Author: Shirish M. Dave
Publication: Vivekajyoti.blogspot.com
Date: May 29, 2011
URL: http://vivekajyoti.blogspot.com/2011/05/go-ahead-narendra-modi-we-are-with-you.html
This language and conduct is not a befitting
one for a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
An Open Letter To Sir Anna Hazare
Respected Anna Hazare Saheb,
The tone of your language is not in line with
the Gandhian philosophy, but it resembles the language Indira Gandhi used
to speak.
The conduct and language of a follower of
Mahatma Gandhi
At this juncture, it is worthwhile to mention
an incident happened in pre-independence ear and widely cited by Mahavir Tyagi.
When Mahavir Tyagi was in jail, he was involved in a dispute with the jailer
for some illegal treatment given to him by the later. He warned of fast as
an act of protest and perhaps also went on the fast. The matter was brought
to the notice of Mahatma Gandhi immediately. Gandhiji criticized the attitude
of Mahavir Tyagi in the periodical Harijanbandhu. Mahavir Tyagi could not
accept this and he wrote a strongly-worded letter to Mahatma Gandhi rebuking
him for his comment. He told Gandhiji that, "I am in jail and you haven't
yet heard me. I feel that what I have experienced in jail is an illegal act.
I made representation in this regard to the jail authorities, but it was gone
unheard. So I was left with no option other than fast and I explored the option.
May be I am wrong, but you are a staunch propagator of truth and justice.
But you have not even heard me. You have not even asked me what is the matter
and what I am trying to explain. Without going into the details, you directly
opted for criticizing me. Does such behavior stick to your principles? Have
you abandoned the principles by which we used to get impressed? Do we need
to understand you this way only?
Mahatma Gandhi asked for pardon
And Anna Saheb, Mahatma Gandhi (the name
of which we are proud even today) wrote an editorial in the Harijanbandhu
seeking pardon from Mahavir Tyagi and also observed a fast for one day for
purification of mind. If intended, Mahatma Gandhi could have found out ways
& means for rebutting what Mahavir Tyagi had said through a brainstorming
exercise to issue some frivolous statement by making clever use of language
and proved his initial criticism right. The newspapers might have supported
Gandhiji without considering the substance or facts. But Anna Saheb, he was
our great man - a man of principles and Mahatma in true sense. And he was
not a creation of media
You and Mahatma Gandhi; is it an apt comparison?
Narendra Modi wrote a letter to you as you
praised him. Our CM Narendra Modi is a thorough gentleman and as an act of
expressing gratitude, he wrote the letter. Our CM Narendra Modi interacts
with even an ordinary person, so obviously he would write to you. But did
you take trouble to meet him? In fact, you must come forward to talk with
him very openly and discuss a wide range of issues. Gandhian philosophy cannot
be followed in toto if there is no open discussion. We Gujarati people believed
that your utterance spoken out yesterday might have been the result of an
unfortunate oversight on your part. We thought that unlike some ordinary and
common people, who have lust to dominate the headlines in the newspapers by
using phrases like "Maut Ka Saudagar", you will make some meaningful
and responsible statements. But contrary to that belief, you crossed all the
limits today.
Nobody has right to do illegal act
We hope that you will introspect on the approach
you have adopted. You might have a soft corner for poor and feeling of hatred
for the rich. May it be poor or rich, nobody has a right to do anything illegal.
Whatever was done during the execution of the riverfront project, was done
completely follwoing the provisions of law. People, who have made their huts
on government land by illegally occupying the land, were provided with alternative
land by the government for the purpose of rehabilitation. But now, when they
have sold off those pieces of land and again started living in huts elsewhere,
you please decide how many flats should be allocated to them by the government.
We are quite sure that you would not be able to decide this. Such a mindset
of the people living in the huts is the result of 60-year long one-party rule
of the Nehruvian Congress.
Don't boast of "We have this and we have that"
Annaji please don't boast of what you have
in Mumbai & Maharashtra. Have you ever counted the money spent in the
walkways constructed so far and the ones which have been left incomplete?
I request you to count and am sure you will feel ashamed. Are you a follower
of Gandhian philosophy? If yes, then you must know that Satyagrah is done
against the unfair laws. Satyagrah is done to get the unfair laws repealed.
Have you ever made a list of such unfair laws? Have you ever checked that
how many of such unfair laws have been enacted by the central government &
the Nehruvian Congress or how many of them have been continued by both of
them? How many of them have been enacted by the Modi government in Gujarat?
Have you ever made this comparison? Have you ever discussed this with Modi?
Have you ever given Modi your suggestions? Have you ever made these suggestions
public? We never know you have done any of these things. You have also not
discussed these things with the newspapers, who always take note of each &
every minute detail pertaining to you. This kind of fact led us to believe
that you don't have any real intention to bring change on this front. Instead,
you just talk of direct protest. In such a situation, we have to say heavy-heartedly
that the path you are following is the one chosen by Indira Gandhi, who got
suspended the Kerala Government having thin majority by the way of protest
through manipulating the power of his father at centre and then fight the
election in coalition with the Muslim League - a communal party.
People of Gujarat is more experienced than
you when it comes to overthrow the government
Anna Saheb, you are out to topple a government,
which is the most popular and enjoys a huge majority. But people from Gujarat
are more experienced than you in this task. People of Gujarat had even overthrown
the government of Shri Chimanbhai Patel, who used to topple the governments
of CMs imposed by Indira Gandhi. Not only that, they can even topple the government
of Nehruvian Congress having strength of 140 in the legislative assembly.
You have never done even tenth part of this. The most critical deficit you
have is that your goals are unclear & elusive, the path chosen by you
is wrong, the people around you, whom you consider as your associates, are
not trustworthy. When the objective, the ways & means chosen to achieve
it and the associates are wide of the mark, question of getting success doesn't
arise and it ultimately leads to disrepute.
Go for 'Jail Bharo' in Kashmir
You are talking of Jail Bharo agitation.
If you really want to do this, then why don't you choose Kashmir? Thousands
of people are displaced in Kashmir and that too for more than two decades.
Don't you take them as human-beings? Why do you prefer keeping mum on that
issue? If you have guts to fight following the path shown by Gandhi, why don't
you go to Kashmir? Instead of facing the difficult & unsafe situation
in that state, why are you resolving to give fight in a state like Gujarat
where you are not facing any threat against your security? This is not prefect
option a Gandhian activist is supposed to prefer.
Are you in Gujarat just to sing a limerick?
You point out so-called ineffective enforcement
of prohibition in Gujarat saying that in Gujarat, sales of alcohol is higher
than milk. Have you come here just to sing a limerick? Or are you under influence
of the Marathi Daru? In poetics, exaggeration is considered as an embellishment.
Have you completely lost your sense for considering extent of something? In
Gujarat, hooch tragedy takes place once in a while, once in a year. In other
states, particularly in Maharashtra & Mumbai, it is almost a daily affair.
Have you ever got a survey done on the housemaids working in Mumbai? My dear
Anna Saheb, even a conservative estimate suggests that the husbands of 90%
of the housemaids spoil the life of their family by consuming hooch procured
through the earnings of the maids. First you set your house in order and it
is better if you practice what you preach here in Gujarat. You should not
speak anything which can reduce your reliability as a respectful leader.
Satyagrah should not be the option where there is a scope for judicial procedure
Nonviolence and Styagrah are sacred things.
Wherever judicial procedure is possible for any kind of solution, adoption
of Satyagrah is not the right way as per the Gandhian philosophy. If you want
to project yourself as an ardent follower of this philosophy, you should first
understand Gandhiji. Just covering your head with a white cap and wearing
Khadi clothing don't make you a Gandhian leader. Your understanding and conduct
should also be in line with the Gandhian principles. It is different thing
that you also have inclination towards agitations just like the Gujarati leaders
of the Indirised Congress. But you must know that these foolish leaders have
no principles to follow. People already know this fact. As they are deprived
of power for a long time, they have no work to do and just indulge in PR activity
thanks to blessings from the central government. But why are you trying to
develop such nuisance-value for yourself?
Your foolishness has gone to an extent that
you cannot even understand a simple logic. To capitalize on the reputation
earned by you yourself and also thanks to the coverage in the media, your
associates act in a way that becomes harmful to your image. Should we believe
that you don't know the Sanskrit couplet - "Shwa Yadi Kriyate Raja Api
Natti Upanahan" (If a dog is made a king, its vulnerability to shoe beating
remains intact.)
Tongue is not a bone so it can indulge in
any kind of outburst
I am also as old as you. I also believe and
trust in the Gandhian principles. But still I am only a common man and that
is why I can go to this extent. In case, if I would have become a great man
like you, I would have not dare to speak in an uncontrolled way just like
you are doing. And also, I would have regretted that. I cannot think like
you that tongue is not a bone so it can express any kind of outburst.
- Shirish M. Dave
- Smdave1940@yahoo.com
- Treenetram.wordpress.com
- Shirish-dave.sulekha.com