In a matter of hours, Baba Ramdev has become ‘a face for RSS’ and ‘a threat to the stability of Delhi’ from holding high profile closed door negotiations with four top UPA central ministers.
Had Ramdev been dressed in white or green instead of the saffron- would it really matter? He wasn’t protesting for a religious agenda.
His demands might have been uneducated and irrational at times- but the likes of Kapil Sibal and Digvijay Singh are not fighting him on the specific issues he has raised or on the larger issue of corruption. They are targeting him for his religious belief and the color of his clothing, indulging in character assassination and trying to subvert the issue and give it a communal color.
I wonder what they would name Anna Hazare, a veteran Gandhian, if and as it seems pretty obvious when he refuses to bulge in to the UPA governments’ pressure tactics.
Wasn’t Rahul Gandhi a threat to the stability of Uttar Pradesh when he went undeclared, on a bike to meet armed farmers protesting against land acquisition? Everyone from the PM to UPA chairperson had joined in his praise and support then.
Had Ramdev been dressed in white or green instead of the saffron- would it really matter? He wasn’t protesting for a religious agenda.
His demands might have been uneducated and irrational at times- but the likes of Kapil Sibal and Digvijay Singh are not fighting him on the specific issues he has raised or on the larger issue of corruption. They are targeting him for his religious belief and the color of his clothing, indulging in character assassination and trying to subvert the issue and give it a communal color.
I wonder what they would name Anna Hazare, a veteran Gandhian, if and as it seems pretty obvious when he refuses to bulge in to the UPA governments’ pressure tactics.
Wasn’t Rahul Gandhi a threat to the stability of Uttar Pradesh when he went undeclared, on a bike to meet armed farmers protesting against land acquisition? Everyone from the PM to UPA chairperson had joined in his praise and support then.
"I represent the common man"
-Baba Ramdev/Anna Hazare/ Every politician worth his salt
As Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev would be realizing now, that it wasn’t the UPA government or a handful of ministers who failed them. Take a look at the vernacular press and news media and the picture becomes clearer- the importance English news media has given to the causes of corruption is simply missing from the vernacular newspapers and bulletins. At least that’s what I have been seeing in two states governed by allies of the UPA.
When Anna Hazare called in the youth to join him, it was the youth in metro cities that had joined him, candles in hand, not the youth in India’s small cities, towns and villages- where most of India’s youth reside.
When Adarsh scam happened, it was a English daily which had taken up the issue and the protests were limited to metros; not a feather was ruffled in the rural and semi-urban areas of Maharashtra.
For more than twenty years, most residents of Kolkata were against the ruling left front government for its anti-industry policy, lack of jobs for the educated youth, a failing government machinery and corruption. But the left front kept winning every election with the support of the semi-urban and rural population as well as the support of the ‘aam aadmi’ in Kolkata.
When the urban middle class was crying for blood, it was the omnipresent ‘aam admi’ which invariably came to the left’s rescue. Finally when the left front lost their power- it was because they had grabbed land forcibly from the masses, but what was more surprising was that the urban middle class chose to join in the cause of the rural masses, the same rural masses- who had never bothered about the causes of the urban middle class and especially when a bright chief minister was finally doing some good for the economy of West Bengal and its urban middle class!
When CWG and 2G scam happened, most of India wasn’t even aware what 2G means or how the loss to the exchequer would really affect her/him.
A rise in the cost of SMS or a hike in call charges would have had much more impact for most of us Indians!
The television viewership for CWG was even less than a lowly match between the 9th and 10th placed teams in the Indian Premier League.
The Indian ‘Aam aadmi’ didn’t even knew whose money was being stolen or who was stealing them. Even if they knew, most were confused that if the money had not been stolen- how would it benefit them?
The situation couldn’t have been starker- The urban middle class (the taxpaying sitting ducks) who care about corruption actually doesn’t stand to gain much in case of a lack of corruption. They would never avail of government schools or health care centres. Even when they use roads or airports or trains- they would pay much more than what they avail. They would never avail of NREGA or mid day meal scheme or the governments intended social security system. Their interaction with the government machinery is anyways much lower when compared to the ‘aam aadmi’. Their tax burden wouldn’t get lower. Yes they would benefit from low inflation- but that’s a much indirect and long term prospect and in most scenarios would again benefit buyers whose purchase basket is much more modest.
If all political parties r equally corrupt- then the quantum of corruption depends on
who among them has spent more years in power?
The truth then really boils down to:
Those who care about corruption don’t really matter in this democracy of 120 million and those who should care and matter democratically- doesn’t give much of a thought to the issue of corruption
Two historically corrupt parties fought the state elections in one of the more advanced states in South India, both promising free lunches and goodies to the masses- one of them won, not because they are less corrupt- but the voters wanted to give everyone an equal chance to loot!
