Saturday, April 09, 2011

The relevance of "Satyagraha" in the 21st century!

Kisan Baburao Hazare alias Anna Hazare, has demonstrated to the whole world once again the relevance of the Gandhian model of peaceful, powerful and mass struggle popularly known as "Satyagraha" even in modern India of the 21st century!

The septuagenerian ex-serviceman was born in a small village in western Maharashtra called Bhinagar, near Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmednagar district, in an agrarian family, on 15th June 1938, less than 10 years before the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi who eventually inspired Anna Hazare to adopt the path of non-violence in his struggles against the powerful Government.  Anna joined the Indian Army when he was vicenarian, responding to  the Army's call following the Indo-Chinese border conflict, and opted for voluntary retirement after he had a close encounter with death during the Indo-Pakistan war that led to his firm determination to remain a chronic bachelor and he returned to his village.  Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi greatly influenced Anna in his endeavours and struggles against alcoholism, social inequality, untouchability and corruption. His campaign for Right to Information Act from1997 resulted in the State of Maharasthra enacting the legislation, eventually adopted by the Government of India in 2005.  The veteran who was conferred Padmashri and Padmabhushan awards in 1990 and 1992 respectively by the Government of India, has now re-established the relevance of "Satyagraha" even in the modern India of 21st century, by successfully persuading a reluctant Union Government to accept the fundamental demands of the civil society in respect of the JAN LOK PAL bill in the Parliament that includes a formal notification in the official Gazette!

The resounding success of Anna Hazare is attributed to the unprecedented level of support that his powerful movement could generate within four days of beginning his fast unto death campaign at Jantar Mantar premises in New Delhi.

The demands put forth during the campaign included the following --

  • Constitution of a credible committee to draft the Lok Pal bill that should have equal representation from the Government and civil society and notification thereof in the official gazette
  • Such Committee to be headed by representative of the civil society rather than a Cabinet Minister
  • Redrafting the Lok Pal bill to make it effective and purposeful
Though the initial response of the Government was lukewarm, with growing appeal among the people for the campaign with every passing day, the Government finally conceded without leaving anyone in doubt that it finally agreed, but very reluctantly.

Finally, the Government agreed to meet the genuine demands of the campaigners led by Anna Hazare on the fourth day of fasting.  A notification was issued in the Gazette announcing the names of the members of the drafting committee to be chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and co-chaired by former Law Minister Shanti Bhushan (representing the civil society) and consisting of Home Minister P Chidambaram, Law Minister Veerappa Moili, HRD Minister Kapil Sipal and Water Resources Minister Salman Khurshid (representing the Government) apart from Anna Hazare himself, former Supreme Court Judge Santosh Hegde, Lawyer Prashanth Bhushan and RTI Activist Arvind Kejriwal.  On 9th April 2011, Anna Hazare declared the successful conclusion of the fast unto death struggle.

Not only people of India, but also all those who repose faith in mass struggles through peaceful means hail this victory and congratulate Anna Hazare and all others who effectively campaigned for these just demands and all those who supported the movement.

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