Satyagrah, not duragrah, need of hour
1 Nov 2012 2:51 AM IST
The crisis managers of the Congress have been on an overdrive to repair the image of the party damaged by unending cases of financial impropriety. While they worked hard to give a face-lift to the Manmohan Singh cabinet, they made its government in Haryana give a clean chit to the land dealings of party president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra. On the other hand the department of company affairs at the centre lost no time in mounting a discreet probe into the holdings in the companies associated with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari.
There were two different reactions to these developments. The first came from the leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, who said though the investigating agencies were susceptible to work under the influence of the government, still they were confident of party president Gadkari coming out clean from the probe.
The second reaction came from India Against Corruption (IAC) leader Arvind Kejriwal, who recently held a press conference to claim that unjust gratification accrued to Vadra with the help of the Haryana government in his land deals with real estate giants DLF. A senior official in Haryana had to face transfer as he ordered a probe into Vadra’s deals.
Reacting to the news of Vadra getting a clean chit Kejriwal said, ‘Newspapers say Haryana officers have given clean chit to Vadra. It was expected ... there are some people in this county against whom no investigation can be made. Does any government agency in the country have the guts to investigate him? One officer, Ashok Khemka, tried to dare but he was transferred.’
Last week in these columns we discussed the environment of cynicism which is sought to be portrayed by the news channels. We drew hugely from Mahatma Gandhi’s writings explaining how in face of the challenge created by lack of quality content, media does fall back on sensationalism to keep itself relevant. In today’s column, I seek to charge Kejriwal of suffering from same cynicism of Indians having lost the ability to fight corruption and injustice.
Kejriwal has pushed his agenda and continues to do so using Gandhian symbols. However, the tone and tenor of his movement suggests that Kejriwal satyagrahis seek to create a situation of political catastrophe. In belittling parliamentary institutions, their goal could be to replace it with a form of benign fascist leadership at the top.
Kejriwal is an engineer by training and therefore he cannot be blamed for not knowing nation’s history well. Unfortunately he has also not tried to know about post-independence people’s movements which have yielded extra-ordinary results for the benefit of the nation and its citizens.
We would not take up the often repeated case study of Emergency or other such movements with political agenda but for the benefit of Kejriwal satyagrahis recount for them the story of two extra-ordinary women from Delhi who not just successfully took on the establishment but also fought criminal and money power on the strength of their determination and belief to get justice.
Neelam Katara and Neelam Krishnamurti’s struggle to get justice for the victims of state’s callousness perpetrated through social elite who managed to reach their respective positions of power on the basis of money and criminal muscles are shining example of how our system empowers its people. While Katara’s determination has ensured life term for the influential killers of her young son, Krishnamurti finally had the business Moghuls seeking forgiveness in the court room.
Kejriwal and his satyagrahis have been in the business of seeking justice and it’s time for them to take Mahatma Gandhi’s test: ‘Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him.’ Has the numerous protests and fasts by IAC brought about any significant positive change in the lives of citizens? It’s time to ask the question, where is Kejriwal’s movement headed? Does it seek to create anarchical situation which may be exploited by his fledging political party to gain a toe-hold. A careful study would show a move in that very direction as repeated attempts have been made to belittle IAC’s political rivals to establish their own political ascendancy.
Kejriwal satyagrahis should not fear that Vadra, if there are wrong doings on his part, cannot be taken to task. They just have to draw inspiration from the movement which exposed the fodder scam in Bihar. Lalu Yadav and his cohorts could be brought to the book because a Ravishankar Prasad doggedly pursued the matter in the courts and found allies in honest officers inside the
much-maligned CBI.
Kejriwal’s movement is no Satyagrah. Gandhi himself would have objected to the method of shoot and scoot, adopted by IAC members. He could have possibly equated their movement with Duragraha. Gandhi said, ‘The Duragrahi, like the oilman’s ox, moves in a circle. His movement is only motion but it is not progress.’ Kejriwal has till date failed to define the progress of his movement.
IAC is equipped to successfully get Vadra booked by court, provided the charges brought by them against him stands test of law. But court of law IAC would not move as the courts would do due diligence which Kejriwal’s allies in news channels don’t consider necessary before rushing to town.
Sidharth Mishra is with Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice, and consulting editor, Millennium Post
There were two different reactions to these developments. The first came from the leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, who said though the investigating agencies were susceptible to work under the influence of the government, still they were confident of party president Gadkari coming out clean from the probe.
The second reaction came from India Against Corruption (IAC) leader Arvind Kejriwal, who recently held a press conference to claim that unjust gratification accrued to Vadra with the help of the Haryana government in his land deals with real estate giants DLF. A senior official in Haryana had to face transfer as he ordered a probe into Vadra’s deals.
Reacting to the news of Vadra getting a clean chit Kejriwal said, ‘Newspapers say Haryana officers have given clean chit to Vadra. It was expected ... there are some people in this county against whom no investigation can be made. Does any government agency in the country have the guts to investigate him? One officer, Ashok Khemka, tried to dare but he was transferred.’
Last week in these columns we discussed the environment of cynicism which is sought to be portrayed by the news channels. We drew hugely from Mahatma Gandhi’s writings explaining how in face of the challenge created by lack of quality content, media does fall back on sensationalism to keep itself relevant. In today’s column, I seek to charge Kejriwal of suffering from same cynicism of Indians having lost the ability to fight corruption and injustice.
Kejriwal has pushed his agenda and continues to do so using Gandhian symbols. However, the tone and tenor of his movement suggests that Kejriwal satyagrahis seek to create a situation of political catastrophe. In belittling parliamentary institutions, their goal could be to replace it with a form of benign fascist leadership at the top.
Kejriwal is an engineer by training and therefore he cannot be blamed for not knowing nation’s history well. Unfortunately he has also not tried to know about post-independence people’s movements which have yielded extra-ordinary results for the benefit of the nation and its citizens.
We would not take up the often repeated case study of Emergency or other such movements with political agenda but for the benefit of Kejriwal satyagrahis recount for them the story of two extra-ordinary women from Delhi who not just successfully took on the establishment but also fought criminal and money power on the strength of their determination and belief to get justice.
Neelam Katara and Neelam Krishnamurti’s struggle to get justice for the victims of state’s callousness perpetrated through social elite who managed to reach their respective positions of power on the basis of money and criminal muscles are shining example of how our system empowers its people. While Katara’s determination has ensured life term for the influential killers of her young son, Krishnamurti finally had the business Moghuls seeking forgiveness in the court room.
Kejriwal and his satyagrahis have been in the business of seeking justice and it’s time for them to take Mahatma Gandhi’s test: ‘Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him.’ Has the numerous protests and fasts by IAC brought about any significant positive change in the lives of citizens? It’s time to ask the question, where is Kejriwal’s movement headed? Does it seek to create anarchical situation which may be exploited by his fledging political party to gain a toe-hold. A careful study would show a move in that very direction as repeated attempts have been made to belittle IAC’s political rivals to establish their own political ascendancy.
Kejriwal satyagrahis should not fear that Vadra, if there are wrong doings on his part, cannot be taken to task. They just have to draw inspiration from the movement which exposed the fodder scam in Bihar. Lalu Yadav and his cohorts could be brought to the book because a Ravishankar Prasad doggedly pursued the matter in the courts and found allies in honest officers inside the
much-maligned CBI.
Kejriwal’s movement is no Satyagrah. Gandhi himself would have objected to the method of shoot and scoot, adopted by IAC members. He could have possibly equated their movement with Duragraha. Gandhi said, ‘The Duragrahi, like the oilman’s ox, moves in a circle. His movement is only motion but it is not progress.’ Kejriwal has till date failed to define the progress of his movement.
IAC is equipped to successfully get Vadra booked by court, provided the charges brought by them against him stands test of law. But court of law IAC would not move as the courts would do due diligence which Kejriwal’s allies in news channels don’t consider necessary before rushing to town.
Sidharth Mishra is with Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice, and consulting editor, Millennium Post
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