 By Anna Hazare · Wednesday Ralegan Siddhi,12th October 2011. My dear sisters and brothers, Namaskar! I will be issuing an appeal to the people not to cast their vote for the forthcoming legislative assembly elections to be held in five states along with Uttar Pradesh if the government does not pass the Janlokpal Bill in the Parliaments Winter session. When I made this announcement on Gandhi Jayanti people from every corner of the world have been trying to get in touch with me and my associates to know what exactly my stand on the matter is. I want to clear a few things. 64 years have passed since our country achieved freedom. Majority of times Congress has been in power. After attaining ‘independence’ our country should have transformed in to ‘Surajya’(welfare state in true sense) In real sense there should have been development instead of exploitation of nature and human beings. Nothing of that sort happened. Development today is an illusion created by the government and at the same time people are being cheated in to believing that development in real sense is being carried out (here the party in power does not matter). Corruption has crossed its all limits. Even a meager 10 paise of the one rupee spent for development does not reach the common man. The money disappears before it percolates to the society. It is becoming unbearable for the common man to survive in such conditions. Hence it was necessary that the parliament and the law-making body pass strict anti-corruption laws to curb corruption. Unfortunately the ruling Congress party did not take any initiative. The present laws are not implemented effectively or they do not wish to do so. This became clear when Janlokpal Bill was not passed earlier. That is the reason I resorted to protest and later fasting and now I am forced to take a stand on elections. The demand to pass Janlokpal Bill which is one of the effective tool to fight corruption is being voiced in Parliament for the last 42 years. No political party has ever shown their (true) support and neither they are interested in creating a corruption free India. The ruling Congress party is more so ever responsible for this state of affairs. As the corruption level rises our country is left with a staggering amount of debt, inflation is on rise, unemployment and economic disparity has intensified thus bringing about a halt to development. The common man is the one who is suffering. If the Congress is unwilling to take strong steps to change the situation, unwilling to pass anti-corruption laws then people should not cast their votes for the Congress party and thereby should not send Congress representatives to the legislative assembly or Parliament. I will surely wait and watch if the Janlokpal Bill is being passed in this winter session. Till then I will maintain my silence. I will give government that is the Congress an opportunity to take action or else will tour all over India raising a storm in its wake. I want to state clearly that my stand is not influenced by political motive. I am not biased when it comes to extending support to any political party; either in power or in opposition. When I am opposing Congress it doesn’t mean that I am supporting BJP or some other party. They too have not come clean yet. The voters before casting their vote should keep in mind the candidate’s character, his contribution towards the society. People should vote such candidates who always think of the society at large, think of well-being of the country. Only such people are capable of being elected to maintain the purity of our democracy. They could belong to the ruling party or to the opposition. In this lay the bright future of our country. It is of utmost importance that people remain aware. The ruling party and the opposition fight among themselves rake up issues and create controversies but this is done so as to mislead the common man. When a favorable opportunity for corruption arises they join hands. 26th January 1950, India became a sovereign republic. Subjects became masters and we elected representatives to legislature, parliament, as per the democratic norms. The elected representatives were the servants appointed by the people to take care of the day to day affairs of the state. Instead the servants started behaving as our masters. On 26th January the master went in to a state of slumber and the servant resorted to theft. This plundering won’t stop until and unless the master awakens. An awakening of sort has been created with the fight for Janlokpal Bill. Now is not the time to doze off. We have to stay awake for this is not the responsibility of a single person but the onus is on the nation as a whole. Jai Hind! Inquilab Zindabad! Vande Mataram! Bharat Mata ki Jai! K. B. Hazare (Anna) |
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