By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net,
While not excusing the Union government for their actions, significant questions have to be asked of Baba Ramdev and all his supporters, both within the media and outside. Can they cite an example of Mahatma Gandhi jumping from a 12-foot high dais on seeing the police of the British imperialists? Had Gandhi ever turned paranoid on seeing men in uniform? Had he ever escaped clothed as a woman? What would have happened if Ramdev has been taken into police custody? The British broke many an agitation of Gandhiji’s yet he never created a scene. If Ramdev’s protest is really Gandhian then he should have given himself up before the police. He should have even asked his supporters to court arrest. Then, he would have emerged as a true hero.
However, Ramdev chose to behave like a fugitive or small time politician. This cheap drama is what you find at roadside sit-ins in small towns. Calling his agitation and this behavior Gandhian is an insult to the Father of the Nation.
Baba Ramdev [Courtesy: thehindu.com]
It is the height of absurdity to suggest that the pre-dawn swoop of June 5th was equivalent to the brutality enacted by General Dyer and his men in Jallianwala Bagh on April 13th, 1919. There were over 300 people killed and four times more injured in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. For all its other faults, the government should at least be appreciated for handling the crackdown quite efficiently. In fact, all efforts to create an ugly scene were made by Baba Ramdev. He took shelter behind a wall, he changed his clothes to look like a woman, and then he tried to escape.
Not just Gandhiji, but all the leaders who have lead such protest agitation give themselves up to the police knowing that they will be released later. They are well aware that their arrest will become big news.
Irrespective of what the television channels are showing to the people of India, the truth is that men like Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev have lost their credibility. People who used to be considered honest and upright such as Swami Agnivesh, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi et al have lost respect in the eyes of the average citizen of the country. In India and abroad viewers are questioning the total lack of professionalism of the Indian television channels. People are not interested in this caricaturing of democracy.
The television channels have made many people live in a fool’s paradise. Baba Ramdev, and his wealthy empire, have gotten fully exposed in the eyes of the ordinary people in this latest campaign. He has nobody to blame but himself.
It is sad to see the BJP leaders lose all sense and balance, and making fantastical statements. One week after a public spat, the Leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley respectively, held a joint Press Conference after the crackdown in the wee hours of Sunday. Swaraj said that all of this happened at the insistence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Is this news? At whose instruction should have these steps been taken Mrs. Swaraj? Maybe Barack Obama or David Cameron. Perhaps she doesn’t know what she’s saying.
Media people should understand that the world is laughing at us. Last time, they equated Anna Hazare’s struggle to Tahrir Square, when India is a democracy whereas Egypt was a dictatorship.In the elections held just after the Anna Hazare struggle, the DMK and its Congress allies lost power in Tamil Nadu; perhaps, the people taught them a lesson for being corrupt. However, the Congress along with its allies emerged even stronger elsewhere. The party that shouted out the most against corruption and joined hands with Hazare, i.e. the BJP, suffered a humiliating defeat in the elections to five assemblies. Within three weeks of the result, the BJP indulged in the same exercise once again.
This raises an even bigger question. The BJP was in power for six long years. What did they do about the Lokpal bill, the black money in Swiss Banks and other issues related to corruption? Bangaru Laxman, their national president, was caught red-handed accepting money from a fictitious arms dealer. What about the Kargil coffin scam and the hawala scandal? Will the BJP ever be held answerable? In contrast, Rajiv Gandhi was cleared in the Bofors case and the CBI court in the animal husbandry scam acquitted Lalu Yadav. The six years of NDA rule failed to provide enough documents against the two politicians.