news details |
|
|
| MURDER OF DEMOCRACY | | | KHUSHWANT S RANIAL | 6/5/2011 10:13:56 PM |
| On the intervening night of 6th june 2011,Police attack upon the ongoing Peaceful satyagraha, launched by the Baba Ram dev and his more than 60,ooo supporters against the eradication of corruption and bringing back the stashed black money in the foreign banks, at the Ram Lila ground in the Delhi ,the capital city of India, has led to the addition of one more black page in the history of India .Such brutal attack reminds us of the emergency period of year 1975, when the voice of the people were gagged and again to the pre –independence era of Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in 1913 when people were combed by the British cannons from all sides leading to the death of 357 people and left thousands injured .It is truly no less than a human right violation and can be equated to the Tinanmen Square of China where peaceful demonstrations were bulldozed to remain silence around two decades ago . This type of Indian democracy can be easily equated to those communist policies of seizing the right of speech,thus violating the Indian constitutional fundamental right. It amounts to the murder of the democracy. One cannot hope to survive with dignity where such type of jungle rule prevails and there is no respect for the emotions, sentiments and feelings of common masses who support a true leader who vow to fight on the behalf of the public in a non violent manner. After all what illegal act was carried out by the people at the Ram lila ground in New Delhi that irked the government to launch an attack and raze the people through the use of force. Definitely it casts doubt on the policies of the government and those henchmen who indulged in such mean condemnable planning and its execution .This barbaric act has exposed the weaknesses of those at the helm of affairs about their seriousness in fighting against corruption and those who have stashed away the black money from India in foreign banks .At the first outset, they befooled social activists Anna Hazare launched campaign to put off the issue by seeking time to frame the mode of enacting the Lokpal bill by 30th June 2011. But when the time of framing, the policies came, things started drifting away as the government was again hell bent to frame the same old rules in newer manner almost to form a new Lokpal like a toothless body . Anna Hazare has over and again stated that government is not serious enough to deal with the issue from the core of the heart and this led to the intervention of Baba Ramdev to restart and give invigoration to the dying spirits of Anna Hazare ‘s efforts. But feeling the heat and sensing the pressure and mass popularity of the Baba Ramdev ,the corrupt coterie of P M Manmohan singh got perturbed and ill convinced him to charge the lawful assembly .Those who so ever be , behind mooting this idea of intruding has taken this decision in haste and in a very in calculated move. It can cost party in power heavily in the near future because it has made apparent to the public that present government is not serious enough to fight this malignant disease of corruption and they want it to flourish as it is now. Moreover the proposed options of Baba Ram dev are very strong and unsparing ones so they know that if once they make commitment with the public ,they will land to the begging state .The unearthing of the looted exchequer will go to the government treasury whose pain cannot be borne by them . But they must realise that public has grown intelligent and they will not tolerate any more excesses .They do not want to live under the shade of economic hardships and governed by a few capitalists who shall rule their destiny .Now a social awakening has arrived and a spark has been lit to give boost to fight the corrupt practices .Every movement begins with the small steppings and these two efforts of Anna Hazare and Yog Guru Baba Ramdev has revived hope among the public that if corrupt British empire could be thrown out of this country than why not these corrupt politicians who are worst than those Britishers .Indian leaders have behaved like an alien so far .Even in the 1oth century ,foreign invaders like Mohd.Ghaznvi and Mohd. Gori did not plunder this country like these heartless so called Indian leaders have done so far .Now everyone is fed up of them .They all are deceit and no less than chameleon. When they hold the reigns after winning the elections, they hold nothing but after the end of their tenure their sky rocketing bank balances confirms their ill patriotism towards their public and the nation together. Their sincerity under the garb of honesty tells the different tale. Let this crusade against corruption do not die and combined efforts move together in high spirits in the aimed direction to get this social evil eradicated from the very soil of India so that every citizen live a true happy ,prosperous and progressive life .The cosmopolitan nation may gain an egalitarian societal character . The dream of every citizen of this nation to have adequate food, shelter and clothing may get fulfilled. Time has come to stand united to face such on slaughts . Be ready to bear stress of small winds, storms shall themselves run away. Only a concerted endeavour is desired to keep the morale and motivation level alive to let those at the helm of affairs to realise to ponder over the subject and arise, awake and initiate real approach in curbing the growns menace of this corruption which otherwise previous legislations could not achieve so far.
Ramdev arrest: The prime minister should act now
B Raman
The prime minister needs to address the public anger over the black money issue, suggests B Raman.
The ham-handed handling of Baba Ramdev's movement against foreign bank accounts of Indian nationals by the government does not speak well either of the government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or of the Congress headed by Sonia Gandhi or of the senior bureaucracy advising the PM.
Public anger against the perceived lack of action by the government to detect and proceed legally against the holders of illegal accounts abroad had been building up at least for a year, if not longer. This anger was more faithfully and accurately reflected in the internet than in the print and electronic media.
While the electronic media played a commendable role in reflecting public anger over the foot-dragging by the government in taking action on charges of corruption against certain political leaders, it did not take serious note of the internet anger over government's perceived inaction against illegal accounts held abroad by Indian nationals.
Repeated examples of the cover-up by the government in the Bofors case where one had useful leads of some illegal accounts held abroad by some of the dramatis personae in the Bofors scandal created strong suspicions in the minds of many that there must be other such instances of cover-up by the government to prevent the truth from being found out in respect of foreign accounts.
The government did face a genuine difficulty in taking action since the co-operation of foreign governments was involved. But there have been instances where other governments such as those of the United States and Germany had overcome such difficulties and successfully elicited the co-operation of countries such as Switzerland for action against financial wrong-doers.
Adding to these suspicions in the public mind was the evasive reactions of the government to the leads coming from WikiLeaks on this issue. Instead of taking these leads sincerely and seriously and examining how the government could use them, the government treated them casually as if the leads found in the WikiLeaks disclosures were of no significance or importance.
The government thus failed to follow up vigorously on the few leads that were forthcoming, thereby creating -- rightly or wrongly -- an impression in the public mind that the government is not serious about taking action to detect and prosecute holders of illegal foreign bank accounts.
The government not only failed to act, but it also failed to notice how public anger was building up on this issue on the internet. Since this anger was not reflected by the print and electronic media, the government thought that it could continue to get away with its inaction, amounting to a cover-up of a serious problem.
There are various ways in which the government could have acted in order to remove this impression in the public mind about the studied inaction by Dr Manmohan Singh's government and the Congress.
The PM could have addressed the people and interacted with civil society leaders agitating on this issue in order to convince them about the seriousness of the government's plans to deal with this issue. He didn't. He maintained a sphinx-like silence, which comes naturally to him.
The prime minister could have visited countries like Switzerland which attract financial wrong-doers in order to seek their co-operation in the matter. He could have made it clear to their leaders that future development of our trade with those countries would depend on their co-operation with India in detecting and prosecuting financial wrong-doers. He didn't.
He could have set up a task force consisting of experts in financial intelligence collection and investigation to study how countries such as the US and Germany have dealt with this issue and draw lessons. He didn't.
He could have asked the same task force to study the working of our institutions responsible for financial intelligence collection and investigation in order to identify deficiencies and remove them. He didn't.
He could have set up a mechanism for keeping the public continuously informed of the actions being taken by the government. He didn't.
When he heard that Baba Ramdev was planning to agitate on this issue in a big way, the PM should have asked his emissaries to contact him, explain what the government has already been doing and what it intended doing in future and advised him not to embark on an agitationl approach which could prove counter-productive.
Instead of doing so, the government mistakenly thought that it could benefit from the support base of the Baba to reduce the support base of Anna Hazare.
It was ridiculous to have sent a group of senior ministers to meet the Baba at the airport on his arrival and negotiate with him there. The negotiations with the Baba should have been before he arrived in New Delhi and not after his arrival at the airport or in a well-known hotel.
Through its actions and inactions, the government unnecessarily and unwisely built up the image of the Baba. When the government found to its consternation that the Baba was not as malleable as it thought he would be, it swung to the other extreme of midnight action, using tear gas-smoke to put an end to the hunger-strike.
The way the government acted would have recalled in the minds of many how the Indira Gandhi government used to act during the days of Emergency between 1975 and 1977. If the government had wanted to act strongly against the Baba, the right time for his arrest would have been before his arrival in New Delhi or on his arrival at the airport.
Instead of sending his senior ministers to hail him, the prime minister could have sent the police to arrest him and take him away from New Delhi.
The government and the Congress, due to their inability to think lucidly and act convincingly and meaningfully, have landed themselves in a messy situation with likely negative consequences.
The first step for getting out of this mess is to convince the public that they have taken note of its anger and are serious about dealing with this issue.
The prime minister should address the nation, exercise his personal leadership, keep the ministers and party spokesmen under control instead of making highly unwise and potentially provocative statements and make it clear to the party and Sonia Gandhi that he would not brook any interference in this matter.
He should make it clear that he would be prepared to quit as PM if there was any interference.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
