Friends, Indians, Countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury those Anna Hazares and all evils called corruption and not to praise such people.
But, Manmohan Singh is an honourable man.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Anna Hazares. The noble Manmohan Singh
Hath told you Anna Hazares were ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Anna Hazares answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Manmohan Singh and the rest -
For Manmohan Singh is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men -
Come I to speak in Anna Hazares' fast unto death.
They were my friends, faithful and just to all of us:
But Manmohan Singh says they were ambitious;
And Manmohan Singh is an honourable man.
Anna Hazares hath brought many captives (Hasan alis and Rajas) home to India
Whose ransoms the general coffers can fill (but not till now):
But, Manmohan Singh / Pranabda does not want to disclose details;
Did this in Anna Hazares seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Anna Hazares hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Manmohan Singh says he was ambitious;
And Manmohan Singh is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the floor of the Supreme Court
Anna Hazares thrice presented evidences against evil men,
Which Manmohan Singh did thrice refuse: was this not ambition?
Yet Manmohan Singh says Anna Hazares were ambitious;
And, sure, Manmohan Singh is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Manmohan Singh spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
The speech continues after a while something like this:
But yesterday the word of Anna Hazares might
Have stood against the world; now lie them here taking fast unto death.
And none so poor to do them reverence.
O masters, if I were disposed to stir
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
I should do Manmohan Singh wrong, and Chidambaram wrong,
Who, you all know, are honourable men:
I will not do them wrong; I rather choose
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,
Than I will wrong such honourable men.
But here's a parchment with the seal of Anna Hazare;
I found it in his closet, 'tis his statement of assets owned:
Let but the commons hear this testament--
Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read--
And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequeathing it as a rich legacy
Unto their issue.
Anna Hazares says he has a few rupees value reduced by inflation and
just 2.53 hectares of land
Of which 2 acres gifted by Army for services rendered.
And he fights for those who have so little.
I am no orator, as Manmohan Singh is;
But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man,
That love my friend; and that they know full well
That gave me public leave to speak of him:
For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
To stir men's blood: I only speak right on;
I tell you that which you yourselves do know;
I can only retell what Chetan Bhagat asked in a TV show,
Manmohan Singh, ‘Are you a good human being or a good congress man’?
No answer came till date.
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
You all do know this poor Anna Hazares,
Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up
To such a sudden flood of mutiny.
You all love Anna Hazares once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to stand for them?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the venue there with Anna Hazares,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
My heart goes out to Anna Hazare on this movement. It is definately something to sit up and take notice due to the cause itself and also because he managed to bring in hordes of people to join in especially when its the same group which said 'Enough is enough' after a terror attack and then took a long week end break at the time of elections without exercising their basic right to vote.
ReplyDeleteI have taken this movement with a pinch of salt. I am not for a minute questioning the intent, earnestness or the cause of the movement. The chief crusader is someone whom we all have to emulate. But i cant say the same thing about the followers.
I will for sometime, keep the emotional quotient aside and think like a normal rational person. It is a very common attribute of humans to see all the negatives outside but conveniently ignore everything within.
Dont we bribe for getting a college admission, dont we take a recommendation letter for employment, do we pay taxes on property properly when we purchase, do we disclose the full profit on sale of property, do we not pay the police man a bribe when we cross the line or drive without full papers, dont we pay money for getting a water or gas connection, do we get a single act done in the RTO without paying a bribe, is there is a single large corporate in this country which has not used its influence either through money power or through any other sources for getting a contract or some other favor. Tomorrow if your wife or daughter or sister is travelling in a train on a RAC ticket, will you advise them not to bribe the TTR for a confirmed ticket. Corruption starts from every single individual and household.
I have been faced with lot of negative criticism for offering this view. Many feel I am not for the cause. I don’t care. It’s a topic which is invoking high emotions currently and I don’t want to be carried away by the emotions alone. People are using this movement as an vent for their frustration. In targeting a deep rooted menace, we cannot have a one dimensional approach while conveniently ignoring all the other facets to it. Lets first set examples before we expect somebody else to be so. It’s a very convenient argument of people like ‘I do it because I have no choice’, ‘It’s a very small thing and doesn’t impact in a big way’. Wrong notions. The guts to involve in this kind of corruption comes out of the callousness of people to such smaller acts. It takes 2 hands to clap and there can be no debates on that. What is lacking is not only governance in bureaucracy and politicians but also governance within each individual.
Gandhi fought against western clothing after first wearing Khadi clothes himself. The society doesn’t respect people who don’t set examples themselves. This the prime reason for Anna having such a huge fan following. Emulate him and half the problem is addressed.
I like your comment just for one reason. You have felt strongly against corrupt practices. It is not very big thing. but, feeling like that at a young age as you feel it makes it v significant. Hope is not lost in our country when I feel that Annas will be stronger when Thambis like Promods are there to take care.
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