Anna Hazare - The Moral Peril in supporting him

Anna Hazare - The Moral Peril in supporting him

For a moment, let's assume that Anna Hazare and his movement against corruption is perfectly reasonable. Let us look at his method of "Fasting unto death" as a tool to achieve his goals.

Should the Government give in to his demands?

I would venture to say that the Government ought not to do so.

Reason: Not merely violating the basic essence of our constitution and parliamentary democracy, but also because it would involve yielding to plain old blackmail.

If we yield to him, soon thereafter, we'll have a whole host of others who can cobble together a nice, large, emotive group of people, going in for a "Fast unto death" demanding all kinds of things - For instance, ... ... ...

• A separate state of Telengana, Gorkhaland, etc.
• Not to give a separate state of Telengana, Gorkhaland, etc.
• "Son-of-soil" should be the basis of appointments, college seats, allotment of flats, etc. in Mumbai
• "Son-of-soil" should NOT be the basis of appointments, college seats, allotment of flats, etc. in Mumbai, and, instead, all Indians should be treated as equal citizens
• 100% Cut-off should not be allowed in SRCC, Delhi.
• If SRCC yields and fixes 98% as the cut-off, the association of students scoring upto 97% will scream discrimination and go on a fast
• Farmers will demand free, uninterrupted power supply, subsidized fertilizers, etc.
• Shareholders of Tata Chemicals, Nagarjuna Fertilizers, etc. will demand market pricing as they are suffering due to subsidies
• CPI (M) will demand a roll-back of petrol-price hikes
• Shareholders of IOC, BPCL, HPCL, etc. will demand market pricing as they are suffering due to subsidies

I shudder to think the kind of chaos that would result if the Governments at the Centre and the States start yielding to such pressure tactics. They must stand up and ask Anna, with due respect, to go in search of the nearest beach or park and take a walk.

We can't afford to tolerate blackmail. When we object to bandhs by political parties, on very much the same grounds, we ought not to support Anna.

Regards,

N

---