I am NOT Anna and dont want to be Anna

[Sachin=GOD]

Playing With Fire Why the Lokpal could be a remedy worse than the malady Vijay Darda

Irrespective of the muchmaligned image of all politicians as the embodiment of all that is corrupt, there is no doubt that the entire political class has been working hard towards the framing of a strong Lokpal Bill. The sustained antipolitician campaign notwithstanding, Parliament did debate this issue. It came up with a sense of the House that was expected to satisfy Team Anna and did, with Anna Hazare breaking his fast. Then the expectation was that Anna and his supporters would let Parliament function in peace. It would get down to the task of framing the law without the constant pressure of meeting deadlines. But the experience of the past few months has left us parliamentarians a worried lot. We do want to pass the Lokpal Bill, but not with someone holding the threat of a fast-unto-death, like a gun, to our head. Civil society is expected to function like a pressure group in a democracy. In this respect, Team Anna has done its job remarkably well. It has sensitised not just the people, but the political class on the issue of corruption. The government too has responded with sensitivity towards its concerns. But when civil society adopts an know best attitude and condemns those who disagree with it as corrupt, then it makes the transition from being a pressure group to being anarchist. The reiteration by Team Anna that nothing except its own Jan Lokpal Bill is acceptable to it is anti-democratic at best and dictatorial at worst. The tone and tenor of its language is also reflective of its lack of faith in the basic principles of an elected and representative democracy. There is hardly a person who would argue that we do not need to fight corruption. No one would claim that public services are in the pink of health, and corruption does not eat into their vitals. Truly, corruption is a malady that needs an urgent cure. But we do not want to end up with a remedy that is worse than the malady. As someone put it, we should not come to a situation where we need a a dharampal to police the Lokpal after a few years. This is a legitimate concern as the workforce to man the various positions in the Lokpal organisation would be drawn from the same talent pool that is available to the various arms of the government. If Team Anna wants us to believe that the existing government machinery is totally corrupt, then where is the guarantee that the Lokpal functionaries would all be incorruptible? Surely, they would be Indians not aliens. We parliamentarians also start having second thoughts about the real intent of Team Anna when we discover that it has no concern for the genuine issues raised by MPs. For example, the inclusion of the prime minister in the Bill has serious implications for the stability of our polity. No Westminster type of democracy like ours can function effectively if there is a body above the prime minister. Unlike the states that have a provision for imposing governor's rule if the chief minister has to step down there is no such scope for an interim arrangement in case the prime minister's position becomes untenable. A Lokpal without any accountability to Parliament that overrides the prime minister is a sure recipe for instability, more so in these times when governments at the Centre are formed through coalitions that have a built-in element of fragility. Then there is the question of Group C and D employees. We all accept that ordinary people get hassled by these employees, but we have genuine concern about the huge burden on the Lokpal structure if all these employees come within its ambit. We parliamentarians wonder why Team Anna remains indifferent to the issues that are flagged by the government. If we MPs were all indeed compromised, the best option for us would have been to accept the Jan Lokpal Bill as suggested by Anna and Co, and get them off our backs. We could then have waited for the Lokpal to fail and become just another inefficient bureaucratic body. But then this is the difference between street movements and governments. No government can act without taking into consideration the future impact of its decisions. Over the next few days, Parliament will surely debate the Lokpal Bill. As intense backroom work has gone into it, we may even have the Bill passed. But doubts will continue to persist in our minds: by creating an authority not answerable to the Parliament, would we have erred badly? We would keep feeling that merely on the whims of a few stubborn men and women who have, through design or luck, invoked the name of the father of the nation and donned a Gandhi cap without believing in his ideals of non-violence and self-restraint, we have gone in for a remedy that is worse than the malady. We will keep wondering if we have not invited anarchy to the doorsteps of Parliament. After all, what prevents another self-styled reformist from mustering the support of thousands on the streets, especially with help from the breaking news driven media, and holding a gun to Parliament's head? We still have a few days to reassert the primacy of the Parliament. We should not let this opportunity slip away. The writer is a member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and chairman of Lokmat Media.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIL/2011/12/23&PageLabel=16&EntityId=Ar01600&ViewMode=HTML

[ViruRulez]

Anna and his team is now losing credibility day after day. I am also noticing political ambitions directly or indirectly in several members of the Anna team. Not sure if Anna is honest but all the members of his team are not looking honest for sure. I hate Kangress too but this turning into an anti-Congress fight from an anti-politician fight is a bit worrying. And I am seriously starting to doubt Anna's intellect and he is not even a 0.0000001% of Gandhiji. He has been making BS and baseless statement since the start and it is only increasing day by day. I also pointed out when he said Narendra Modi is corrupt and Gujarat is one of the worst in corruption which was never true. On the other hand, he did not say anything about Yeddurappa who was corrupt and arrogant too. Then he turned it suddenly into a pro-opposition and anti-Congress movement. Now he is saying he will go to all state elections and make anti-Congress rallies which is weird too. He just seems too much interested in politics for any Gandhian and a social activist. He changes his statements like anything and many of his statements defy intellect. He is fast losing credibility and I would not be surprised if his movement becomes only weaker with time. Regarding politicians the only politician for whom my respect is only growing continuously is Nitish Kumar. He is a man of words and sticks to his words irrespective of anything. He is diplomatic, balances everything properly, gives credits where it is due and does not make baseless attacks and concentrates on growth. He has got all the things needed for a perfect politician. Surprising that NDA has kept him in the sidelines or they could have become a lot stronger. NDA is also rapidly going down and they should have used Nitish as their face to gain credibility. To be honest, things will go as it is and Congress will keep on winning and BJP and Left will keep on cribbing and blocking things. Things are gloomy ahead for sure and political *****ing is only increasing with time.

[surajmal]

Neither party (Congress or BJP) wants to bring autonomy to CBI. Ek hi thaali ke chatte batte hain. Anna and company underestimated these fvckers. I feel Jail bhari campaign is going to be just the beginning.

[ViruRulez]

Neither party (Congress or BJP) wants to bring autonomy to CBI. Ek hi thaali ke chatte batte hain. Anna and company underestimated these fvckers. I feel Jail bhari campaign is going to be just the beginning.

CBI is a WMD for the ruling party and it is well known. Having said that, I am not sure it is the right decision to make the whole of CBI transparent and subservient to a public body. CBI also makes a lot of actual investigation in addition the politically motivated ones and these cases might be destroyed if the public body like Jan Lokpal can check details of the cases. I am not for complete autonomy of CBI but not for complete transparency of CBI too. Any investigative agency has to have some secrecy or things will never work out. Even the FBI or any other investigative agency around the world are extremely secretive. Transparent investigation body would never work out. If Jan Lokpal can keep any eye n what cases are going to be investigated next then it will never work out. There would be corrupt people in Jan Lokpal too and that is a fact as corruption is a malaise. So, one such corrupt individual can destroy all the CBI cases under investigation. Need to find some sensible solution.

[surajmal]

CBI is a WMD for the ruling party and it is well known. Having said that' date=' I am not sure it is the right decision to make the whole of CBI transparent and subservient to a public body. CBI also makes a lot of actual investigation in addition the politically motivated ones and these cases might be destroyed if the public body like Jan Lokpal can check details of the cases. I am not for complete autonomy of CBI but not for complete transparency of CBI too. Any investigative agency has to have some secrecy or things will never work out. Even the FBI or any other investigative agency around the world are extremely secretive. Transparent investigation body would never work out. If Jan Lokpal can keep any eye n what cases are going to be investigated next then it will never work out. There would be corrupt people in Jan Lokpal too and that is a fact as corruption is a malaise. So, one such corrupt individual can destroy all the CBI cases under investigation. Need to find some sensible solution.[/quote'] I don't want CBI under lokpal either but if given the option, I would choose that over it being under government control. Ofcourse, the best option is CBI free from government AND lokpal and letting the corruption investigation sections of CBI form some sort of a joint bureau with the investigation arm of lokpal or let it (just the corruption investigation section) function entirely under the canopy of lokpal. Independence of CBI isn't just required for corruption cases but also other crimes, investigation of which is often scuttled by political interests.

[Sachin=GOD]

Anna and his team is now losing credibility day after day. I am also noticing political ambitions directly or indirectly in several members of the Anna team. Not sure if Anna is honest but all the members of his team are not looking honest for sure. I hate Kangress too but this turning into an anti-Congress fight from an anti-politician fight is a bit worrying. And I am seriously starting to doubt Anna's intellect and he is not even a 0.0000001% of Gandhiji. He has been making BS and baseless statement since the start and it is only increasing day by day. I also pointed out when he said Narendra Modi is corrupt and Gujarat is one of the worst in corruption which was never true. On the other hand, he did not say anything about Yeddurappa who was corrupt and arrogant too. Then he turned it suddenly into a pro-opposition and anti-Congress movement. Now he is saying he will go to all state elections and make anti-Congress rallies which is weird too. He just seems too much interested in politics for any Gandhian and a social activist. He changes his statements like anything and many of his statements defy intellect. He is fast losing credibility and I would not be surprised if his movement becomes only weaker with time. Regarding politicians the only politician for whom my respect is only growing continuously is Nitish Kumar. He is a man of words and sticks to his words irrespective of anything. He is diplomatic, balances everything properly, gives credits where it is due and does not make baseless attacks and concentrates on growth. He has got all the things needed for a perfect politician. Surprising that NDA has kept him in the sidelines or they could have become a lot stronger. NDA is also rapidly going down and they should have used Nitish as their face to gain credibility. To be honest, things will go as it is and Congress will keep on winning and BJP and Left will keep on cribbing and blocking things. Things are gloomy ahead for sure and political *****ing is only increasing with time.

Nitish Kumar may be popular/respected/diplomatic etc but his party is limited to just 1 state in the country - only 40 Lok Sabha seats out of 543, and as a resulthis popularity is limited to just Bjhar and maybe a few neighboring states. Leaders from small parties may become the PM as a stopgap arrangement (as Chandrashekhar/Deve Gowda) but the bigger parties will never ever accept this as a long term arrangement. In every country around the world where there is a coalition Govt, its a sort of an unwritten rule that the leader of the largest party is the Leader of the Country and this is the way it should be. Nitish Kumar never was and never will be a National Leader.

[ViruRulez]

Nitish Kumar may be popular/respected/diplomatic etc but his party is limited to just 1 state in the country - only 40 Lok Sabha seats out of 543, and as a resulthis popularity is limited to just Bjhar and maybe a few neighboring states. Leaders from small parties may become the PM as a stopgap arrangement (as Chandrashekhar/Deve Gowda) but the bigger parties will never ever accept this as a long term arrangement. In every country around the world where there is a coalition Govt, its a sort of an unwritten rule that the leader of the largest party is the Leader of the Country and this is the way it should be. Nitish Kumar never was and never will be a National Leader.

Do you mean that Nitish Kumar does not have popularity all throughout India. If you are saying so, then it is massively incorrect. Make Nitish and Jaitley/Sushma/any other leader of BJP (except Atalji) and tell people from all over India including all states, castes, religions, languages etc. to choose between them for the PM candidate. And I am sure 90% if not more will choose Nitish. Nitish has an extremely clean yet growth-centric image and NDA can win double the seats by just announcing him next PM. Nitish charisma works all over India. It is also due to his straight forward and inclusive behavior. He has never opposed good things of UPA but only opposes the wrong ones. He infact congratulated UPA for Food Security Bill and Right to Education bill. More importantly he does not play dirty politics unlike the Congress or BJP. People also know that he will not think twice even to screw even his allies if there is something wrong. Nitish has extreme popularity and it is only growing. NDA is not realizing and I suppose it will be very late this time too before they realize. There is no way NDA will ever come to power unless they think different and I am not sure they are smart enough to do so. It looks like a Kangress monopoly for the next few decades. Now Rahul baba will become next PM and continue the BS and the maybe chota Priyanka Gandhi and then somebody else. :giggle:

[saneindian]

Despite all their attempts to malign the movement, 75000+ registrations in just 2 days for the Jail Bharo call by Anna Hazare. They say the numbers could go up to around 200000+ throughout the country. Perhaps the biggest such movement in our independent history. All Anna needs to do is to start touring UP where even a 2-3% swing against Congress will nullify all of Rahul's efforts of last 3-4 years. Those who say he has no base or support, if that was the case, you would not see Digvijay Singh and other leaders target him day in and day out, They know the damage potential he has , especially in the urban middle class vote bank of the congress which supported it wholeheartedly in the last elections. And now a UPA minister has called Anna a "bhagoda sipahi from the 65 war", they are obviously rattled.

[achilles]

I hate Kejriwal's arrogance. I have lost all respect for Kiran Bedi. Prashant Bhushan was always in the Arundhati R category. I find Anna's rants irritating.....but I like their collective cause.It is not perfect but it is better than what this bloody sonia,s puppet govt can ever come up with. As long as their fight is against corruption...they have my support.Rest of their causes are their own and I give a damn about them.

Why would you hate Kejriwal of all people? Loha Lohe ko kaat-ta hai.

[achilles]

And now a UPA minister has called Anna a "bhagoda sipahi from the 65 war"' date= they are obviously rattled.

The biggest monumental blunder since the Manish Tewari incident. The self goals just don't end, do they?

[Sachin=GOD]

Despite all their attempts to malign the movement, 75000+ registrations in just 2 days for the Jail Bharo call by Anna Hazare. They say the numbers could go up to around 200000+ throughout the country. Perhaps the biggest such movement in our independent history. All Anna needs to do is to start touring UP where even a 2-3% swing against Congress will nullify all of Rahul's efforts of last 3-4 years. Those who say he has no base or support, if that was the case, you would not see Digvijay Singh and other leaders target him day in and day out, They know the damage potential he has , especially in the urban middle class vote bank of the congress which supported it wholeheartedly in the last elections. And now a UPA minister has called Anna a "bhagoda sipahi from the 65 war", they are obviously rattled.

Anna doesn't need to do anything to harm the Kangress in UP because the Kangress has no base in UP. It got lots of seats in the Lok Sabha 2009 in UP only because Mulayam Singh made a huge blunder by joining hands with Kalyan Singh. This time nothing like that is going to happen and Kangress won't even cross 40-45 seats in UP. Rahul Gandhi's has been campaigning in UP for 7-8 years and still has nothing to show for it because the voters here (however foolish they may be) realise that he is a fraud.

[Sachin=GOD]

Do you mean that Nitish Kumar does not have popularity all throughout India. If you are saying so' date=' then it is massively incorrect. Make Nitish and Jaitley/Sushma/any other leader of BJP (except Atalji) and tell people from all over India including all states, castes, religions, languages etc. to choose between them for the PM candidate. And I am sure 90% if not more will choose Nitish. Nitish has an extremely clean yet growth-centric image and NDA can win double the seats by just announcing him next PM. Nitish charisma works all over India. It is also due to his straight forward and inclusive behavior. He has never opposed good things of UPA but only opposes the wrong ones. He infact congratulated UPA for Food Security Bill and Right to Education bill. More importantly he does not play [b']dirty politics unlike the Congress or BJP. People also know that he will not think twice even to screw even his allies if there is something wrong. Nitish has extreme popularity and it is only growing. NDA is not realizing and I suppose it will be very late this time too before they realize. There is no way NDA will ever come to power unless they think different and I am not sure they are smart enough to do so. It looks like a Kangress monopoly for the next few decades. Now Rahul baba will become next PM and continue the BS and the maybe chota Priyanka Gandhi and then somebody else. :giggle:

Its like people say about Modi - bahut popular hai poore India mein, charisma hai, development oriented hai blah blah blah - all that works only in Gujarat. He went to campaign in Maharashtra and failed miserably. Same with Nitish - people in many states don't even know who Nitish Kumar is and his charisma works only in Bihar. He came to some election rallies in UP (during Lok Sabha 2009) and people were wondering who this guy is!!! Besides, as I said before - his party is too small and therefore he won't be in contention for the PM's post for many, many years to come and thats the reality. No large party like BJP or Congress will accept the leader of such a tiny party to become the PM.

[Sachin=GOD]

Team Anna's conduct during polls will be monitored: CEC SY Quraishi NEW DELHI: Team Anna's conduct will be monitored during the assembly elections in five states, Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi said on Sunday, adding that its campaign against a "particular party" could become an issue of propriety. "They ( Team Anna) will be monitored like everybody else," Quraishi told NDTV news channel. "So far they have not violated any election law as they did not say that vote for Y instead of X. They only said they will only boycott a particular party. Although there is no legal violation, we did mention to them there could be an issue of propriety," he said. Elections will be held to the Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Goa assemblies between Jan 28 and March 3, 2012, it was announced on Saturday. Link Team Anna :hehe:

[asterix]

^ Qureshi has got his orders (in due time) from the High Command.. Let's see what else a desperate Kangress does..It's a losing battle for Kangress anyway.. RIP Kangress..

[Sachin=GOD]

^ Qureshi has got his orders (in due time) from the High Command..

actually Kangress in not entirely wrong in this. Team Anna has been saying for a long time that they are "apolitical" and are not against any party but then they go out and campaign against one party. If they want to do that then they should create a Political party for this.

Let's see what else a desperate Kangress does..It's a losing battle for Kangress anyway.. RIP Kangress..

:agree:

[asterix]

actually Kangress in not entirely wrong in this. Team Anna has been saying for a long time that they are "apolitical" and are not against any party but then they go out and campaign against one party. If they want to do that then they should create a Political party for this. :agree:

As long as EC monitors others too (example Imams calling a particular community to vote for a particualr party), I'm fine with whatever EC does to carry out the High Command orders. I'm pretty sure Team Anna is clever enough to find a way out of it. At the end of the day, the High Command needs to understand that it's not just about "Team Anna"..There many people who are fed up of Kangress.. They NO MOAR need coaxing from Team Anna to not vote for Kangress.. PS: By your logic even Imams need to create political parties before coming up with Fatwas favouring any particular party..

[ViruRulez]

Its like people say about Modi - bahut popular hai poore India mein' date=' charisma hai, development oriented hai blah blah blah - all that works [b']only in Gujarat. He went to campaign in Maharashtra and failed miserably. Same with Nitish - people in many states don't even know who Nitish Kumar is and his charisma works only in Bihar. He came to some election rallies in UP (during Lok Sabha 2009) and people were wondering who this guy is!!! Besides, as I said before - his party is too small and therefore he won't be in contention for the PM's post for many, many years to come and thats the reality. No large party like BJP or Congress will accept the leader of such a tiny party to become the PM.

Modi is a different case and his campaigns always backlash outside Gujarat due to his negative charisma outside the state. The Godhra incident will haunt him forever and so, his charisma will never work outside Gujarat as has been realized in all campaigns. I like Modi but also know that if BJP or NDA makes him PM candidate, it will only increase votes for NDA opponents. So, he has got the negative charisma and it is different from Nitish who has got a positive charisma. At least in urban middle class all throughout India, Nitish charisma works out very well. But I agree BJP would perhaps not project him PM even if that means defeat for them. But then all other NDA parties want him to be projected at PM as per reports. So, would need to see what they do. If they do not project any PM candidate at all like they did in last elections, then they will anyways lose and I think they would project somebody the next elections. Regarding Anna, I am not sure why they do not form a political party themselves if they are so sure about widespread support. 75K registrations does not mean anything to be honest. If he goes to elections, he will realize how much the nation supports him and his team. :winky: I am not against Anna but I am now starting to dislike the negative tactics of the team and do not support them anymore. They said they were apolitical but they are seeming more and more political now. I do not have a problem with being political too if they are active in politics and form political party but they ain't doing so too and are now targeting only one party which is also a bit surprising.

[saneindian]

Modi is a different case and his campaigns always backlash outside Gujarat due to his negative charisma outside the state. The Godhra incident will haunt him forever and so, his charisma will never work outside Gujarat as has been realized in all campaigns. I like Modi but also know that if BJP or NDA makes him PM candidate, it will only increase votes for NDA opponents. So, he has got the negative charisma and it is different from Nitish who has got a positive charisma. At least in urban middle class all throughout India, Nitish charisma works out very well. But I agree BJP would perhaps not project him PM even if that means defeat for them. But then all other NDA parties want him to be projected at PM as per reports. So, would need to see what they do. If they do not project any PM candidate at all like they did in last elections, then they will anyways lose and I think they would project somebody the next elections. Regarding Anna, I am not sure why they do not form a political party themselves if they are so sure about widespread support. 75K registrations does not mean anything to be honest. If he goes to elections, he will realize how much the nation supports him and his team. :winky: I am not against Anna but I am now starting to dislike the negative tactics of the team and do not support them anymore. They said they were apolitical but they are seeming more and more political now. I do not have a problem with being political too if they are active in politics and form political party but they ain't doing so too and are now targeting only one party which is also a bit surprising.

Which political party has been abusing him and his supporters day in and day out? Which political party called him corrupt and now called his a deserter? Which political party has used all dirty tricks to first deny him a place to protest in August, then put him behind bars? Which party challenged him to show his electoral powers if he had so much support? Which party called him a foreign agent out to hurt our national progress? Do you expect him to be immune to all such unwanted abuses and keep quiet? For 4-5 months, they did not say a word about any party, kept talking about Lokpal, but obviously the ruling party wanted to divert the attention from the key issues. He has often said he will campaign for Congress if they pass a strong Lokpal. Wonder why the Congress has a problem with that? If only the party had the foresight to handle the entire issue better, they wouldn't have landed themselves in the current mess.

[asterix]

It's the Congress which decided to discuss with them about the "Lokpal draft", leaving all other stake holders like Oppsition parties, other Civil society groups etc, out of that drafting group, made promises, wasted 2-3 months and then ditched them saying that they've to take other groups suggestions, doing all sorts of dirty tricks possible, using JPC, and now Parlliament to create as much confusion as possible. And here we are, blaming the group which faught it's way and is still fighting to get the job done. If political parties and individuals are so fed up with this Anna and his group, why can't they ignore him? What's the problem? I know the problem..they've mass mass support (even massive NRI support too). They very well know that once Lokpal issue is settled, next issue to be taken up by this group is 'Electoral reforms'.. Why doesn't High command understands that the best possible way to save the 'Son In Law' Robert Vadra is to have CBI independent of Govt. control. Kangress cannot be assured that they will make the next government. If a hostile govt. comes then it's will the end of Gandhi-Vadra business empire..The best way out of it is to let the Jan-Lokpal bill pass and hope that the independent CBI doesn't targets the Robert Vadra empire.

[asterix]

It seems Diggy raja has claimed Anna Hazare as the agent of RSS. He claimed that it's proven now. He was refering to the photo of Anna Hazare with veteran Sangh leader Nanaji Deshmukh. Even Kangress official spokesman was very critical of Anna and asked him to come clean. Here's the proof: