Last month, a very important incident took place in history of FREE INDIA. A man named Anna Hazare, united the citizens of India for a cause. People, irrespective of caste and creed, supported him. We saw almost every state doing its bit to show concern for Anna ji and in Delhi more than thousands gathered to give him support for almost 10 days and nights !! Even the heavy rain could not deter their will power. In Mumbai, the famous DabbaWaalas went on 1 – day strike, first time in 120 years, to show their support for Anna ji. Many schools and colleges remain closed for one day for the cause. This storm was not limited to India; people in USA, UK, China, UAE and many other countries heard and felt this and showed their concern.
What surprised me was the fact that how can a man become a puller of such a huge crowd and that’s too a disciplined, non-violent crowd ?? There must be something in HIM !! Hats Off to Anna Hazare ji !!
Many are trying to compare him with Mahatma Gandhi. Well, Gandhi ji fought with Britishers, he spent a lot of time in foreign understanding how english men behave and live (source : his biography – My experiments with truth), he never thought that his own countrymen would be highly corrupt one day. He died before seeing a well established India of todays.
Anna ji has different story. He worked for Army, did not marry in order to sacrifice his life for welfare of society. The best thing he did was changing his village, Ralegan Siddhi, into a model village where water harvesting is done very well in order to face challenging times. Rather than fleeing from his village he stayed there and did the needful for the fellow people. Rest contributions follow this.
What Gandhi ji did was the first step, what Anna ji is doing is the need of Today. I don’t think typical Gandhi ways can survive today – some parts need modification of course, due to change of times. The thing which surprise me most was that our beloved Gandhi ji was killed by our own countryman !!
So, lets not compare these two people – in fact no two persons in the world can be same. But of course, Anna ji is doing what has really become indispensable in todays India.
Look at simple things in life and you will have an idea of how corruption is deeply situated within India - You go to a passport office and pay to middle man in order to get a position in queue. Then comes enquiry part – again you pay to those people. If you are lucky and get it within 1 month for Tatkal (Immediate / emergency) service, be happy but don’t forget to pay your postman who delivered it 
Any sudden day sudden time, traffic police will start stopping people who are not wearing helmets – that’s good but if you are smart enough to offer him money and he is not honest and accepts your offer, your work is done. Next day when you go out you will be surprised – there is no checking at all and everyone is passing without any trouble – same route, same people, same traffic police but changed conditions.
Once you park in a no parking area, your car is towed but others are standing, smiling. Why ?? because your car has a number plate of other state. You paid the tax to RTA, the paper is with you, the number sending is delayed by RTA and you still have the old number – This is your fault. Even if you show all papers, you have to PAY.
You apply for a driving licence – Go, fill the form, wait for the call and keep on waiting…….get the call, go on RTA grounds, pass the test, if the officer is honest – you are lucky and get a clean pass. The other story – if your luck is bad, keep on waiting for your call, give some money to middle man, get a call, clear the test, give some money to officer then only you PASS the test and expect your licence to come to you. Another option – Get a person from some driving school, pay him whatever is he asking – give the test – that’s the only requirement – rest all hustle and bustle is taken care of by the driving school person – he has enough contacts and regularly pays the officers so his students are taken care of.
Appointment of Lecturers in Prestigious colleges and universities need influence of ministers or influential people in academics. Another pathetic situation – A new officer joins indian government post. He tries to be honest on his level, not taking bribes for work done; his seniors start asking him to follow the system. His juniors say – “if you will not take those gifts we will also not get them, why are you doing bad to us”. Even if the new officer fights, he is either transferred or intentionally made a part of scam, so, he chose the other way – slowly becomes part of “that SYSTEM”. There are tremendous examples in everyday life which shows how deeply we are affected by this social evil of corruption.
I don’t say that 100% things take place by the way described by me but of course 90% cases are like that. So, in such scenario what Anna ji is doing is really really indispensable. One most important thing btw – we, the citizens of INDIA, need to be honest ourselves – honesty begins at home.
