Tirade against Tyrants

One week has gone by(I started writing this on Saturday) since the Ravanlila happened at the Ramlila Grounds on 4^th June,2011.  By the way, is it a coincidence that the date on which the Congress government unleashed barbaric force on it’s own harmless people , is the same date China did the infamous Tianmen(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989). So we have 2 features common to China now. One of course is our ever-increasing population. And second, and more prominent

the penchant of the current government to curb any voice of dissent with utmost brutality.

Congrats Govt, at least on some parameters we are up there with China.

It has been a week full of drama, emotions and hectic political parleys in India

But for crores of commoners of  India like me , it has been something else too.

Bashing politicians has always been the favorite past time of us Indians and I believe

we are not totally wrong in doing so. But whenever a political discourse happens between

any of us and we start pointing fingers towards politicians for all ills , I am sure this question has been propped up “ Why don’t you join politics to clean it up?”  Yes this is what the recent civil movements , waged by Swami Ramdev and Anna Hazare too , aim at. But the question should never come up now. The brute force which has curbed the entirely peaceful movement by Baba should warn each of us Indians who has at any point of his life thought of doing something in politics. When someone from outside politics and having as incredible reputation as of Baba and Anna thought of doing so, they have been so badly roughed up by Government that no man in his right senses would dare now. Baba who incarnates an old tradition of spirituality in India, of all these gurus who throughout the ages have come to teach and preserve this ancient knowledge which takes the form of hatha-yoga, pranayama, meditation or Ayurveda, has been so disdainfully treated by Government, it so appears that there is a message that Government wants to convey through this act.

 

I think enough has been written about to Anna in last 3 months and all work done by Baba has been ignored by media in what looks a quite planned move initiated by Madam Sonia and her crony Congress govt. So I as a token of my respect for  what Baba has been doing for this forsaken land , thought of writing this piece. As I have mentioned before too in my previous posts please excuse me for being so unimaginative
so as to always put my analysis in points as below :

1. Difference between Baba and Anna’s movements: For all those who keep their eyes open and have observed both the movements, the difference is quite stark. Obviously what junta comes to know is what we read/ watch on TV, Internet, print. While Anna got so many eye balls for his fast against corruption,  Baba whose campaign was far bigger than Anna’s got such a negative attention from whole media that if not for staunch faith in Baba’s mission, Baba would have turned into a traitor rather a thug.

There is a sharp class divide between the 'civil society' movements launched by Anna Hazare and Ramdev. The old Gandhian and his core support team are quite well known public faces some of them activists who in past have spoken on modern idiom of development and politics, a language the mainstream media finds comprehensible, comforting and respectable. Hence the acceptability to Anna’s movement. There were film stars, who attract the most eye balls in India when Anna was fasting. The Anna movement was a made-in-media campaign. The crowds that flocked to his rally in Delhi's Jantar Mantar two months ago did so without any incentive and organisation. However, its spontaneity was also governed by a spectacular degree of TV hype that unnerved the government and forced it into setting up a joint committee to draft a new Lokpal Bill. No doubt the process was helped by the endearing personality of Anna—a man who exudes both simplicity and sincerity. And then there was this section of  Internet junta ,a

section of idealistic but impressionable youth who believes social media networking is a force for the good.

Compared to the 5,000 or so people who thronged Jantar Mantar at the peak of Anna's fast, Ramdev began his show with a dedicated audience of something around 50,000 people. While most of Anna's supporters were from the National Capital Region—plus shows of solidarity in the state capitals—the yoga guru mobilised people from all over the country. Ramdev's support base was drawn from primarily from B, C and D category towns and lacked either clout or glamour. The English-language media was openly contemptuous of his mission, portraying it as a variant of another Saffron rant . There was not a single Bollywood star to keep company of the relatively unknown religious figures that graced Ramdev's dais. Hence Baba’s movement was too devoid of any gleen to cover it and give importance.

And lastly, and to me the most important reason for Baba’s movement being neglected by media was because it had a color with it, Saffron that is. Though Baba never emphasised on this being a Hindu movement with religious leaders of all kinds sharing the dais, media along with the ruling govt attack dogs kept on ranting this being a movement controlled by RSS, BJP and blah blah. And once you associate saffron in India to any thing, you become untouchable. And that can happen only in our country.

2. Has Media completely sold its soul ? : Yes it has. Here was a crusade against the most corrupt government independent India has seen. And the crusader is one who is being questioned. Infact the whole episode is a creation of media. Instead of focussing on misdeeds of government and highlighting the efforts of a Yogi , there were questions on Baba, his intentions, his financial clout. These questions so very diluted the agenda that at times it appeared that there is a movement against Baba by govt instead of vice versa.  Baba’s 1100 crore against 400 lakh crores. Is there a comparison in these figures? No,any one will  reply. But the puppet Media thought otherwise. Even after declaring the source of funds, media kept pessurising Baba.

"Ramdev hasn't given his accounts openly, so how can he ask politicians to come  clean?": First thing first, If Ramdev's accounts are not upto the mark, it won't make much of a difference to you or me. But if Rs 400 lakh crores (USD 9.09 Trillion) don't come back and many more are stashed out that will make a HUGE difference to the country's economic future! Just as a reference, United States' total debt is Rs 650 lakh crores!

Second, Ramdev's trust is a Private Trust and not a Public Limited Company. So, he does give out the accounts but not in public - but to the tax authorities. That is the law. There is no reason why he should do otherwise. Instead of making up stories based on an action in line with the legal practice, it may be more worthwhile to actually go to the tax authorities and ask for the accounts via an RTI (RIght to Information) plea.

Third, with the kind of passion with which the Government and the adminstration is targeting Ramdev, can any intelligent person believe that if his accounts weren't up to the mark, he would have survived? Is it even reasonable or logical?

If the Media had its heart at the right place, the questions should have posed to Govt instead? Has anyone yet asked the shrewd lawyer in Mr Sibbal that where is the ordinance on the basis of which he got signature from Acharya Balkrishna? Such a shame that Media is completely turning blind eye to all misdeeds of Govt.

3. Is Baba the Leader India is looking for? : Personally I don’t think so. To Baba’s credit he has brought an awakening for Yoga amongst the masses, most of which was illiterate and rural, in itself is a humungous task. He has helped masses cure themselves with virtue of ancient Yoga practices and Ayurveda. He has a very huge following and that is pan India.

But Baba’s first foray into real politics shows that he is yet to learn the tricks of the trade. He has been deceived and probably used to fuse to counter the Anna wave which swept the Urban middle class a couple of months ago. Baba’s intentions are noble but am not sure he is the right guy to lead this movement against Corruption and misgovernance. Some of his ideas are outrageous but some of them are pretty in genuine too. He appears a clean man though Govt and media have tried its best to malign him. Am sure he could have led a pretty fruitful and easy life had he not ventured into this slugfest by virtue of Yoga and Ayurveda. His followers are in crores already and hence it wouldn’t have been a tough task for him to just teach yoga and keep his image intact. He plunged into this with a mission and that should be respected. Baba will have to learn to be more vigil and careful with his words and actions now as the Govt and media will do a scrutiny for each of his actions and words. I just wish Baba comes out victorious in this battle.

4.  Can Govt stoop any further? : In all this brouhaha , if it was a ideal playing field Govt should have taken the beating. They did tried their best to curb the     movement. Airport diplomacy, Hotel diplomacy, Letter Diplomacy and what not.

They had another trick for each previously failed one. And when nothing worked then came the brute and shameless force on innocent people who are tired with this tyrant government. They have an attack dog in guise of Digvijay Singh who on any day can win the award for most indecent politician. They have a shrewd lawyer in Kapil Sibbal to make all calculation in gambit of law. They have a puppet PM in Manmohan Singh to turn a blind eye to anything wrong and then they have Yuvraj and Sonia Madam to signal them green for any shameless trick.

God help this country.

By the time I am finished with this piece Baba’s fast has finished and the whole media is hell bent on turning this into a mockery. A frail, tired man in Baba must be wondering why he did all this. It all looks a very thankless job. But I just wish the common man’s trust in him keeps him going. Because in people like Baba rests the hopes of a nation which is getting tired of being duped and cheated but also a nation which is looking for a Hero ,a Leader to take the battle to it’s logical end. An agent of change is needed and in given circumstances looks we will need some more Babas.

       

     Please feel free to comment on the above if you feel doing so.

       Love,

       Saket