From the time you learned to read you were probably brought up in the
belief that journalism is a noble profession. You were taught about ethical
journalism through which facts are brought to you and journalists are obliged
to speak the truth. As you acquire wisdom you would have also learned that all
that is just as much a myth as the Aryan invasion. Journalism and news media
are as much a business as Shoe-making and selling or running a Barber shop. All
of it is meant to ‘serve your interests’ as you’d often hear. To put it
differently ‘viewer or reader interest’. Believe it or not, ethics and
journalism go together as much politics and ethics go together in current
times.
Celebs like Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt, Arnab Goswami or Sagarika Ghose,
Vinod Mehta, Vinod Sharma, Shekhar Gupta and many more are not journalists.
They are ‘editorialists’ whose job is to swing public opinion one way or
another, which they attempt diligently. Subramanian Swamy even stated that
Shekhar Gupta has properties worth over 20 times of his known income and so has
to ‘behave’ for Sonia Gandhi. Would any man with any ethics tolerate such a
comment? You decide! NDTV even had a prominent tagline: “Experience Truth
First”. I haven’t seen that tagline in a long time. Wonder if it went into the
garbage can. CNN-IBN tagline says “Whatever it takes”! IBN didn’t stop to think
that in normal parlance that can also mean by ‘hook or crook’. Effectively,
news media business is only as ethical as a shoe business or a barber shop.
Frankly, they don’t give a damn about the viewer or public but only about their
paymasters. This is what Team Anna managed well in the first phase and later
fell prey to the evil designs of the media.
So what exactly is the media agenda? BRING DOWN any person or group
that goes against their paymasters, as simple as that. I am surprised Team Anna
doesn’t know this.
During the two-week fast by Anna Hazare in August 2011 there was a
ground swell of support for his movement all across India. Crowds waited
outside Tihar jail where Anna was held for a few days. Team Anna, as his
assistants have come to be known had become symbols of the crusade against
corruption. By the time the fast ended they were all more or less heroes in a
scam-tired nation. Among the more prominent ones were Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran
Bedi, Prashant Bhushan, Medha Patkar and Shazia Ilmi. The media didn’t ‘make’ them (to use a mafia term)
but were forced to pay attention due to the overwhelming support of people. It
was truly their peak and ever since, it has been downhill.
Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start! When you
seethe you begin with Ag-Ni-Vesh! Hmmm! During the first round of fasts at
Jantar Mantar in April this is what I wrote on April 10: “First, corruption is a sore wound that hurts all
citizens. Anna got it right. Then, it was important to get some honest and
credible people into his campaign. So there was Anil Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi (I
am not sure I want to put Swami Agnivesh in that league)”. Later events proved
beyond any doubt that Agnivesh, a morally corrupt moron, didn’t deserve to be
anywhere near the anti-corruption movement. Did Team Anna learn any lessons? Doesn’t
look like it. That’s where the problem starts.
A few days ago I watched an interview of Arvind Kejriwal (AK) with
Barkha Dutt on NDTV. The chat was so warm I could even call it love and
affection. Well, on hindsight I can now say that AK was informed that he was
NDTV’s ‘Indian of the year’ award winner. He must have already known and so the
interview. Two days later AK does receive that award. That’s the icing on the
cake of silly acts by Team Anna. If you are campaigning for a public cause, the
last thing you should be doing is accepting an award from a dubious media shop.
But that is not where it began.
Kiran Bedi did an impromptu ‘ghoongat’
dance about politicians with a mask during the fast in August. MPs even wanted
to prosecute her. People supported her and she was lucky to get away with that
silly act. Now, if the entire movement is against corruption and cleanliness in
public life why do these people go about giving sound bites about unrelated
issues? Starting with Prashant Bhushan’s comments on Kashmir which earned him a
thrashing to comments about Sanjiv Bhatt Team Anna simply failed to understand
that being in the media spotlight beyond a point can be damaging.
Last month Rajdeep, Barkha and
Rahul Kanwal went on a picnic to Ralegan Siddhi, hometown of Anna Hazare and
each did an ‘exclusive’ interview with almost similar questions. Each tried to
somehow trap Anna into the questions of RSS, Digvijay comments and so on. Anna
bites! The objective of media celebs to support the Congress theory that RSS is
evil and any association with it has to be demonised is an agenda set by their
paymasters. Anna fell into that trap.
Hmmm! A few days later Sanjiv Bhatt is arrested in Gujarat for some
offence and instantly Anna Hazare condemns the arrest of the so called ‘whistle-blower’.
So does Kiran Bedi. Who the hell asked you people? Without touching upon the
merits of the case to simply support Sanjiv Bhatt because it is anti-Modi is another
trap Team Anna has fallen into. Kiran Bedi was so foolish that she failed to
grasp the kind of support Modi has. After tweeting and condemning Modi all day
long she had to tone down her nonsense on the same day and speak glowingly of
Gujarat and her Gujarati friends and so on. Did her tweets delight the media?
You bet! And if that wasn’t enough there is always gutter-mouth Digvijay Singh
to throw more fuel at Anna. Pretty soon Digvijay V Anna was a street fight that
became a joy for the media. Somewhere else AK’s statement of people and Anna
being above parliament was widely publicised as “Anna is above parliament”. AK doesn’t
seem to have learnt how the media likes to twist mild statements. Each time
Anna or his team members opened their mouths the public couldn’t believe these
people had become such a dysfunctional group like the govt.
If corruption was the main issue for the group where was the need to
talk about Kashmir, Sanjiv Bhatt and more? Did the people give Team Anna a
blanket license to talk crap on every issue like politicians? They did not! But
that is how some fame in the media leads people to believe they have that
license. Each time a member opened his or her mouth the team was eroding the
support they worked so hard to earn. Two of the team members who aren’t so
prominent have withdrawn because of the manner of AK’s working. Prashant
Bhushan’s continuance with the team will bring more damage so he is more or
less out. And Kiran Bedi and Kejriwal don't know when to shut up. That’s the problem being
in the media. The media simply loves to destroy reputations and groups. Like
scavengers they would love to feast on the disintegration of Team Anna. This is
something Anna, Kejriwal and Bedi do not understand. The media works for its
paymasters who happen to be the target for Team Anna. As on date Kiran Bedi’s
flight details, her usage of her gallantry award for discounts is being
splashed around by Shekhar Gupta’s Indian Express and NDTV. Maybe she will now
understand that the media will do a hit job on her to please their paymasters.
Arvind Kejriwal increasingly comes across as an arrogant, bashful kid.
This is what NDTV needed to play on. If the fight against corruption was an
award winning effort then an award should have been given to Team Anna.
Instead, NDTV picks the gullible AK and bestows him the sham award of ‘Indian
of the year’ (jointly with Anna Hazare, of course). Even the Roman spy in
Asterix comics couldn’t have done better than NDTV. Job well done! And Kejriwal
gleefully falls into that trap. To top it all AK goes all out to campaign
against the Congress in the Hisar by-poll. That is another act uncalled for.
The three most vocal persons in Team Anna have slowly managed to erode all the goodwill
that they have earned. Media is full of reports of cracks within Team Anna.
Next time Anna and his team are on the streets they will find how much support
has vanished.
Currently, people are sick of the excessive promotion that SRK has
undertaken for his movie Ra-One. Seeing his face on every channel 24X7 is a
repulsive experience for many viewers. Even SRK’s die-hard fans will admit the
excess. Team Anna needs to learn from that. Being in the media too much is
self-destructive by itself. And helping the media with controversies that help
the adversary is a blunder that novices make. It will take some introspection
for Team Anna to analyse what they have lost. It’s called goodwill blunting!
RE BARKHA DATT KEJRIWAL interview,Bharkha was made up to kill by looks as well as posture.Kayjadiwal seemed to lap it up all.The kicker was when mentioned that he was taking up some kind of sanyas after all this died down some Vipassana there
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis. just read that Indian Express is carrying proof of Kiran Bedi falsifying expense claims... It is impossible for untrained minds to fanthom the manipulations of the media. Most of us just go with the flow. Thanks for the insight.
ReplyDeletei am a supporter of team anna yet am dismayed as to how much they have strayed from the script.from taking a principled stand of opposing at the hustings anyone who did not vote for the jan lokpal bill in parliament to blindly opposing the congress [actually the congress should be smashed up] as they did at hissar and promise to follow through at the state polls despite the possibility of mayavati and mulayam not supporting the bill -they seem to have lost their way. some serious course correction is necessary. team anna are not experts in all matters and need not be opiniated in matters outside the considerations of the jan lokpal bill- at least till it is passed.hubris can be fatal. and the mediacrooks are sharks circling their prey.the game has to be expertly played out by team anna and reassessment and repositioning may be all for the better.
ReplyDeleteAgree with you about Prashant Bhushan and his dabbling into multiple agendas when he should have kept his focus on corruption. Still, rather than Team Anna making major gaffes, it has been the media (another name for the Congress' dirty tricks department) that has been constantly at the spin, twist, misrepresent, misinform games. The moment Team Anna went to Hissar all so-called 'supporters' of Team Anna from the media were back to their original (pre August 16 fast) adversarial role, saying Team Anna has become political--blah blah. Regarding Kiran Bedi, the discounts she gets because of her gallantry award need not be passed on to her funders--Wonder why there are no invesigative journalists who would dig into frauds worth thousands of lakhs of crores of rupees, rather than researching so-called corruption of few thousand rupees. Why are the media eunuchs not brave enough to do an investigative story on Swiss and Caymnan accounts?
ReplyDeleteLets admit it folks. If one were to conduct a poll among the indian middle class, out of 10 responses 8 will say Barkha is the best journalist around. The deal here is people are totally unaware of the media. Most believe whatever is reported blindly. Congress is adept in using the media to indulge in mudslinging and baseless allegations which is believed to be true by the people. I dont see this trend changing because every media person is beholden to congress and have taken money at some point or the other. Just imagine this kind of allegations will multiple 1000 times when the elections in 2014 nears. There is no chance of any other party coming to power for the next 50 years. Congress can do any kind of manipulation to stay in power.
ReplyDeleteThanks. It is very timely. Hope somebody in core team Anna reads it.
ReplyDeleteThe other day, Pankaj Pachauri asked who all should keep maun vrat. I replied 'Anchors, so that the panel gets to speak'. In addition to that, the team Anna should also learn to observe silence, stay away from them. Sagarika called team Anna 'shibboleths' and said 'Those who live be the media, die by the media'. In reality, media was forced to follow the story. The public support was so high, the media could not ignore.
Once they got the team call off, which I maintain was a mistake by team Anna, the job became easy for Congress and their agents in media. The IT investigations, privilege notices, self goals by people like Bhushan, media dragging Anna to Manipur, Kashmir issue (the moment Anna said Kashmir is an integral part of India, Yasin Malik called Anna a Godse!), visit to Pakistan(!) to fight corruption, what not, to keep them busy! I couldn't fathom why these people were acting as if Jan Lokpal is passed.
At least now, the team must focus on only JanLokpal, keep its books clean as the scrutiny will be more harsh. The security for team Anna that is being talked of (in media too), is also another way to curtail movement, know in advance what they do, etc.
People like Gaurav Bakshi (very frank, open in his replies), Shazia (thinks an expert on all!), talking in media would help them toy with them. There is NO need to be in the media all the time. Its time team Anna, focuses on JanLokpal only, achieves it. But if it gets into secular, communal, RSS or non-RSS, etc, its going to hurt its support base. Simply say all Indians, irrespective of ideology, affiliation, who want corruption to be eliminated are part of us. More sane. Else, they are trapped into fending, defending.
Not related with the presented subject but since I could not find any other way...
ReplyDeleteSee how the headline and the text of the articles are given. There is nothing much regarding the headline even though it is presented such to sensationalize the point. Check the link:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/supreme-court-issues-notice-to-modi-government-on-bail-plea-of-an-ias/articleshow/10429504.cms
You said it!!! This is a part of a larger game plan by the media and the Cong together, which a common man can foresee. How come team Anna cannot see it?
ReplyDeleteHildaraja's post (http://hildaraja.wordpress.com)
"Has the Anna team the copyright for fasting?" is quite an interesting read. Her article "Prevention on Communal and Targeted Violence Bill" is another riveting article, more so because it comes from a person who hails from a minority community.
you can judge the level of media by this, how can not educated team anna know the real agenda behind all this. They call "recently caught pants down crook" like Agnivesh now and then on the stupid panel discussion.
ReplyDeleteThis whole anti-corruption movement has been rudderless from the very beginning. It has looked promising but that is about it!
ReplyDeleteFor a broader understanding let us collect a few points about which there can be little disagreement (we hope so!).
1. Corruption is a BIG problem in India. Almost anything can be done by paying bribes. People in high places or those with connections can get away with rape, murder, sedition, you name anything!
2. Anna is a decent man (not so sure about his team though). However, being decent does not necessarily imply that he (Anna) is a very intelligent man (on this front, about his team, the less said the better!). In our opinion, Anna, like RSS etc., is a case of "heart is right but the head is empty"; and his team is possibly worse.
3. Congress has been just marginally better than Islam, and deserves, not merely to be defeated but rather decimated. All the political parties have had to toe the Congress methodology owing to our sick electoral system. Thus, unfortunately, at the present moment there are hardly any politicians who are clean.
4. There is utter lack of leadership in the country. The society as well as the polity are on a cruise mode with neither a driver nor any definite direction! The general drift being "whatever happens happens!".
The result of this has been:
1. A general, ubiquitous, and almost all pervasive loss of trust in, and unadulterated disdain for, the politicians and the political system.
2. A growing realization that something needs to be done and thus a willingness to rally behind and around any one who is willing to provide a rallying point.
The Problems with these movements:
1. Notwithstanding the fact that even a Jan Lokpal Bill can not be a panacea against Corruption, this anxiety and passion amongst the masses, should be (should have been) harnessed for not only dealing with the problem of Corruption, but rather bigger problems like Secularism and Socialism (read Mohandasism and Jawaharism) as well. However, these movements seem to desire a reinforcement of these two poisonous ideologies!
2. There must be a realization that the causes are leadership-crisis and bad politicians; and therefore the solution would come through effective and coherent leadership and cleaning up of the political system. However these movements managed to have, what might be termed a pandora-box leadership and a spite for politics. Thus on one hand each member of the team is busy making a buffoon of himself and on the other each is competing with the other in establishing himself as the most apolitical person!
Thus, as the unavoidable consequence, we now have a non-stop comedy show offering us rib tickling entertainment, while the atmosphere is permeated with looming perils of dire tragic outcomes for all of us as a nation.
The correct strategy, in our opinion, must be:
1. Using the energy and passion of the people, the effort must be directed into achieving bigger goals, e.g. dethroning Secularism and Socialism from their crown positions), and towards drafting of a new Constitution rather than drafting of mere new Bills.
2. Instead of discrediting politics and scampering to appear - the fashionable - apolitical, discredit bad politics (and politicians) and more importantly encourage and push good people into becoming good politicians, thereby providing clean and effective leadership.
If there is failure in doing this, then the inevitable result would be:
1. Anti-Hindu forces will hijack anti-corruption movement.
2. Apolitical "politicians" will end up becoming the next generation of "dirty politicians" or worse still we will have a rudderless ship for much longer exposing us to the dangers of dire consequences mentioned above.
As is often said: To fail to plan is to plan to fail. Let that mistake not be committed.
. Subramanian Swamy even stated that Shekhar Gupta has properties worth over 20 times of his known income and so has to ‘behave’ for Sonia Gandhi"
ReplyDeleteMD Nalapat confirms the above para
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=109658
Small wonder that there has been an amazing transformation in the lives of the Sarkari journalists over the past two decades. Most have exchanged tiny flats for impressive mansions, and routinely send their children abroad to expensive educational institutions for study. The price of such munificence is silence about VVIPs, the very section of Indian society that accounts for much of the country’s problems. Despite frequent boasts about India being a democracy, the mainstream media is almost totally silent about the rampant wrongdoing indulged in by VVIPs and their friends and relatives"
Then again in
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=119683
However, even this mild show of “independence” is proving to be too much for the unquestioned supremo of the United Progressive Alliance government, Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting is headed by Ambika Soni, who is one of the most devout admirers of Sonia Gandhi. Indeed, the graceful minister has been a loyalist of the Nehru family for more than forty years, transferring her fealty from Sanjay Gandhi (younger son of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi) in the 1970s to Rajiv Gandhi (the elder son) in the 1980s and to Rajiv’s widow Sonia subsequently. While Ambika Soni herself is known to be liberal and progressive, as a loyalist, she has to put aside her own predilections and do what the Supremo wants, which is to bring the media to heel, so that even infrequent criticism of the dominant Nehru family get silenced. Even in the 1980s, an attempt was made to impose leg an shackles on the press, through getting legislation passed that was drafted by P Chidambaram, then a junior minister but now Union Home Minister. Fortunately for the media, so steep was Rajiv Gandhi’s political decline from 1987 onwards that Chidambaram was unable to impose the harsh legal restraints on the press that he sought.
Now that the internet has become so important in the creation of public opinion, the UPA has got passed legislation that is dictatorial in its scope, and which can punish almost any internet user with long periods of imprisonment even for opening spam. So vague are the offenses listed (such as “disaffection to foreign governments” or “injurious to public interest”) that wide swathes of commentary can be used as the pretext for harassment. While the government has been ultra-active in seeking to sanitize the internet of content that it sees as harmful (mostly relating to criticism of the Suremo), and in blocking sites, overall fear of adverse public reaction has thus far prevented the full rigor of the internet laws from being imposed. Of course, not that the new laws were needed. The British colonial laws so carefully preserved by Jawaharlal Nehru and his successors give a battery of excuses that enable government to act against the citizen. Now, however, the I&B Ministry is in the process of darting new laws that would place even greater curbs on freedom of expression, an endangered activity in present-day India, where First Information Reports (FIRs) are routinely issued against those who express views unpalatable to any influential group, FIRs that soon get followed by Warrants of Arrest, after which the critic is at the mercy of the judicial system. Once an individual gets into that particular maze, he or she is likely to remain enmeshed in its coils for decades, usually at great cost. Going through a judicial proceeding is like undergoing a chronic medical condition, only more expensive
Dear Ravinar,
ReplyDeleteThis subject was due for a long time & I really feel happy to be commenting on it.
Yes you have very accurately explained how the Media has finally managed to tight noose around Team Anna. But eventually Team Anna would be replaced by somebody who would not allow the Media to hijack their agendas. Because Corruption is a continuous topic & cannot be left for some Anna Hazare to solve it on his own. In this context I would disagree with "Samalochak". His comments on RSS : "heart is right but the head is empty" is unnecessary because RSS has been an only entity in this country who has stood against Media, Great Nehru Congress, CPI- CPM, Islamic terrorism & Evangelical Conversions for more than 80 years. Team Anna & anyone who wants to fight a corrupt system ideologically must learn from RSS how to do it correctly.
Entire Anna movement is based media.Without media coverage it would not have gained popularity and acceptability.So in a way team Anna is beholden to media .Without media this agitation will fizzle out.Furthermore most of the active participants of team Anna are from NGO background for them media coverage is very important.Apart from recent controversies team Anna has "USED" media very effectively to its advantage.
ReplyDeleteI second Abhijit. In order to win Imam, Anna Team has unnecessarily distanced itself from RSS.
ReplyDeleteAnna team may not accept/deny RSS support. But it is known fact that RSS and its sympathisers has been the back bone of the movement without any expectation. This is the only organisation which works for the nation as a whole without caste, region or religion.
Yes the whistle blowers have played more than enough and thus overreached, thus allowing the main agenda to be sidelined and to wean away from the public domain which they hard earned. Our media, corrupt cong pounced prey for them to which they were trapped.
ReplyDelete@Abhijeet
ReplyDeleteMerely because the RSS is the only entity that has been doing whatever you claim it is doing does not imply that RSS has a "non-empty head".
This is not to take away the fact that the RSS has great volunteers/cadres who are willing to make great sacrifices (in fact they have made them in the past), but the intellectual leadership in the RSS lacks clarity. They are stuck with their platitudes.
The willingness to make great sacrifices for a valuable cause shows that the heart is right. The inability to discern valuable causes betrays the emptiness of the head.
For a detailed information please see here, here, here and here.
Dear Samalochaka,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your anger against anybody who does not give a fitting reply to the Congress in its own language. But just consider this :
1) The RSS works on a simple theory of creating awareness in society through their shakhas & sister organizations. Hence it is not in its culture to retaliate to every abuse, accusation unless extreme necessity,
2) Imagine if it had diverted from its basic cause of creating Awareness for a strong Hindu Nation, then it would have easily taken the path of self destruction which it did not. Nobody cares what your ideology is unless you care for it & sustain it yourself,
3) I really hope & pray that Team Anna is still able to get the Janalokpal. But Each member of Team Anna has started talking about other issues not related to corruption so as to please the media because it thought that Media is their friend. Media can create temporary leaders but cannot sustain them for long because its not their business. Now compare this with RSS who is being targeted by Media for as long as we can go back in history. But the Media has never been able to create confusion among Parivar organizations.
4) Mistakes done by BJP cannot be attributed to RSS although the mistakes must not be recurred.
So I would conclude by saying that one can be angry on RSS for not being enough hyperactive against enemies of Hindu society but it definitely creates as a common ground for all true nationalists. Hence as I said earlier that Team Anna & anyone who wants to fight a corrupt system ideologically must learn from RSS how to do it correctly. Because RSS style functioning is slow no doubt, but has proved to be extremely effective.
Corruption in public life cannot be eradicated by any one even in an ideal State ruled by saints. People themselves are greedy, they don't mind paying Rs10,to grab Rs.20,they are jealous of their own kith and kin, and try to eat them. There are CrPC, IPC and hosts of laws all over the world but thefts, cheating, murder, rapes and rapine, riots,etc are increasing.Human blood itself is like that. So, instead of movements for cleansing the system, let the crusaders try to make as many people of their neighborhood honest as they can. Let the tribes of honest increase and then the society (comprising those who rule and those who are ruled)will definitely improve in about a milenium.As a common man, I am not at all interested in these movements. Those caught will get punished (most will be innocents),many will not be caught, they live, enjoy and die peacefully. Nobody expects Courts give justice, we are seeing daily these phenomena. Yedyurappas go to jail, Kumaraswamys get rewarded by courts,Kulkarnis are incarcerated, Ahmed Patels are exhonerated. Criminal Sanjiv Bhatt gets bail, but more honest Police are in jail.Where is justice? Why should we bother for Annas?
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteAlthough your comments are off the subject, they reminded me a story some days back about a rich couple who commited suicide just because they were content with their lives. That's selfishness par excellence. With such attitude, Arjuna would not have to fight war of Mahabharata, Chattrapati Shivaji would not have to fight to achieve Swarajya. You don't fight because it would change the system, you have to fight because that's what you believe in.
@Abhijeet
ReplyDeleteYou simply are not answering my question.
1. Islam, Secularism (not pseudo, the real one too) and Socialism are problems.
2. RSS has not, I repeat, RSS has not been ever vocal on these in simple and clear terms. Albeit they often criticize "pseudo-secularism" and so on.
3. On the contrary, they eulogize Secularism, Welfare (through state mediated affirmative action!), and call Islamic terrorists as misguided Muslims, as if Islam was peaceful and some misguided, gullible youth were misrepresenting it.
If you disagree with factual nature of points 1. 2. and 3., then that is a matter of another debate. You can state which point(s) you disagree with. Since this blog belongs to Ravinar, we can debate these points on your blog.
However if you agree, by and large, then in view of the above three points, there is no gainsaying that RSS has had an empty head (so far, and we hope it improves itself) notwithstanding any other large amounts of good work that RSS may be doing, and may do in future(owing, in my opinion, to the call from its heart).
Your point that RSS has done a lot under the circumstances is well taken, however it does not answer the central question. Attributing simple refusal to identify and state the obvious problems in clear terms to strategy is a non-starter.
Team Anna, or any other such movement, may have a lot to learn from RSS, but that is regarding the emotion, of having a readiness to make sacrifices for a cause. In terms of clarity (head), I allege that RSS is empty.
@Anonymous:
Your comments are not off the subject. Rather, they are part of a larger subject. We agree that Jan Lokpal Bill is not going to "remove" corruption as Policing as not "removed" crime. However, we could simply invert your argument. Would you say that since despite CrPC and Police there is crime and injustice, let us do away with CrPC and Police?
The bigger picture is that we are facing both a societal and a systemic crisis, and therefore we need to address both of these. We need social reform as well as systemic reform. We need to view them as complementary and not contradictory.
We hold the view that JLB, even when it happens if it happens, must be viewed only as a symbolic victory. In other words, we do not think that JLB is the best systemic reform either. We believe that there are serious problems with our constitution, and they need to be looked into.
For societal reform, we may need to do much more. In our opinion, we need to change our Education system at the very least.
Your statement that you are not interested in such movements, is somewhat saddening, to say the least. If you do not want to stand on the side of justice no matter how small your contribution may be. You could, for example, be giving merely your emotional will power support (with no external action). Then we may be in for even more serious trouble. We, Hindus, are (have been) facing this plight because we have become too "pseudo-saintly", if we may use the term.
As a common-man you may not be interested in such movements, but as a common-man are you not interested in your own interests? How are you going to serve and protect those interests of yours? Or have you already given in to despair, if we may ask?
It is this pursuit of those interests that will bring you back to becoming interested in such societal and systemic matters. Otherwise, as we have mentioned, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Or if you fail to act, you act to fail!
@Abhijeet:
ReplyDeleteYou have not answered my question.
Take for example the simple fact: There may be moderate Muslims but there is no moderate Islam. Islam is the problem, and not some non-existent fantasies like Islamofascism, Islamism, etc.
If you disagree with this fact, then we can take up another debate elsewhere, probably at your (and my) blog.
In view of the above fact, where has RSS shown any clarity of understanding on this matter, in other words non-emptiness of head?
Ditto Secularism, Socialism.
@Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteYour comments are not off the subject, rather they pertain to a larger subject.
We are having a dual crisis, societal as well as systemic. Both need to be addressed. Jan Lokpal Bill (JLB) attempts to bring about a systemic change.
You have stated that despite CrPC and Police crimes like rape, murder etc., have not come to an end, therefore despite JLB corruption will not come to an end.
In general terms, you are stating that mere systemic change will not bring about a societal change. Or it may be that a perfect society, or even a perfect system, is not possible.
Fair enough.
However, that need not dissuade us from attempting to put in place a reasonably efficient system.
Also, what if we invert your argument? Since CrPC and Police can anyway not completely stop crimes, therefore we should do away with CrPC and Police!
It is saddening to note that you are not interested in these movements. You may not be interested in Annas, but are you not interested in your own interests? How would you serve and protect them?
It is pursuit of this, i.e. your own interest, that will bring you back to becoming interested in movements for systemic change (like Anna's), and later in movements for societal change.
one of the gud analysis abt the thugs n media who r nothng more than puppets of Congress-Looters of India.
ReplyDeleteI have not read the 25 posts, I mean the comments. Much before anything, I did write that all of us are Indians and we have corruption in our blood cells. I did talk about the need for clean people in the civil society and casting aspersions about the Bushans.
ReplyDeleteYou are now carrying out a postmortem of the events gone by. Anna should have cleansed himself prior to jumping into this heavy work. He should have been more careful about selecting his deputies.
It is, no doubt, a wrong to make money from travel plans and route that savings to a cause how-so-ever noble it may be. You can be framed. Why give that chance?
A hot potato dropped down!
Samalochak is 100 percent right when he says that RSS has an empty head.The simple fact is that Christianity, Islam ,Communism and secularism are predatory ideologies and RSS is never known to have taken a line that states in clearest terms that Christianity, Islam ,Communism and secularism are criminal thought systems.The very existence of Hinduism is at great risk unless we expose the true character of these demonic systems.
ReplyDeleteThis is also an interesting piece on Kiran Bedi http://krupakar.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/kiran-bedi-and-her-odious-ways-of-running-ngos-opinion/.
ReplyDeleteDear Samalochaka,
ReplyDeleteI again say that I really appreciate your fervor for Hindu Nation & views on evils of Islam & Christianity. There cannot be any disagreement on it. But my point is simple:
Hindus don't just need a clear ideology against evils of Islam & Christianity but also need a mechanism to work & grow on a continuous basis. When you start actually working among people from different walks, you suddenly realise how difficult it is to create & maintain an ideological movement. Believe me its million times difficult than writing hard hitting blogs.If tomorrow RSS regularly starts giving strong statements about evils of Islam, Christianity, Pseudo Secularism, Socialism etc but does not focus on building a stable platform of various social service projects to actually deliver benefits of strong Hindu nation, then all the anti hindu forces would condemn it as hollow. Considering we are discussing the subject related with Team Anna, I would stop replying to any future comments on RSS. Please keep up the good work. India needs people like you.
@Abhijeet:
ReplyDeleteThanks for your good wishes!
We dream of days when politicians will be compelled to compete among one another to be more and more pro-Hindu unlike the present times when they are competing to be more and more anti-Hindu.
this is the best piece on team anna and JLPB's andolan's analysis that i have read.. ravinaar.. you r the best.. you have linked all the missing points.. i hope that team anna reads your article and does an introspection.. and rethink about its stratergies and future course.. that will do great for the good work they are doing.
ReplyDeleteVery well said. I think it is the same thing tha BJP is sufferng from. Repeatedly show up on the same channels that lambast them and then use every opportunity to slam them.
ReplyDeleteI may be proven wrong but Subramanium Swamy is the only person who has maintained dignity. although lately he seemed to have gloated about being nominated by CNN-IBN
Good Article and eye-opener to many people how Media creates, manipulate, breaks and also makes news. I would agree with Team Anna debacle, as they were constantly in purview of media either by interview, or wrong allegations or some issues. This has also led a bit of concern for the citizens of India on whether the Team Anna is moving a fight against corruption for the country or a fight for prestige with Indian Parliament.
ReplyDelete