Hazare’s views impractical and simplistic
After reading Khabar’s Anna Hazare interview very attentively
in the October issue, I have the following comments:
• By his own admission Hazare says: “people are corrupt
and they sell their votes for mere 100 rupees. People expect rewards
for their votes.” If people themselves are corrupt, how
do you expect their elected representative to be non-corrupt?
Which comes first, a chicken or an egg?
• Hazare says: “in a democracy laws should be drafted by
experts familiar with the subject matter to make it meaningful.”
Hazare does not know but there are committees and subcommittees
which consult with the experts while drafting
any major bill. This happens in all democratic countries and
it takes a year or two to complete the process. Of course politicians
will then modify the final version to suit their needs.
• Hazare says: “Since no party gets majority votes, every
government will have to be an alliance in order to survive. These
alliances tend to be more corrupt.” Hazare should know that political
alliances are called parties. Like-minded people come
together and form parties according to their beliefs and principles.
As the proverb says, “United we stand, divided we fall.”
Another proverb says two minds are better than one.
• Hazare says: “A day will come when political parties
will perish and that day we’ll see the birth of a true democracy.”
Hazare’s dream will never become a reality, because if
there are no parties, then it becomes an authoritarian rule or
a dictatorship. Both the U.S.A. and Great Britain have political
parties and their democracies have not only survived but
thrived for centuries, because the party system keeps checks
and balances of each other’s parties.
• Hazare says: “corruption is increasing because of the party
system in the country.” Does he know that money and power
go hand-in-hand? So where there is money (rich people),
there will be a power struggle. Power struggle is often fought
with corruption, because voters themselves are corrupt.
• Hazare says: “A Prime Minister selected by a party will
never belong to the people.” Well, according to Indian democracy,
people elect their representatives (MPs), and they in turn
elect their leader who becomes Prime Minster. This system
has worked perfectly in Great Britain for many centuries.
Even in America, though people vote directly for President,
he is nominated by his party.
• There was corruption even in the ages of the Ramayana
and Mahabharata; their stories are full of power struggles
and corruption but we often overlook these.
• Hazare says that whenever he fasts, the government
agrees to include his representatives in the drafting committee
and breaks his fast. However, in the final bill the laws are
quite different. This has happened many times, because they
were non-election years. Now that the new election is on the
horizon, he is confident that his demands will be included
in the bill.
Hazare is forgetting the mindset of politicians. They
give false hopes and phony promises in order to get elected.
Ironically, people have short memories, too. They will re-elect
the same guy again and again based on his false promises. It
happens in all the countries.
Hazare is also enjoying his celebrity status and media
attention while it lasts, because that is the way Indian people
are. They love idol/hero worship—that is why we have so
many gods and so many movie stars.
So don’t expect a miracle from Hazare. A single man
like Hazare cannot change the world and cannot wipe out
corruption. How is he going to educate all of India’s uneducated
masses about the value of non-corruption when it is
ingrained in our veins? It will be a tall order, which cannot be
filled by any man, not even by Gandhiji or Jesus Christ!
Rajesh Gandhi
Decatur, Georgia
Why not include helpful information?
The article “Hell in Your Own Home” (September coverstory) did a great job of highlighting the real issue of abuse
and violence that exists in Asian homes in the U.S. But I was
disappointed that Khabar did not take the opportunity to list
organizations, contact names, and phone numbers that victims
could use to reach out for help. Since the article mentioned
that these victims may not have access to phones or
the internet, you must, therefore, realize that your magazine
may be the only source of information to which these victims
may have access.
Instead of a poem, the contact information of organizations
that can help these victims would have been much
more appropriate.
by email
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