गांधीगिरी से अन्नागिरी से दादागिरी , अंग्रेजी में

FROM GANDHIGIRI TO ANNAGIRI TO DADAGIRI ------SAT PAL

A social activist Anna Hazare while highlighting the importance and relevance of his intention to get civil societys’ Jan Lok Pal Bill adopted by the Union Government attracted attention of the entire country including the countryside. Our country witnessed a euphoria which was unprecedented and somewhat indecent though a few persons dared to express this very disturbing fact in public. It displayed a distorted form of Gandhigiri. A vast sea of Gandhi caps and a mammoth crowd gathered at Ramlila Ground and the main squares of the State Capitals and other cities left no stone unturned in creating an undemocratic show, vandalism and hooliganism. This was no less than an anarchy that overpowered the highest democratic institutions. The agitation though named as a Gandhian Satyagrah turned out to be an adamant venture coupled with a feast of all horse’s wishes like demand to bring the moon down to the earth.
It may not be termed as an attempt to malign a saint like personality known as Anna Hazare but after each passing day it became clear that the movement was being hijacked by the so called kshatraps of the civil society who were otherwise sitting quite and even idle for years together. The Annagiri as demonstrated by the youth and other activists allowed herd of people to chant bhajans outside the residences of the Ministers and MPs , gherao their houses, block the major roads, creating traffic bottlenecks, breaking the traffic rules, driving two wheelers without putting helmets, organizing unplanned rallies, disturbing peace loving persons and the worst came when the agitators tried to gherao the PM residence and ventured unauthorized entry into Parliament complex and raised slogans in the highest pitch as to reach the deaf ears of the sky. All this received recognition as ANNAGIRI. The cap adorned by Anna was able to create the waves throughout the world. A few political parties were sympathetic to Anna’s initiative as it was drawing headlines in the newspapers and the periodicals apart from dominant coverage on all electronic channels.
Off late this Annagiri has been taking a new turn and it has started moving to the path of DADAGIRI. The lieutenants of Anna are making a forced entry in to the offices and putting pressure on the government servants to put their signatures on a pledge conceived by the ANNA team which states that the signees will not accept any bribe and not offer any bribe during their lifetime. Mere putting of signatures on the pledge is not going to ensure a clean and corruption free society as a bill, in what so ever form it may be, will not be able to overcome the mighty modus operandi of corruption which has taken deeper inroads into our system. The supporters of Anna entered the office of the Deputy Commissioner, North at Daryaganj to get signatures of the highest district level officer on that very pledge. They not only created a show which has no parallel in the history, but also disrupted the functioning in the office resulting in harassment to people present there in connection with their works. This sort of unusual move resulted in the Deputy Commissioner’s running away from his office in hurry and leaving the entire office in lurch. The similar attempt was made in the office of an SHO and the police personnel were forced to put their signature on that so-called pledge with an aim to put an end to the ill conceived and conspired empire of corruption which has taken abode in our blood as deadly diabetes weakening the very foundation and four walls of our economy which has been struggling hard to maintain its somewhat respectable place during ongoing worldwide slowdown. Anyhow, the recent acts of entering in to the offices and creating disturbances by coercing the employees to bow before the wishes of the so called reformists and obedient followers of the civil society can be termed as violation of certain sections of the Indian Penal Code i.e. Sections 186 and 353 which attracts penal action on creating disturbance in the functioning of the government officers and attempt to adopt violent means. This coercion by the agitators is, no doubt, DADAGIRI which is the next stage of the much talked Annagiri. One may agree or disagree with the comment made by a saffron clad social activist , arya samaji leader and former Education Minister in the state of Haryana in 1977, which brought embarrassment to him when his conversation with a Union Minister was leaked wherein this saffron activist raised a few queries on the ANNA’s agitation . But it looks now that his perception was somewhat justified. The saffron clad activist had stated that the Anna movement is marching as an uncontrolled elephant. The new phase of agitation launched by the supporters of Anna in Delhi, in fact, substantiates the doubts raised by the saffron clad Swami. However, it is not relevant here to state that the saffron activist has publicily sought apology from Anna team over his comment made during the peak of Anna movement.
The time has seen transformation of Gandhigiri to Annagiri and now Dadagiri. It is yet to be seen that what sort of the transformation is in the store. Anyhow, nobody will be able to undermine the role of Swamis, either saffron clad or white dressed, in creating political storms in the country. One Swami has been thrashing the big bosses in the Union Government into legal battles. A tea party hosted by him in 1999 resulted in the downfall of the then NDA government. Another swami as we all know him as a Yoga Guru has also started his second venture which may also redefine any such Dadagiri though his first venture proved to be a damn squib.