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 & 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 has been 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 county 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 give 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 of that, 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 get 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
Long Live Narendra Modi
Go ahead... We are with you... Not with the killer of thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi. viz. Anna Hazare
