To understand Anna Hazare, one should go in the time when he transformed his place “Ralegansidhi”. How he could improve those people, I wanted to know. My search gave me this:

When he returned from his army posting on retirement, he saw that all people of his place were in a very bad shape. Most of the men were drunkards and indulged in other vices such as gambling. They were under heavy pressure of loans; farming was not in good shape because not enough water was available for that. That had made all the people of that place very pessimistic and due to that, they were indulging in those bad habits just to forget their predicament. After careful study of the over all situation he realized that nothing can help his people unless water problem is resolved. He noticed politicians and bureaucrats were least bothered for the situation and excepting false promises, people were getting nothing from them. Finally, Anna took the task of rebuilding his village using some novel ideas. Women of his village had complete faith in his ability since he was the only person who was not drinking or gambling. They promised him their full support. They requested him to help the village. To do his bidding, on approaching again political leaders of that time, he came to know that nobody was interested in helping to solve the problems. He got stereotype replies and false promises from them whenever he would call on them. At that, Anna sat in the temple of his Guru, Yadavbaba, requesting him to give some direction so that he may be able to do something to resolve the problems of the village. I came to know on further inquiry that Anna got some unusual experience and in that, he received hints about how to solve the problems of his village. Anna followed them and he was successful in the task.

When I inquired about the Yadavbaba, I found that nobody knows exact time and period when this Holy Spirit existed as a man. However, some historical findings suggested that during Satavahan period many groups of people were coming into then called, Dandakaranya, today, Maharashtra, to settle. One such group of Yadav clan had come under stewardship of this Yadavbaba who was a saintly person. Today that community of Yadav has become integral part of that region. After death of Yadavbaba his followers built a small temple to honor him and today that temple is the place where our Anna stays. Belief says that he is now, what they call, Brahmandev (ancestor spirit or puran Purush) of that village.

Anna continuously gets hints from his Guru and in that remains the story of Ralegansidhi. All that Anna does is by the inspiration from this Holy Spirit of Yadavbaba. Presently Anna tells people that he got inspiration from readings of Vivekananda and Gandhi but those who know him doubt that claim surreptitiously. One fellow asked me; when did Anna read Vivekananda? Since all writings of that philosopher are in English and that Anna does not read English he should get a translation, what translation he read, nobody knows. Same is the case with his claims that he read Gandhi. Anna tells all these gimmicks to remain in mainstream thinking. If he tells that, he follows intuition from his Guru that may not go well with other people that worries him, mostly because nobody knows Yadavbaba outside Ralegansidhi.

We need not bother for that, as we know by now that, Anna is an honest and reliable person to carry on the task. Moreover, in that, if a Holy Spirit is guiding him, all the more better for all of us. It is always better than having some incompetent mortal to do that. At present, I am studying Anna’s dispositions and in that, I feel there are two distinct behavioral patterns in them. Some behavior is of person Anna and other is under influence of Yadavbaba. I also feel that Anna’s success in doing what he did is due to Yadavbaba. This I say because, the type of success he received against governments is probably not justified. Particularly when we know that, the amount of support he had against governments was too fragile to force governments to submit and remove their ministers. The only explanation, if we accept; that there was some other force involved. Probably I may write more on this after some more research.

What was the intuition that helped Anna in resolving various problems of Ralegansidhi? Prime problem was of villagers having bad habits of drinking and gambling. Most of them were completely out of control. They were addicted to those habits so much so that it was practically impossible to improve them, their number was large, situation similar to ‘corruption addicted’ politicians and bureaucrats of today. Anna took a whip and began to flog them. Everybody was panicked but the women, they knew that no other means can work but lashing these addicts. They began to run away and for that, Anna tied them to a pole and began to whip. Gradually they agreed that they will stop drinking and the work of development began on that note. Miscreants who were selling booze and operating gambling dens ran away. Today I heard that all those people Anna whipped are his ardent followers and respect him as their savior. That Whip neither was for any bad cause nor was it to hurt them but instead it was for their good, everybody including those whom he hit was well aware of this and that makes Anna a truly good benefactor for them. It was punishment mother gives to her child out of pure love and well wishing. One should not compare that whip with whip of a tyrant.

I came to know why many politicians are afraid of Anna. The reason is that if Anna becomes Lokpal, he may take to his intuition and hold again that whip to improve our spoiled politicians and bureaucrats, indulging in corruption by addiction. Many politicians and bureaucrat say, penalty such as fine and imprisonment are good, one can “manage” with them but straight flogging is very difficult to manage. They are afraid of his whip, the fourteenth jewel, according to our Hindu tradition. Hindu tradition permits the administrator to use this jewel to improve the spoiled citizens.

Few other things I want to say before I conclude on Anna. Recent debate in Parliament showed that, as yet, feelings that the movement of Anna is an attempt of NGOs to supersede GO (or political parties). When we see the working of our political parties we see that most have their supporting NGOs, then why this ruckus. However, So long as this misunderstanding continues amongst our parliamentarians, resistance shall continue and for that, Anna should make an effort to remove that from their minds, at present that is not happening.

I feel Anna should be very specific about the selection process for getting Lokpal. Government suggests that his selection will be by a committee of PM, Opposition leader and a supreme court Judge whereas Anna team says that government involvement should not be in the process. What does it mean? He never cares to clear. I feel since the movement is by the people for the appointment of Lokpal; people must elect him/her. The contestant for that seat shall be a neutral person having very good rapport with people and no political past. I suggest people of the country should stage one more movement to insist for that. If government becomes successful in getting their way, I am sure political parties will get their stooge as Lokpal and that shall settle the matter permanently of controlling corruption. Our joker, Lallu prasad, has already said that MMS be appointed as Lokpal that shows how these black money lobbyists have planned to jeopardize the very purpose of Lokpal. Appointment of this important post is very crucial for the purpose, otherwise even if we get a very good bill passed, if the Lokpal is a politically involved fellow. it is all over. For appointment of other staff, they may come from CBI, Police, RAW, and some appointments from honest political party men and NGO workers and also by interview as regularly done while appointing personnel.

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Ashok Kothare’s Blog 

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