Oh Dear! Annaji
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Hazare’s support for Narendra Modi elicits anger and disappointment
‘Your endorsement is appalling’
A pril
11, 2011: We are deeply shocked by your endorsement of Narendra Modi’s
rural development. There has been little or no rural development in this
state. In fact, gauchar (graziers’) lands and irrigated farmlands
have been stealthily taken by the government and sold off at ridiculous
prices to a small club of industrialists. There has been no Lokayukta
(ombudsman) in Gujarat for nearly seven years so hundreds of complaints
against corruption are lying unheard. From the Sujalam Sufalam scam of
1,700 crores to the NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme)
boribund (check-dam) scam of 109 crores to the fisheries scam of
600 crores, every department is involved in thousands of crores of
scams. The poor and rural people are being sold to Modi’s friends, the
industrialists. The state is in terrible debt because of his largesse to
industry while 21 lakh farmers wait for compensation.
Your endorsement is appalling and we will be forced
to distance ourselves from the Lokpal movement unless it is irrevocably
retracted.
Mallika Sarabhai
Dancer, choreographer and activist, Gujarat
‘Your praise is misplaced’
A pril
12, 2011: We received your reply in the form of your ‘press release’ to
the media in which you have once again reiterated that “I praised only
the developmental work done by Shri Narendra Modi and Shri Nitish Kumar
in rural areas”. That is what we are questioning – the “rural
development model” of Mr Narendra Modi based on the ground realities in
Gujarat.
Our letter dated April 11 highlighted the ground
reality of the downtrodden masses of Gujarat, from farmers to fishing
communities, tribals and salt pan workers. Please read it carefully.
Most of us in Gujarat working for the working class, women, farmers,
Dalits, tribals, landless labourers and the downtrodden, who wrote to
you on April 11, have focused on the development that Modi claims has
happened but is a contrast in reality.
Your endorsement of Modi’s development led to Modi
writing an open letter to you, minding you of a “vilification campaign”.
We hope you realise the implications of endorsement now.
For a chief minister who turned his back on scores of
farmers who demand their right to farming (the Mahuva agitation), on
tribals who seek forest land, turning a blind eye to pollution in towns
and villages (Ankleshwar, Vapi, Nandesari, Vatwa, Saurashtra and Kutch)
and fishing communities being deprived of their livelihood in Kutch –
the instances are numerous – will you call it development Annaji?
Your vague clarification is only related to communal
harmony and politics – which is not what we in Gujarat raised to you in
our letter while pointing out that your praise of Modi’s development
model is misplaced.
You could either visit the state to have a first-hand
look or could reach out to those affected and working in the state. We
hope that you will rely on the facts and not the false propaganda of the
government.
Even your mention of communalism is very vague and
you have not said anything about the role of Mr Modi’s government in
2002 and the continuation of the worsening of the plight of most
affected people, particularly poor Muslim women and men.
We need to look at the situation holistically and not
in isolation, as the rise of fascist communal forces in Gujarat who use
“development claims” to mask all their shortcomings. The rise of fascist
communalist forces in Gujarat is closely linked with the neo-liberal
globalised development model.
We hope for a suitable and prompt clarification on
your comments now.
Rohit Prajapati and Trupti Shah
Social activists, Gujarat
Some clarification!
An explanatory press statement by Anna Hazare
April 10, 2011: I am issuing this statement to
clarify one of my statements which has been misinterpreted.
On a question asked in my press conference
today, I praised only the developmental work done by Shri Narendra
Modi and Shri Nitish Kumar in rural areas. Alongside, I clarified
that I am equally opposed to any form of communal disharmony. I am
completely opposed to any kind of communalism or discrimination on
religious or caste lines. I strongly condemn and oppose any kind
of communal violence. People from all faiths and religions are
founders, supporters and participants in this movement. This
includes the archbishop of Delhi, Mufti Shamoon Qasmi and others.
I strongly believe in Gandhian values and principles of communal
harmony.
I also wish to clarify that we are not attached
to any political party. The movement is completely non-partisan
and will remain so.
I sincerely urge the press to understand my
intentions, which is to save this country from corruption by
taki©ng people of all faiths and religions along.
KB Hazare
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A mercenary understanding of corruption
A pril
12, 2011: We, academics, activists, artists and intellectuals, strongly
condemn the recently reported statement made by Anna Hazareji in which
he has brazenly endorsed Narendra Modi, a politician who not only
symbolises the politics of division but unconstitutional governance. For
the veteran anti-corruption social activist, Hazare, to endorse a
politician against whom a Supreme Court-led investigation into
conspiracy to commit mass murder and rape, subversion of evidence and
pressure and intimidation of key witnesses is still underway reveals a
narrow and mercenary understanding of the meaning of corruption. Worse,
given the support base of the recent high-profile and highly televised
event-agitation, that included open support from Ram Madhav and the RSS
as also Baba Ramdev, Hazare’s move could be construed as a bid to
actually influence this Supreme Court-driven criminal investigation.
Modi stands accused and has not yet been cleared of
serious charges of actively masterminding mass murder, loot and rape of
2,500 of Gujarat’s innocent citizens, consciously perverting his
position and power as chief minister in 2002. This and other
investigations have been rigorously pursued by victim survivors of these
gruesome massacres and Hazare’s statement, more than anything else, rubs
salt into deep wounds. Not once in the nine years since the
state-sponsored carnage has Modi, who has written a tear-filled
communication to Hazare, wiped tears from the heavy hearts of Muslim
victim survivors in Gujarat. Nor has Modi even apologised for failing to
perform his constitutional duty.
On the issue of corruption and good governance too,
Modi may yet fail the exemplary test. Allegations of serious corruption
in state government schemes have been steadily documented and printed
within Gujarat but have rarely made it to the headlines of national
television. There has been little or no rural development in this state.
In fact, gauchar lands and irrigated farmlands have been
stealthily taken by the government and sold off at ridiculous prices to
a small club of industrialists. The ridiculously low interest loan given
at the expense of five crore Gujarati taxpayers to Tata’s Nano project
suggests a corrupt loan write-off of public finances.
The irony of Modi being hailed by the leader of the
national Lokpal movement is cruel, since there has been no Lokayukta in
Gujarat for nearly seven years! Hundreds of complaints against
corruption are lying unheard in that state as the common Gujarati reels
under his mercenary dictatorship. From the Sujalam Sufalam scam
of 1,700 crores to the NREGS boribund scam of 109 crores to the
fisheries scam of 600 crores, every department has been accused of being
involved in thousands of crores worth of scams.
The poor and rural people of Gujarat are being sold
to Modi’s small coterie of friends, the industrialists. The state is in
terrible debt because of his largesse to industry while 21 lakh farmers
wait for compensation for the land seized from them. How then can
Hazareji call Modi non-corrupt or hail his model of development?
Little or no funds have been released by the
government of Gujarat to the Minorities Finance and Development
Corporation, even less to the Gujarat State Wakf Board. No figures are
provided by the state government for funds allotted to the religious
minorities.
The corrosion and corruption in our system is not
merely monetary but the subversion of the Indian Constitution and
constitutional governance due in large measure to the unbridled and
unchecked growth of state and non-state actors who are sworn to partisan
politics, ideology and governance. While there was more than some
discomfiture felt by many of us when we saw this worthy anti-corruption
movement being supported by RSS cadres and by Baba Ramdev, who is guilty
of amassing crores of rupees and property himself, this discomfiture
increased as accusations of busloads of supporters arriving at Jantar
Mantar from Gujarat came in and finally dues were extracted by the ruler
of that state, Narendra Modi, in the form of praise from Anna Hazareji.
Teesta Setalvad, Rajendra Prasad, Jawed Naqvi, John
Dayal, Henri Tiphagne, Kamal Faruqui, MK Raina, Dr Vasanthi Devi, Dr
Bindu Desai, Balaji Narasimhan, Suresh Bhatt, Dr Dinesh Mohan and others
Unfortunate and unacceptable
A pril
12, 2011: It was shocking to find that Anna Hazareji, after receiving
support by all of us, with millions, publicly appreciated the rule as
well as rural development work by the chief minister of Gujarat, Mr
Narendra Modi. The entire world knows the role played by him and his
administration in Gujarat’s communal riots. His government has only
indicated callousness and contempt for the farmers and other natural
resource-based communities in Gujarat, including those fighting against
displacement from their land and livelihood or for rehabilitation.
On the issue of corruption, Modi’s response to the
initiative to bring in a strong enactment or to wipe out corruption is,
to say the least, only politically motivated. If he was committed to an
institution like the Jan Lokpal, how could the Lokpal’s post be vacant
in Gujarat since 2005? His government has suppressed massive corruption
in land purchases and submitted exaggerated data on benefits to the
drought areas of Kutch and Saurashtra and the rural population.
In Narmada, we have seen how the Adivasis in Gujarat,
screaming against the legal violations and deprivation in rehabilitation
work, do not receive any response and the Modi government is ready to
submerge the best of agricultural land and generations-old villages and
townships in the dam reservoir in three states.
As a shrewd politician, Mr Modi knows how to divide
the secular forces and seek advantages for himself and his party. We
shouldn’t however fall prey to this. Anna too must hear and pay heed to
the serious grievances and charges coming from activists and people in
Gujarat against Mr Modi and his government. Gujarat is growing only for
and with the industrialists at the cost of those contributing their land
or human labour and now the local communities in Gujarat have also stood
up to challenge the injustices.
All of this clearly indicates a betrayal of rural,
needy populations for his corporate vision. We surely join many of
Gujarat’s progressive activists, who know the ground reality and the
atrocities against the Dalits, Adivasis, minorities and other
downtrodden populations, to tell Anna that he should stay away from
supporting politicians until and unless they prove their mettle and
commitment to people’s causes. We agree with the letters written by
activists Rohit Prajapati and Trupti Shah to Anna, seeking an
explanation. The common people of India have supported the battle
against corruption with faith in our campaign and credibility as
people’s movements based on the core values of equity, justice,
democracy, secularism and plurality. This should not be compromised at
any cost.
National Alliance of People’s Movements:
Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy, Kavita Srivastava, Maj Gen (retd) Sudhir
Vombatkere, Vimalbhai, Sandeep Pandey, Anand Mazgaonkar, Madhuresh
Kumar, Thomas Kocherry, Kamayani, Sister Celia, Simpreet Singh, Rajendra
Ravi, Arundhati Dhuru, D. Gabriele, Suniti SR, Uma Shankari, Faisal
Khan, Ashish Ranjan, Saraswati Kavula
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