Baba Ramdev and his 5-star Satyagraha!

The setting was perfect: Ramlila Ground, therefore, it had to be high drama by the protagonist along with his protesters! …

The desire for a pie in the Anti-Corruption Movement was so intense inBaba Ramdev that no sooner Anna Hazare wound up at Jantar Mantar, the politically ambitious Baba Ramdev announced his “fast-unto-death” campaign against black money. It was bound to be interesting to see theYoga guru add another chapter to India’s crusade against corruption. There was never any doubt about his ability to mobilize his supporters - he has them in abundance - to force the Indian government to enact laws to bring back the massive amount of ill gotten money stashed away in foreign banks and tax havens abroad. Like Anna, he too was bound to get relentless media coverage. Interesting, however, was also the probable response of the Indian public to a new episode of Dharna-in-Delhi; also important was to see the handling capabilities of the government. (The issue, nevertheless, is that a stubbornly arrogant Indian government does not relent till it is forced to do so – like Anna did.) And the outcome of Baba’s so-called fast turned out to be exactly what I had envisaged!

With great difficulty Anna Hazare had succeeded in waking up the perennially sleeping Indians to stand up for their country; in my living memory it was for the first time that Indians had come out in full force to fight against corruption. It was heartening to see an average Indian - who has been otherwise quite comfortable with his/her corruption surrounded existence – adopt the word“crusade” in his/her vocabulary of daily living.

Then came Baba with a clear mission to hijack people’s platform in order to further his political aspirations – though he vehemently denies this charge. And thus the country witnessed a new look crusade being staged in an air-conditioned ambiance – all with public money snatched forcibly by Baba’s menin name of providing comforts to the congregating protesters in a “hot” Delhi!

More bizarre was the manner in which the government of India attempted to tackle it. First it tried to woo Baba by rushing senior ministers – including the finance minister! - as soon he alighted from his private jet at the Delhi airport. It seemed of be greatly wary of the sheer number of his followers. When the placating policy failed, it tried to strike a secret deal with him in the setting of a plush 5-star hotel and succeeded in getting a hand written assurance from him to stop his agitation. Baba, not satisfied with the attention he had got so far, tried to garner as much political mileage out of the event as possible and thus took au-turn on his words and decided to continue his protest. In response, when the government tried to convince the country of the patch-up by waving his letter in a press conference, Baba levied charges on the government and called it a “liar”which, as we all know by now, did not go down too well with it. Police was sent to chase away the protesters with a midnight crackdown. The scene became hugely chaotic with Media broadcasting live the mayhem. Sleeping people were forcefully evicted and even Baba was forced to flee the ground in disguise. The political theater, famously called the Theatre of the Absurds, was at it best!

By using force on peaceful protesters – though no one was injured with mild lathi-charge and tear gas shells – the government with its highly unimaginative move has inadvertently relinquished its grace and moral rights to be a proponent of aam-aadmi, and has allowed Baba to seize the opportunity to garner unwarranted credence for his campaign. And the scene of drama has shifted to Haridwar for now, with his followers openly supporting “the person” and not “the cause”. In addition, the saffron brigade hooking onto the bandwagon and trying to give it a communal hue is the most disturbing aspect. If left unchecked, it has the potential to scuttle Anna’s movement and provide chances to unscrupulous to gain undue advantages by exploiting gullible population’s sentiments.

Though in a country where corruption had long back ceased to make any“news” till Team Anna shook them up from their siesta, a hugely popular figure like Baba Ramdev taking up the cause of corruption could have strengthened civil society’s crusade, if only his intentions were genuine. On the contrary, Baba’s 5-star campaign has in fact rendered the term impotent, though temporarily. The legitimacy of the agitation has become doubtful. The seriousness of the purpose which is always the driving force behind all such movements looks to have got diluted in Baba’s case completely.

To say the least, I am happy at the developments.

I was never comfortable with Baba Ramdev’s foray into the “movement” area because his credibility as a serious campaigner for country’s cause was always a big question mark. To me he seemed to be an opportunist who wanted to ride the wave of public support and garner a footing in the political landscape of the country. I never believed him when ever he tried to proclaim his so-called detachment to politics in spite of floating a political party, his so-called philanthropic effort to cleanse the country of corruption. His claim to the cause as a co-crusader seemed illegitimate as he is known to have amassed massive wealth the sources of which are still unknown. And then his attempt at redefining the way to conduct a campaign: 5-star Satyagraha! I am sure Mahatma Gandhi must be amused up there!

The contrast between Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev could not have been starker!

Though I do not believe in public display of sentiments, nevertheless, I pledge my full support to Team Anna and promise to be on fast in solidarity – at home and in office due to professional compulsions – the next time they embark on their fast protest for the Lokpal Bill. …

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P.S.: Let’s not forget that in today’s times of crusades, the one entity which deserves the maximum credit for initializing it in India is the Media, especiallyArnab Goswami at Times Now who with his courageous campaigns against corruption forced the government to relent and act and inspired the activists like Anna Hazare! …

CWG: Great show, India! But, do not forget to hang Kalmadi & Co.

Great show, India! 101, the magical figure which we reached with medals, make us so proud! Our athletes deserve a standing ovation! And, of course, not to forget the people behind staging of spectacular opening and closing ceremonies! It would be unfair if we do not salute the organizers for conducting the Games as it should have been done!

The preparedness came out to be superb ultimately! The facilities were world class! The Games Village was certainly best ever provided to sports fraternity for a CWG gathering! The stadia turned out to be spectacularly built! The turnout of all 71 countries (including the overseas territories of the UK) qualified Delhi 2010 to be the biggest ever Games! The viewership was equally massive – the biggest ever!

And, biggest was the money spent on the Commonwealth Games!

Rs. 77,000 crores! …

By any standards, this amount is quite huge! It still could have been justified - in a country with almost 70% people struggling to make two ends meet - if every penny was spent honestly – on sports and sportspersons and stadia and infrastructure. But we all know that this hasn’t been the case. The organizers and government officials – and politicians – involved in making Delhi ‘Games Ready’ indulged into unprecedented levels of corruption. Corruption so colossal and everybody so busy looting the country’s coffers that even when the nations in the Commonwealth Comity started to descend in Delhi, India looked in shambles.

Then the ‘Commonwealth Games Price Index’ was unbelievable! Money spent on purchase of materials and infrastructure was so exorbitant that it made one feel as if those were imported from Pluto! The entire scene was so embarrassing that at one point I felt ashamed of being an Indian. And it was in spite of the Indian Media – though quite belatedly – relentless in exposing the depth of corruption in hosting of the Games. Suresh Kalmadi, Sheila Dikshit, Jaipal Reddy, MS Gill, … were extraordinarily shameful in their conduct. There was simply no one around to take accountability for chaos and crises surrounding staging of biggest ever sporting extravaganza on Indian soil. The saddest part was that even our respected prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh – and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi – chose to keep quiet in spite of mounting criticisms. The result was that India from being ‘Incredible’ became ‘Unlivable’ in eyes of the world! … All was not well.

(Sheila Dikshit, don’t try to take entire credit for the success of the Games. You too are equally culpable for CWG mess and muck.)

Now that the Games are over; now that India has emerged as a strong sporting nation with second position in the medals tally: 38 gold haul and a total of 101 achievements; now that the world is convinced about India’s capabilities to stage a world class sporting event; now that all athletes have gone back happy; … we have to go back to the people who were responsible for holding the Games and take account of all the money spent. India should not spare the corrupt organizers, various governmental and sporting bodies and let them go scot free. As Suresh Kalmadi has said: “Hang me if found guilty!” I echo him: Hang Suresh Kalmadi & Co.! …

Though Suresh Kalmadi has emerged as the chief protagonist in the entire scam saga, it would be really naïve to think that he had the solo performance. As per official records, the Organizing Committee was given only Rs. 1600 crores towards expenditure from the allocated CWG funds of Rs. 77,000 crores. Majority of the money was so-called spent on building stadia, roads, flyovers, Games Village etc. which were under direct control of Delhi Government, Center (Lt. Governor of Delhi) and Urban Development ministry. Suresh Kalmadi had nothing to do with all of that. If India looked so pathetically inefficient and not at all ready even a few days before the start of the Games, main culprits were Sheila Dikshit, Jaipal Reddy and MS Gill, besides Suresh Kalmadi, who were directly overseeing functioning of the various bodies and agencies involved in preparing Delhi for the Games. For sure all these political figures are not saints walking the surface of India!

Therefore, my appeal is to the Prime minister to order a comprehensive probe and adequately punish all involved. Just by throwing Suresh Kalmadi out in the cold – now – will seem like shielding Sheila Dikshit, MS Gill, Jaipal Reddy and others.

PM’s belated action also makes one get a firm feeling that the plundered funds have indeed reached pockets of people at top of political pyramid of the Indian establishment and thus this “deflective directive” to nail Suresh Kalmadi alone is in fact to save those prominent players. Going by Indian standards, such a monumental scam couldn’t have been possible without political heavyweights getting their share in the loot. Moreover, the Indian Government knows too well that world famous Indian amnesia would take over soon and everybody – Media & Public - would conveniently forget about CWG and corruption and all corrupt people will continue to live happily ever after!

Here, I want to articulate one thing very clearly: the only person whom India believes to be absolutely above all kinds of corruption is the prime minister Manmohan Singh. And we are proud of him!

Hope, Mr. PM, you will be able to assert yourself and ensure proper action against all involved post probe – if it ever gets completed, unlike earlier times. Then only India will say: All is well! J

India is waiting and watching …

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Post script: Let us not forget our athletes now that the Games are over. After giving the Doordarshan its highest ever TRP in recent times, let us not exhibit our contradictory behavior and ignore other sports for cricket, as always…

Shouldn’t more such sporting events be organized regularly as India is ready for it now? Of course, minus Suresh Kalmadi, Sheila Dikshit, MS Gill, Jaipal Reddy … (Kala-pani for Kala-madi! To give him company, send Sheila Dikshit, MS Gill, Jaipal Reddy along with!)

I support Mani Shankar Aiyar on Commonwealth Games

Mani Shankar Aiyar has my solid support on Commonwealth Games.

He is the only parliamentarian – politician – with enough courage to speak bluntly. Rest are simply too busy stashing away common man’s wealth in their Swiss accounts. Then there are many who are too blinded to see India feel “honoured” by staging this no-value Games.

What purpose will this no-purpose Games serve for India? Or even for its sporting community? Or sports in general? Rs. 35,000 crore if spent properly – i.e. honestly - would have helped both players and various sports immensely and then perhaps we could have hoped to graduate from rare solitary medal to a couple of ones in future Olympics.

Then what is this talk of India’s “honour” in successfully hosting of this unnecessary sporting extravaganza? It is akin to “preserving” one’s so-called honour through “honour-killing”! The analogy is not inappropriate. The sports administrators and politicians involved have indeed made a “killing” for themselves in the name of the Games.

And, if we were so concerned about increasing India’s ratings on the Global Honour Index - !!! - then we should have ensured every penny from Rs. 35,000 was spent honestly in developing required infrastructure so critical for success of the Commonwealth Games. Why nobody is pointing towards colossal levels of corruption indulged into by all involved in the Games? Can’t everybody see those gaping holes and already blown away roofs of the newly built stadia? Is there any doubt lingering in the tortoise-paced preparedness of India? Only a blind person can be fooled by all those rhetoric of Suresh Kalmadis and Shiela Dikshits. … I wonder why the Government of India is feigning sleep. For sure, Commonwealth Games conduction is its prime responsibility as well.

If little bit of rains could expose the real picture of India’s preparations for the Commonwealth Games, then I wish Delhi gets “real” rains this monsoon. At least, the world will know beforehand what they are getting into by agreeing to participate in the forthcoming Commonwealth Games. I also pray Delhi’s monsoons get prolonged till October so that all illusions about the so-called Grand stature – honour – of our nationare washed away and India comes out in its “true” colours in front of everybody – Indians and international community as well.

I am also thankful to these more-than-usual level of rains in Delhi which forced the Indian media to wake up eventually and “break” the “facts” before gullible Indians, so conveniently called the “aam-aadmi”.

To all those who think I am a “detractor” like Mani Shankar Aiyar: For God’s sake, the massive amount of money taken out of our country’s coffers in name of the Commonwealth Games is “our” money – we taxpayers’ money – your and my money; we work hard to earn and pay huge taxes every year. The Games could be called “Commonwealth” but the money (being) spent - ??? – is not “Commonwealth”. And as an honest & honourable citizen of India, I feel enormously pained and extremely angry at the wastage of my tax money.And that is the reason why I fully support Mani Shankar Aiyar on the Commonwealth Games issue.

Delhi's Diwali

Diyas, Mithayis, Patakhas, Rangolis, New clothes, Laxmi puja, Parents blessings – in kind and cash, both! … (not necessarily in the same order!) … are the vivid images which conjure up in my mind when I think of Diwali celebrations. But all these changed when I witnessed Diwali celebrations in Delhi – more than a decade ago when I moved to this city.

Here, in this richest Indian megapolis, I found the concept of Diwali to be different. Though the essential ingredients of Diwali seemed to be intact to a large extent, but I was amused to find that the fundamental focus in Diwali was on “gifting” – to relatives, friends and business contacts. I felt Diwali to be more of a CRM annual ritual than a family festival. It was funny to see people running mad all over the city with “gifts”, adding further to the extremely chaotic traffic conditions in days nearing Diwali, as if contesting in a race in Customer Relationship Management (CRM)! And even weirder was the realization that almost all of these relatives, friends and business contacts were to be forgotten comfortably till the next Diwali arrived when the exercise in CRM would start all over again! … In the entire process, it’s the family which gets the least importance, I guess.

Delhi’s Diwali is different in yet another basic aspect: here, people do not light diyas but instead decorate their home with multicoloured electrical bulbs. Frankly, these artificial tools of lighting accentuate the ugliness of surroundings. I actually wonder if Delhiites get too tired “giving & receiving gifts” that they are left with no energy to go through the procedure of diya lighting: putting oil and wick in earthen diyas, arranging them on roof and walls, and then lighting them at dusk on Diwali day. If only these Delhi residents had the opportunity to enjoy Diwali in other parts of the country and see the beauty of homes decorated with diyas, I am sure, they would relinquish these electrical bulbs forever.

Hopefully, the ever-running and ever-consuming Delhi will halt temporarily in its pace and enjoy Diwali in its true sense: a family festival, an occasion for the family to be together and celebrate, and pray for God’s blessings for prosperity and peace.

Every Diwali I pray: Let there be light - in every human’s heart, mind and soul :)

Happy Diwali!