Lokpal, Jokepal or Forget about it Pal...

This is a follow up to my earlier blog where I had asked all my friends to wake up, think on their own, make their own decisions and build an independent thought process.

Why this hue and cry over the lokpal bill by the Govt? Why is the govt resisting this? And why is it so strongly opposing the inclusion of the PM under this bill?

My view on these questions – The government is in utter shock that the Indian society, which for so many years was sleeping and did not want to get involved with the governance of this country, is beginning to ask some very serious questions and are also willing to go to the streets to voice their concerns and most importantly- demand action.  The govt doesn’t want a lokpal bill that will be drafted by prominent citizens because they will not leave any loop holes in the bill (hopefully) and most importantly the congress is opposing the inclusion of the PM because they fear that their future prime ministerial candidate- which will only be a member on the Gandhi family will get into some major trouble.  I don’t see any other reason for them to oppose the inclusion of the PM. PM is not above the law; he is not super human or Maryada Purushottama, the Perfect Man. Like all of us the Indian PM should be governed by the law of the land.

Corruption has ruined India. Especially during the last 60 years of self governance. At least when the British were ruling us we had a reason to point figures at someone else but what about now? It’s our own elected representatives who are killing this country. The list of scams in India is never ending http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scandals_in_India_by_year   . Wikipedia has this exhaustive list but it only covers national scams and not regional or state scams. There are no hard numbers on the size of black money, since black money is generated by both legal and illegal activities. However, according to Arun Kumar, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, author of Black Money in India, the black economy has assumed huge proportions and it keeps growing. His estimates suggest it is worth a whopping US$500 billion - almost half the size of the official economy - but some say it is even larger and could be as high as 70% of the official economy, if parallel activities undertaken outside the country are considered.

Why is the govt opposing the Civil Society groups (Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev included)- I am no fan of Baba Ramdev but his demands are absolutely legitimate. All he is asking for is for a very strict law that will bring back black money into the country and make the money the nation’s property. What is wrong with this demand? The govt every second day finds new reasons to attack Anna hazare- he is a front man for BJP & RSS, he is holding parliament at ransom, his team is corrupt and most recently I  heard minister Kapil Sibal and Digvijay singh of the congress ask “Who appointed Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev to represent the people and demand this law? This is probably the most stupid question of all times. If that be the case then who appointed Bhagat Singh and Netaji Bose to fight against the British, who appointed the congress lead by Gandhi to fight against the British. I don’t remembering reading anything that said there was a major election in India and the people voted for Gandhi to represent the people. The answer to Mr. Sibal and Digvijay Singh is “Nationalism”. Anyone and everyone who loves his/her country has the right to voice his opinion and demand that his/her country be governed with highest integrity.  The shame of India’s democracy is that it’s being run only by the vote bank and by people who have mastered the art of manipulating this vote bank. 

Unfortunately corruption has become a way of life for Indians. We have made it part of our daily life, we are so used to it that we are actually shocked if some government work gets done without giving a bribe though chances of this event are rare and far in between.

Let’s stop and think what we have done to this country in the last 65 years or I can say think what we haven’t done in the last 65 years. Majority of the railway system was built by the British, same is the case with large water dams, ports, cities, colleges, and this can be a never ending list. It is time that we seriously question our leaders who have been governing this country- what have they done right? It’s an open secret that Indian politicians have 1000s of cr rs and that has still not satisfied their appetite, they continue to accumulate more. 2G Scam, Common Wealth scam, Mumbai housing scam, it just never ends. Congress thinks it’s being very smart laying the entire blame for the biggest scam in India -the 2G scam- on its southern partner the DMK.  But do they firmly believe that the people are stupid and will not see through this? It is very clear that “ sab ke hat kale hai” meaning everyone is involved. There is no way that people like Gandhi, Chidambaram, Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal, Sharad Pawar etc etc did not get a piece of the massive loot. It’s time we as citizens take a stand and stop this. I certainly believe that if Anna and Baba Ramdev have a fool proof law or idea against corruption it should be adopted and the govt should stop playing politics all the time. Most importantly let’s not forget what is currently happening because we Indians have a habit of getting distracted very easily. The govt may influence the media to change the headline from corruption to Shah Rukh Khan’s new movie, but we need to be focussed and remember the atrocities committed by this govt and when the time comes we need to vote them out.