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It’s chaos here in India with Anna Hazare threatening to fast unto death in order to get the legislature to pass the Jan Lokpal bill(the citizens’ ombudsman bill). The news has been sensationalised and written/spoken about on all kinds of media and each person in this country has now assumed the position of an expert on corruption. Me being the silent spectator decided to put together a list of Tweets and articles that I found interesting and I think people need to be made aware of.
In fact, read this article about the FAQs on Jan Lokpal by Nitin Pai before reading the rest of my blog post.
Here’s a list of thought provoking tweets that I came across between @madmanweb and @acorn hashtagged as #logic. These seem to be the thoughts of the vast majority out there supporting the movement. Here they are:
“The hordes of people supporting Anna Hazare can’t be all fools, so this is a good idea.”
“We have to do something. Let’s do this.”
“60+ years of other systems have not worked, so let’s give this a shot.”
“Why should India adopt Anna Hazare’s version of Lok Pal bill? Because an arrogant government is roughing up protestors.”
Now if you’re the types who is looking at the lines above and going “so what? It’s true!” this blog post is not for you.
A few more tweets:
@taslimanasreen : “I wish Indians would fight female foeticide, slave trade,sexual slavery,dowry murder,rape,domestic violence the way they fight corruption!”
@TusharG : “’A satyagrahi exhausts all other avenues before he resorts to Satyagraha’. M. K. Gandhi, Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, P 10.”
@calamur : “local goondas carrying national flags & chanting slogans - go to local school disrupt class and get kid out into their procession.”
Some more articles about Anna Hazare and the Lokpal movement.
Not Your Textbook Saint – an article on Anna Hazare and how he was not always non-violent amongst other things.
Spare Us the Gandhian Halo - In their zest for Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement, people forgot to find out what he really stands for
Hazare meets a wet blanket – An insightful article by Shiv Vishwanathan, a Sociologist and cultural anthropologist.
After all this, we have to ask ourselves if the Anna Hazare movement a truly democratic one? Is arm twisting the government to dance to your tunes the right way forward? How is shutting down schools and colleges, asking them to protest a sign of development? Now, I am not saying we should all live with corruption and not do anything about it nor am I a staunch UPA supporter but this certainly isn’t the way forward for me. Should we join a movement just because the rest of the people out there are doing it? As soon as you oppose the movement, there are a bunch of people who are quick to accuse you of corruption. How can Jan Lokpal bill be the only way to combat corruption? As Taslima Nasreen rightfully points out, how come we don’t fight alarming issues like rape with the same vigor?
These are questions that I do not find answers to amongst the Jan Lokpal bill protestors. Now you can post this as your status on Facebook and give me a missed call if you’d please.
about.me/aswinms
