State Under Siege:

6 June/2011: As kids we learnt “Ba Ba Black Sheep…..”. It ain’t no kid stuff no more. Now its Ba Ba Ramdev. Not sure whether he is a Black Sheep. One thing that is clear is that all these social do-gooders, like Anna Hazare and now Ramdev, have suddenly cropped up to set everything right in the country. The words ‘satyagraha’ and ‘biplab ‘ are being bandied around by them as if there is a freedom struggle in process and these people are fighting to be independent from some foreign rule. True, it may be said that corruption is as despicable a situation as foreign domination. Even today many an elderly person in India could be heard saying things were better when the Brits lorded over the sub continent. Prior to independence in 1947, the times demanded use of peaceful methods such as Satyagraha, to irritate the disciplined foreigners out of their skins with complete indiscipline. Today the scenario is different. To uproot corruption at high places, Anna Hazare went on a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi a few weeks ago. His focus was implementation of a particular law, the Jan Lok Pal Bill. He wanted to, in a sense, give a pointed target to his audience which said that enacting that one single law would rid the nation of all evils connected to people of questionable characters who hold positions of power in this system of governance. Many learned felt that while Parliament, the ultimate temple of democracy, was not in session, Anna’s move was ill timed and thus suspect. However, these people did not take into account the other major achievement of Hazare. That achievement was his sense of timing. Spaced between the end of the Cricket World Cup and impending commencement of the Indian Premier League, a break when all the media are facing acute dearth of news, Anna managed to steal the limelight. Although this intelligent move gave Anna a lot of mileage as far as media coverage was concerned, the sincerity of his purpose has become evident with the squabbling that have been raging ever since the so called civil society members took upon themselves the onerous task of sitting with the government to draft the most perfect Bill.

While Hazare was merrily going ahead with his struggle, Ramdev was seen sitting by his side. Now the Ba Ba has come with his new agenda and started another farce. His demand was to bring back all unaccounted wealth of Indians lying abroad and remove corruption from its roots. The physical yoga of Ramdev, it must be admitted, has helped many an ailing person. He worked out a “Bharat Swabhiman Yatra’ to make people aware for a better and cleaner administration. Some, like Laloo Prasad, said as a yoga guru his moves smelt of political intonations and thus could not be appreciated. One may not agree with such a criticism. In a democratic country, there is no law prohibiting a physical instructor entering the realms of politics. He definitely has the freedom to do whatever he feels like. However, his present move of holding corruption and unaccounted-wealth-in-foreign-banks story as a shield has shown him not as a pious spiritual man but simply as a power crazy creature. It could be questioned that while Ramdev took active part in the Hazare episode, what has prompted him to go solo now and launch this new act all by himself. The Jan Lok Pal Bill could, maybe, sort out some of his angst. He could have waited and watched.

Take a look at the loot collected for his satyagraha. Ram Lila maidan had a huge tent for the event. The event was not satyagraha. The space was, according to Kapil Sibal, booked for holding yoga teaching lessons. It was supposed to hold maximum 5000 people at any one time. Clandestinely though, it was equipped for a much larger audience. There were 280 massive fans, more than 100 coolers, 100 cctv cameras, 7 big video screens, 1300 toilets and ultra modern amenities for the media folks covering this epoch making move of the godman. As part of the media, we adored the arrangements made for our brethren. But that was not the end of the story. A different thought provoked most of us aware of facts. Wanting to remove corruption, Ramdev himself is a big business icon. Those wanting to watch and learn yoga from him have to shell out large sums of money to get a closer look. The closer to the dais you want to be, the more the money you pay. His medicine corporate churns out products that sell in big quantities and in costly containers. It is wrong to think that this Baba has dedicated his life for the upliftment of the poor or downtrodden. Nothing of that sort. Rather he has, by re-enacting the age old practice of ‘Pranayam’, made himself gain kudos for making modern life easier for those who are clueless anyway.

Let no one forget that today’s UPA 2 government had made a fool of itself by the manner so many senior ministers of the Union Cabinet rushed to the Delhi airport to meet and placate Ramdev before he started his satyagraha. Every Indian will agree that starting from Sonia, Manmohan, Rahul, Chidambaram, Pranab and their ilk to Kanimozhi, Daya Maran, Yeddurappa, Banguru Laxman and all, let the guilty be punished, no matter which party they represent. Without the connivance of these people and their business and bureaucratic cohorts, plunder of India would not be possible. Yet, let all also remember that India does not belong to only these few people. The nation belongs to all of us. By ‘us’ we wish to qualify those who not only are not corrupt but also abhor that practice. Therefore, let not this country be blackmailed into submission and forced into doing whatever is commanded by people like Ramdev and Anna Hazare. Bowing to such elements will bring forth dark clouds on the horizons of our future generations. Those getting involved with such movements must sit back and think about what they are creating for the years to come. Appearing on television screens will not change the fate of this country.

By pushing Ramdev off the stage, the government has, finally, shown some character, determination and grit. It was not necessary for Minister Subodh Kant Sahay to address the media and explain the actions taken by the police. A democratic government has been chosen by the people at large. They, the people, have the opportunity to express their mind whenever they choose a new Parliament. They alone are the bosses.  Therefore, a government unwilling to be black mailed by an inpidual, no matter how powerful, must demonstrate it has a spine. Bowing with reverence to the wishes of the people is mandatory. Bowing in servility should be unacceptable to any democratic government.