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| Anna's problems multiplying by the day, beneficiary Congress | | Crusade Against Corruption | | Neha
JAMMU, Oct 21: Problems of Anna Hazare, who has unleashed a crusade against corruption to cleanse the system of corrupt elements and establish a corruption-free society, are multiplying by the day. Anna calls his movement second freedom struggle. He appears right considering the state of the Indian society in which a handful of people misgovern the state and loot exchequer and fleece people.
It is not only the Congress and the UPA government which are working overtime to weaken his movement. They are trying their best to paint Anna and his team black by telling the people that those who have launched anti-corruption movement are themselves corrupt and that their struggle is directed only against the ruling coalition of which the Congress is the major constituent. What the Congress and the UPA are doing to deflate and derail the Anna's movement is understandable as they feel that it has the potential of influencing the national mood and marring their poll prospects. Anna can surmount with ease the problems being created by the Congress and the UPA because the national mood is against them. The courage with which they took on Rahul Gandhi yesterday at Amethi is an indication of the direction the wind is blowing. The people virtually gehraoed him and asked him to give mandate only to persons with a clean image. Leave alone the crushing defeat the Congress suffered in the just-held by-polls across the country.
Anna's real enemies are within the India Against Corruption (IAC) under whose banner movement against corruption has been launched, There are persons in the IAC whose credentials are quite doubtful. Take, for example, Prashant Bhushan, Medha Patekar, Kiran Bedi, and even Arvind Kejriwal. Swami Agnivesh, who was also a close associate of Anna and was quite active when Anna started fast-unto-death, has been shown the door because he was hobnobbing with the government and demanding action against Anna and his team members. The association of Agnivesh with the Anna's movement had raised several serious questions about the Anna's credibility and the team with which he works. The reason: Agnivesh's close association with organizations which are opposed to the unity and integrity of India. He is a known supporter and sympathizer of Maoist terrorists, Kashmiri separatists, Khalistanis and similar other anti-India elements.
Excommunication of the controversial Agnivesh from the IAC has not ended the Anna's woes because there are many an Agnivesh in the Anna's team. Bhushan, Patekar and Agnivesh belong to one and the same category. Bhushan is a votary of plebiscite in Kashmir. He wants New Delhi to quit Kashmir because he feels the Kashmiris are for independence. He, in addition, dismisses anti-terror laws as draconian and believes that the presence of the Army in Kashmir is against the wishes of the Kashmiris. Patekar, of course, outwardly says that J&K is an integral part of India, but she, at the same time, endorses the Bhushan's stand on the anti-terror laws, Army and the human rights situation in Kashmir. According to her, the AFSPA is a "vulgar and brutal" legislation. She was in Srinagar a couple of days ago and it was from the Kashmiri soil that she demanded withdrawal of all the anti-terror laws and Army. Since Bhushan and Patekar are prominent members of the Anna's core group, it's only natural that people express their doubts and question the very credibility of Anna and his IAC.
Kiran Bedi, like Patekar and Kejriwal, does say that the state is an integral part of India, but the startling disclosures made by the Indian Express yesterday have made even the naive to question her and her credentials. According to the Indian Express, she overcharged some institutions by "inflating air travel bills". The national daily reported that "on at least 12 occasions between May 2007 and September this year, Bedi used the President's Gallantry Medal awarded to her in 1979 to get 75 per cent discounts on Air India tickets". Of course, she denied the allegation saying the "organizations that invited her 'voluntarily' paid her for business class tickets, but she travelled economy class to save money for her NGO, India Vision Foundation". But no one is going to buy this argument. It is a silly argument. She did commit a criminal offence and she must acknowledge it. It's no wonder the otherwise cornered Congress has upped its ante and demanded that she must "come clean".
These startling disclosers and the renewed attack by the Congress have only added to the woes and problems of Anna. Kejriwal, too, has been adding to the woes and problems of Anna through his controversial statements. He is defending Bhushan and Bedi and saying they are "very fine persons". Arvind Kejriwal said "he does not believe the allegations against Bedi. If the NGOs that called Kiranji have any problem, they can lodge an FIR. Only a police probe can tell whether the bills were genuine or otherwise," he said. Kejriwal is simply defending the indefensible, thus creating additional difficulties for Anna.
Anna just can't afford the rise of a situation that provides the corrupt an opportunity to question his credentials and the credentials of his NGO. If he wants to cleanes the system and the society of corrupt elements, then he has to first cleanse his own house by throwing out of the IAC controversial persons like Bhushan, Patekar and Bedi. They are not an asset; they are liabilities. The corrupt is very cunning, shrewd and powerful and, hence, Anna has to see to it that he doesn't have in his team any person whose weaknesses and sins could be exploited by the corrupt. His is a larger cause and for a larger cause persons like Bhushan need to be shown the door. |
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