"Baba se kaun darta hai?” thus spake Digvijay Singh, aka Diggy Raja, on the proposed Satyagraha of Baba Ramdev in order to pressurize the government to bring in stringent laws against black money and other allied issues. The fearless Diggy Raja did not stop at this, and further went on to say “Baba is a businessman and not a sanyasi.” This is what I like about Diggy Raja, as he knows things which nobody else does. For example, did anybody apart from Diggy Raja or the author of the book know about the fact that the attack in Mumbai on 26/11 was carried out by the RSS people in collaboration with the Israelis. Well, Diggy Raja thought so, as he released the book, 26/11: “RSS Ki Saazish”. Did anybody know that Hemant Karkare was not killed by Kasab and his cohorts but by RSS goons? Well, again, Diggy Raja was apparently intimated beforehand by Karkare on such a plot hours before his death. That nobody has corroborated either of the two issues and that David Coleman Headley is spilling the beans faster than a leaking ship does not deter Diggy Raja. He goes on nevertheless.
The fact that Diggy Raja speaks only on a nod given by the powers that be in this country is perhaps the worst kept secret in the country. And those powers that be, are definitely not the P.M or his cabinet is also no secret. The shooting off the mouth about not fearing the protest by Baba Ramdev indicates that the government is at a loss about the method to be adopted to counter this movement which is threatening to snowball into a major embarrassment for them. The fact that the Baba was met at the Airport by a minister as senior as Pranab Mukherjee suffices for the fact that the government is nervous. Pranab da definitely did not go to the airport to discuss Pranayam techniques, did he Diggy Raja?
The nervousness is genuine, since what should have been the mandate of the successive governments has been hijacked initially by the Civil society led by Anna Hazare and then by Baba Ramdev. It is quite evident that the government for whatever its apologists in the English media and ‘stars’ like Shahrukh Khan might say, is more scared of Ramdev than at any point in the past. Ramdev with his sometimes acerbic and caustic methodology has caught the attention of millions in this country. The millions who are now desperate for the government in particular and the politicians in general to do ‘something’. For years, these common people or the aam aadmi have born the brunt of politicians and bureaucrats filling up their coffers at the expense of the common man. For years the common man has witnessed people like Lalu Yadav, Madhu Koda, Raja, Kalmadi and their ilk rise from obscurity and become obscenely rich overnight. The common man is sick of assets increasing 300% in a period of five years for people like Mayawati whereas they are unable to increase their asset by Rs. 300/ during the same period.
The nervousness can be judged from the fact that stories are being circulated about Ramdev buying an island, owning assets worth thousands of crores, his blunt views on homosexuality and what not! The response of the common man to all this shenanigans is, and should be, ‘hang the culprit’ whosoever it may be ! And frankly, what difference does anybody’s views on homosexuality for that matter have on him expressing his opinion about corruption, per se. The same methodology was applied on the Bhushans, albeit in a different manner for their participation the Jan Lok Pal bill.
‘Eminent’ media personalities have openly ridiculed the protests, reaching to the extent of calling the entire experience as ‘primitive’. Exactly, my dear friends! It has to be primitive because it hits the ‘modern’ people exactly where it should. For 63 years after Independence the money has been carried away from these shores and parked in accounts in places like Liechenstein. Bermuda, Antilles apart from the Banks of Switzerland. I bet most of the ‘modern’ people will not be able to locate Liechenstein. Bermuda, Antilles in an atlas. The best part is that the ‘modern’ people stood by silently when the money was being looted away, not a word was raised in protest. If the Supreme Court had not intervened aggressively, Hasan Ali would have been living his king size life quite openly. Although with the quality of investigation of the agencies in the country, it would not be too much of a surprise to see him come out unscathed. Do we need to see any further than Laloo Yadav to believe in that.
What is more ‘bizarre’ and ‘surreal’ than the masses amassed at the Ram Lila grounds, is the uncanny resemblance to the age of the British Raj for which the grand old man of the then enslaved India, Dadabhai Naoroji, in his famous Drain theory very aptly likened the British rule as a ‘sponge which sucked money from India shore and then released it in the Thames’. Nearly 130 years have passed since Naoroji alongwith R.C.Dutt propounded the Drain theory, but have things changed apart from the fact the sponge is now not the British Raj, but our own Raj. Is this why our freedom fighters gave up their home, hearth and lives for? To change the hands looting the common man, a brother looting his own brother.
The government says that laws cannot be brought within a day! Excuse me! A day! 63 years have passed since independence, which have resulted in 110 amendments to the constitution, and you need the threat of an indefinite fast to talk of laws in this regard! It is an admitted fact that an economy parallel to the Indian economy, if not more is run through black money. I wonder what the response of the government would have been if an aam aadmi with no following would have asked for a law against black money. I will tell you, he would have slapped with charges of attempt to suicide, his house land records would have been proved to be fake, his children would have ‘caught cheating’ in exams….If you don’t believe me, just turn around and have a look.
The support Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev are getting is symptomatic of the frustration of the aam aadmi. For a price, you can get from police verification to 2G spectrum. Without it, well……
Honesty and forthrightness have become a dangerous possession to have in these times. Amar Singh was let loose on the members of the civil society, who for all practical purposes have been taken for a ride. Drafting a law has nuances, we are told. We must get opinion of all state governments and political parties, we are told. It has to be approved by the parliament we are told. At the very same time, the NAC is drafting a bill on Prevention of Targeted Communal Violence. Interested in wanting to know who is drafting the bill? Teesta Setalvad, who was reprimanded by the SIT probing Gujarat riots for instigating people to make false and exaggerated claims on the riots. But do you hear any voice about the extra constitutional rights of the NAC to draft the bill or opinion of the state governments. No, because the reasons are too obvious.
The aam aadmi is now sick of this double standards. Attack Ramdev for his the Patanjali trust, but remain mum on the Rajiv Gandhi foundation. Keep Karim Morani in your corner and smirk on questions about your links to him with a derisive “that’s the Morani corner”, without replying to the questions (Shahrukh Khan at a press conference). The mass gathering of support for both Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev is the manifestation of the disgust the people feel for the ‘system’ which has been misused and abused to such an extent that people now see no hope. The earlier the ‘system’ and its ‘representatives’ read the lining on the wall, the better it is for the country. The country can no longer tolerate a poverty line of Rs. 20 per day, for urban and Rs. 11 per day, for rural areas. Can the chairman of the planning commission live on an amount of Rs. 25 for a single days in any urban area of his choice? The country cannot have the Chief Advisor to the Finance Ministry propagate his theories of legitimizing ‘bribes’.
The patience of the people is running out fast, Baba or no Baba. My advice to Diggy Raja would be, “ Baba is daro ya na daro, aam aadmi se zaroor daro.”
