests level such allegations against him and his team.

And, much to the liking of the congress party, Anna hit out at the Narendra Modi government of Gujarat for putting IPS officer behind the bars for speaking against the chief minister in cases related to 2002 riots. He wished that judiciary should be allowed to settle the case.

Anna Hazare's renewed fight for a corruption free administration on Tuesday seems to cross the frontiers earlier understood by many political observers. On Tuesday in Ralegaon, Anna made it clear that politics over communal violence is also a form of corruption, that people must fight with all their might.

Sonia Appears Before Gandhi

Congress president Sonia Gandhi made her first public appearance on Sunday after her surgery in the United States recently. Along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the UPA chief paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his 142nd birth anniversary at Rajghat.

Sonia returned to India on September 08. Since then, Sonia had avoided public meetings and functions even though the UPA government witnessed a bitter clash between two of its senior ministers. She dealt with the crisis but stayed away from public giving rise to speculations that Sonia may be planning to pass on the mantle of the party to her son, Rahul Gandhi. Sundayz public appearance is being viewed as a signal that Sonia is still at the helm of the affairs both in the congress party and the UPA.

Sonia Gandhi is still recuperating from her surgery, but she has got herself into handling issues plaguing the Manmohan Singh govt including infighting and court developments in 2G scam and cash for votes scandal. Sonia is said to be working on alternate plans for a possible adverse court judgements post-Dussehra vacation, when hearing on several scams resume. The forced patch between two senior cabinet ministers over secret 2G note, effected by Sonia Gandhi last week was part of her alternate plans to navigate the government's ship through the turbulent waters of scandals and scams.

Sonia Gandhi's partial resumption of party work and her first public appearance at Rajghat on Mahatma Gandhi's 142nd anniversary comes at a time when the opposition is going berserk in its criticism of the scam tainted UPA government. Her public appearance also came a couple of days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alleged that there are forces at work to destabilize the government. With this in backdrop, Sonia Gandhiz appearance before Mahatma Gandhi's samadhi seems to be an attempt to make an emphatic statement that she is not losing grip over nation's politics.

Sonia Gandhi had given indications of taking command of the party affairs some days ago itself when she summoned Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in the wake of Bharatpur communal violence and two state ministers being dragged into controversies surrounding women, one of them is traceless while the other has died. Also, Sonia Gandhi called on Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar last week, which according to sources yielded into Kumar giving sanction to prosecute BJP MP Ashok Argal in the cash for votes scandal. Clearly, Sonia wants to put her message in a very straightforward style, that has been typical of her in past two decades.

Reside in Happiness

I always feel happy, You know why?
Because I don't expect anything from anyone,
Expectations always hurt..
Life is short.. So love your life.. Be happy..
And Keep smiling.. Just Live for yourself and
Before you speak Listen
Before you write Think
Before you spend Earn
Before you pray Forgive
Before you hurt Feel
Before you hate Love
Before you quit Try
Before you die Live

Courtesy: Shakespeare

2G Scam: Manmohan Presides Over Corruption

Corruption has coexisted with governance since time immemorial. India has witnessed royal corruption throughout its history of administration. Favouritism and manipulation have always kept the stirred up the recipe of politics in the country. So, it was nothing new the the two successive UPA government resorted to the same age old (mal)practice of governance. And, there are many, including the public perception, saying that the Manmohan Singh's government is the most corrupt government post-Independence. The allegation does hold some water. Manmohan Singh's government has seen scams after scams at a pace that had been unprecedented. The NREGS scam, the NHRM scam, the CWG scam, the cash for votes scam, petroleum scam, the Air India scam etc etc and above all the 2G spectrum scam.

Let's focus on the 2G scam with a general background of the spectrum that finds itself in the centre of a huge controversy. Spectrum is an invisible band in atmosphere. It behaves in a certain way depending on the radio character of the waves passing through or hitting it. The scientists, say at ISRO or DRDO, spend crores of (tax payers') money to understand its behaviour in different bands and then they develop mechanism to use the bands or spectrum in the sky for all types of communication. Once created, the band is available for all but for costly technology it is controlled by govt through laws. The government has its own mechanism to let people derive benefit from this discovery made out of their money paid to the government through taxes. The mechanism involves an interface, we can call it telecom service providers or big corporate houses. They are given licenses to use a certain space in the spectrum (by means of frequencies) for operating their business of telecommunications. They provide service to people and then charge money for the same. Interestingly, people pay again for using something they have already paid for its creation! But, this is how governance goes.

In 2G scam case, the government had distributed band widths among the telecom companies on the basis of first come first serve principle. Such a principle is good for things that hold no price. The government, including the previous regime under Atal Behari Vajpayee, considered spectrum as just invisible object and is of no value (conveniently) ignoring the well known fact that the companies will mint money by facilitating chats among people. Auction was another option before the government, but it preferred to consider the spectrum created after investing people's money as an ordinary object. Just to digress, I would like remind people of the power of auction by recalling the same at the IPL auction. Had the government resorted to the second option, it might have recovered a good part of the investment made out of tax payers' money or might have afforded to give some relaxation to the populace by announcing some tax relief to them.

But, when alter things (agendas) prime the considerations, even the most common wisdom takes the back seat. The same thing happened with the 2G spectrum allocation. And, the CAG of India calibrated that the process or the dereliction of duties by the government has had cost the nation, the tax payers an income of about Rs. 1.76 lakh crore. Now, this was a huge amount that the collective wealth of the nation was deprived of. Government argues that the CAG calculations are not sound and whatever loss was incurred to the exchequer was only imaginary or virtual. The government did not have the money in the first place, which the CAG talked about. True, that the government never had that money in question. But, it is also true that the government was denied to have that amount of money by those running the government. But, then again, the people running the Manmohan Singh government are not honest enough to admit that they caused the nation a loss to the tune of what calibrated by the CAG, the most authentic audit body in the country.

Two things are more shocking in the entire episode. One, that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh let all this happen while every decision was approved by his cabinet. Secondly, Manmohan Singh is widely hailed as an able economist but surprisingly, he presided over the greatest loot of virtual money in India during his tenure as the Prime Minister. The changing organizational structures of the 2G spectrum allottees (companies) betray either the short-sightedness or culpability of the Manmohan Singh government. The latest secret note (which was seen and approved by Pranab Mukherjee) from the finance ministry to the PMO and former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran's letter to the prime minister have broken the shield of defence of the entire UPA machinery.

In this context, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is holding an all important meeting tonight, ironically in the United States. Pranab Mukherjee's tussle with P Chidambaram is well known in the inner circle of the UPA establishment. But, ever since the spat came out in the open over the issue of 2G scam has eroded the thin crust of credibility to this government. Pranab Mukherjee has sought and got couriered (as reports suggest) a bunch of files related 2G spectrum allocation from his ministry all the way to New York. This meeting between the two topmost leaders of the country on perhaps the biggest scam at venue outside the country speaks volume about the mess that the UPA government presently finds itself in. The Prime Minister and UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi must be making all efforts to keep the 2G taint away from their respective offices. It is really tough on the economist and presumably honest prime minister to preside over perceptibly the most corrupt government ever.

Libya, Anna and India

Another authoritarian regime is about to fall apart for ever. The history is unfolding in Libya. People may call them rebels who raced into Tripoli meeting practically no resistance from Muammar Gaddafi's forces, who had sustained the crest fallen leader for 42 years. Euphoria soon engulfed all. Residents merily mingled with the fighters in celebrations signalling their victory at Green Square in capital, Tripoli. While, Gaddafi is hiding at an undisclosed location and pleading with people and forces to safeguard his regime. But, when the commander is fleeing, it's only foolhardy to believe that his forces will stand any ground in the battlefield. Here, the entire nation has turned into a battlefield. Even, the heir apparent, Gaddafi's son has been captured. Both, Gaddafi and his son, Seif al-Islam face charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court at Hague in the Netherlands.

Now, the rebel forces have a huge task of setting the house in order. It seems that they are right on the money, at least in the capital. They have been reported to be setting up checkpoints in the capital to facilitate administration. This does give a very positive sign of organization on the part of the rebel forces.

The fall of Tripoli to Libyan rebels should serve as the final alarm to the leaders worldwide. People are exasperated, angry and have lost faith in the current mindset of governance as it has failed to deliver requisite services and facilities to them. The world economic order has widened the gap between the haves and have-nots. The governance seems to be patronizing the haves world over and the largest chunk of population has been rendered as have-nots though they toil the most to make their both ends meet. This explains the anger everywhere irrespective of the categorization of the country on IMF and World Bank's chart ot LIG, MIG or HIG countries.

India is no exception. The Indian government must not test patience of its populace any more as the patience is already on its wane in the country, where even handsome earners can't sustain for 3-4 months if money supply stops. Country is getting richer, but the nation poorer. Unimaginable support to Anna Hazare is a live evidence of the phenomenon. Libya must be the final wake up call for the government. India can't afford to become an Egypt or a Libya.

Anna Puzzle

Anna, The Sepoy

Anna Hazare has puzzled not only the govt, his supporters, media but himself as well. He would not have imagined that his call for a strong lokpal bill will get so much of support. In fact, people are not pouring in for the Janlokpal Bill, as drafted by the lawyers of Team Anna, but against omnipresent, all-pervading demon of corruption and for a hope that is floating on the promise of a Janlokpal. Though, people are not fully aware of the Lokpal or a Janlokpal, but it is the hope that has attracted them in large numbers. I only fear that they would get more exasperated in a few months from now, when they would find that framing of laws can not eradicate corruption from the Indian society, which needs stricter implementation of the existing laws and requires urgently getting back to moral schools for strong ethical values to resist temptation and allurement.

Emergency At Midnight

The Congress has been prone to autocratic means of governance. This has been the perennial allegation of the opposition. On Saturday night, the agenda setters of the Congress proved that the opponents of Congress' way of life are right on their money. Amidst high drama over the issue of black money and corruption, which saw a gandhian earlier and a yog guru now flexing muscle with the Congress-led government, the protagonists of emergency like rule cut loose on a Sanyasi's Satyagrah (however impractical or ill-timed it may be). Baba Ramdev and hundreds of his supporters and followers were treated with an iron hand when they expect it least to visit them. Some five thousand armed men of Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force unleashed mayhem on the people who had gathered at the Ramlila Ground in New Delhi ostensibly to pressurize the government to act tough against all those who plunder or contribute in the plunder of national wealth in the form of black money, particularly that stashed in supposedly huge amount in the foreign banks. The armed men used lathis, tear shells, fire and bullets against people whose leaders asked them to remain peaceful till last and these policemen who obviously acted at the instruction of the Union Home Ministry did not serve any warning to the gathering of a huge mass. The Baba and his supporters were evicted from the Ramlila Ground at midnight as the home ministry decided to extern the yog guru who was, as per official denfence theory, purportedly inciting people against a democratically elected government at centre. Men and women were beaten black and blue without any distinction or discrimination. I guess this is the face of rule of law under emergency. This was emergency at midnight.

The official defence, as propounded by the parallel mouthpiece of the Congress party, Digvijay Singh says that Ramdev had become a threat to peace and harmony in Delhi, that he is a habitual cheater, that he has been a tax evader, that he harbours a political ambition, that he had a communal agenda during his so-called hunger strike in the national capital, that his claim for medical miracle is a farce, that he has preached absurd things in the name of reviving the techniques of yoga, that he used unethical means, as one pointed out two years ago by CPI-M leader Brinda Karat, that he has held captive his own master Baba Shankardev and is a threat to his life, that he is mumbug, who agreed to call off his hunger strike during talks with the representatives of the government and later told his followers a different version altogether, that he secured permission for a yog shivir at Ramlila Ground, which was later converted into the place of political agenda setting, that he was being managed by the RSS and the BJP, that his sinister programme at Ramlila Ground was totally sponsored, conspired and implemented by the saffron brigade with RSS and VHP being the fountainhead and that a thug like Ramdev got the treatment that he deserved for cheating, misleading and misguiding the entire nation. But, at this point of time, can the parallel mouthpiece of the ruling party answer a simple question? That, had he or his party or the government not known all the tenets of Ramdev's mischief as propounded by Digvijay Singh himself when four senior ministers of the union cabinet were sent to prostrate before the man who was evicted at midnight from the Ramlila Ground on Saturday? If the government or the party or Mr Digvijay Singh himself knew about the deeds of Ramdev, why the ruling dispensation laid before a half-naked man with a 'distorted intent'? Why till as late as on Saturday evening the union ministers held a press conference to say that the government had agreed to all the demands of Baba Ramdev? Did the government not cheat the very people who elected it, if the defence theory as propounded early Sunday morning and hinted at a couple of days before by Digvijay Singh? Can the government prostrate before a person who threatens to lead some one percent of population to an agitation against the government?

Now, suppose this. Suppose, Baba Ramdev had agreed to call off the fast-- when government wanted him to do so with all the secret deals in place that were made public on Saturday by Kapil Sibal, who left press briefing midway to get 'an instruction from someone higher up' only to return and hint at what unfolded later in the night-- would the parallel mouthpiece of the congress party held on to his views as he did? Simply put, did the government indulge in secret dealings with a man who was a cheater in all his forms? Can anyone by this defence of the congress or the government? I leave this question here itself.

But, what happened in New Delhi on Saturday night defies all the logic that governs a civil society like ours. Five thousand armed men run amok at a camp attended by peaceful demonstrators. Police set the dais on fire, damaged the tent and beat up people! My question is what the people were doing there? Did they demand an overthrow of the government like what happened in Egypt? Repression of this sort is not acceptable. Ramdev has a right to express his views and interact with people his wishes to. And, his supporters have the same right. The government, it seems, tried to make amends what the congress party afterthought was a mistake committed by sending four ministers to placate a sanyasi with impractical demands for this government. But, surely the method adopted by the government at the behest of the party gives a signal that a voice of discomfort will be silence by whatever means possible. This is an alarming situation.