IMPENDING AFTER SHOCKS OF ANNA HAZARE’S FAST

N. S. VENKATARAMAN

Chemical Engineer by profession

Director of Nandini Consultancy Centre Pvt. Ltd
The Founder Trustee of Nandini Voice For The Deprived

It appears that while ending his fast, Anna Hazare exaggerated the success level by stating that the battle against corruption has been half won. The fact is that the battle against corruption has only just begun and has to be fine tuned to a substantial extent without generating bitterness and animosities and providing dignity to the campaign. The movement still has a long way to go .

While considerable section of the country men have given unstinted support to Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption, the bitter truth is that during the twelve days of fast , Anna Hazare and his small team of hand picked persons have not been able to elevate the quality of the campaign to lofty level, which is required to sustain it in the long run. Anna Hazare and his team are still to learn lessons from Mahatma Gandhi’s experiments and methods.

Certainly, Anna Hazare should have avoided the ill advised call to his followers to gherao the Prime Minister, MPs and MLAs. He and some of his spokes persons called MPs as dacoits. These utterances amount to spreading hatred and have lowered the dignity of the movment. It is true that sections of politicians and MPs are dishonest. But, all the NGOs to which category Anna Hazare and his team belong are not corruption free. Quite a number of them have been accused of swindling large amount of money and misusing the NGO portfolio for ulterior purposes. Anna Hazare has missed to point out this disturbing fact for whatever reasons.

Now, that the damage has been done by such undesirable utterances , Anna Hazare should express his regrets to the nation in general and to all his followers in particular about these unsavoury remarks and assure them that he would be more careful in future, while striving to sustain the movement. Anna Hazare should remember that the congress spokes person tendered his apology to Anna Hazare for calling him corrupt earlier.

Another matter of extreme concern is the source of funds for sustaining the movement , particularly during the twelve days of fast and earlier. Anna Hazare and his team were flying everywhere and there have been huge shows which need money to organize. Many people visiting Ram Lila grounds are reported to have been fed with snacks and food and all these would not have come without spending money. It is quite possible that such money has been spent by the followers of Anna Hazare but the country need to know as to who are these people who funded them. Transparency is a very important aspect of quality movements.

Anna Hazare should remember Mahatma Gandhi’s saying that the man of truth should also be a man of care. Without losing time, Anna Hazare and his team should publicise clearly about the income and expenses relating to anti corruption crusade in a transparent manner and put it in public domain. Anna Hazare and his team should not imitate politicians like Mayawati to say that all the income were from public donations and from admirers. If he would say that expenses are from unknown people, then it would sound like the claims of the politicians and leave an element of deep suspicion.

In the interest of sustaining this important and necessary movement against corruption , Anna Hazare should exhibit the quality of statesmanship by revealing the source of money for organizing this campaign.

It is also necessary for Anna Hazare to do his homework and delete the negatives and add the positives to this movement in the coming days. His practice of giving a free hand to his hand picked people should be stopped forthwith . Certainly, there are many knowledgeable people in the country with great credentials and character and Anna should be able to spot them and utilize their commitment and expertise for the larger good of the nation.