Civil Society Split Over Anna's Protest

The Team Anna versus government deadlock seems to be over for now. Anna Hazare has been given the go ahead to fast for 15 days at Ramlila Maidan. But the civil society is split over whether his method of protest falls in the category of blackmail. Apart from Anna's team, no one's come out to support his version of the Lokpal Bill, not even the political Opposition.

Anna Hazare's supporters loudly expressing that they have complete faith in Anna, his methods and the Jan Lokpal Bill. "We want the Jan Lokpal Bill to be passed. That is the only condition and till the government accepts it, we won't agree," said a supporter. But there are equally vocal differences in civil society about Anna Hazare. There are those who feel Hazare's threat of a hunger strike is nothing short of blackmail.

The National Campaign for Peoples Right to Information which has drafted its own version of the Lokpal Bill says that Team Anna's draft is not the only way to fight corruption. "It will take several years of fight and struggle to be able to change the situation. People will have to fight for many years no matter what the law is," said Nikhil Dey.

Others say Anna Hazare's agitation is only undermining Parliament. "This is a democratically elected Parliament and anyone who challenges it, please be wary of them," said Nandita Rao. And still others feel that Anna is simply a front for the Hindu rightwing groups. "We have seen what the RSS has done in this country," said Shabnam Hashmi. Writer and civil activist Arundhati Roy is scathing about the arrest of Anna but says it's naive to think that Lokpal will solve corruption problem. "It is absolutely outrageous what the government has done and mysterious as well. I don't know what is it so insecure about," said Arundhati Roy.

In the poll conducted by a popular channel across 19 states and 20,000 respondents, it was found that only one third of Indians have heard about the Jan Lokpal Bill and only one fourth have any idea what the bill is about. So the Anna Hazare movement could well be one based mainly in the TV viewing educated urban middle class. The numbers on the street may be growing but scepticism is also growing about this so called second freedom movement. "I think this is all absurd language about the second freedom struggle and third freedom struggle" questioned Kumar Ketkar. For some Anna may be Gandhi, but others say, it takes more than just a topi and media attention to become a true Mahatma.

Modi Is Not Our PM: Owaisi

MIM is a recognized state political party based in the Indian state of Telangana, with its head office in the old city of Hyderabad, which has its roots in the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen founded in 1927. Unlike most of the regional and national level parties, MIM party leaders ‘fight’ only for the well-being of Muslims, whereas no other party has such communal feelings. In their each and every speech, MIM leaders speak only about Muslims. If these leaders are here to fight for Muslims, then why there are no development works are happening in old city area for decades. Akbaruddin Owaisi faced criticism for making hate remarks on Narendra Modi and Hindus. Recently, his elder brother Asaduddin Owaisi made some notorious annotations. In a one-on-one debate between BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi on the topic of demonetization in a popular Hindi channel, the former left no stone unturned in exposing the latter’s communal designs. Owaisi claimed how most of the Muslim community still remains unbanked and that demonetization has caused severe inconvenience to Muslims. He even went on to say that ATM’s in Muslim-dominated areas weren’t fed enough money. He indirectly alleged that the Modi government hadn’t done anything for Muslims. Even after being pressurized Owaisi didn’t call Narendra Modi as his Prime Minister. He went on said, “Your Prime Minister…” On the other hand, Sambit spoke wisely and called Owaisi a leader of small stature because he talked only of Muslims. He said that no area was Muslim or Hindu and that all areas belonged to India. Owaisi was constantly quoting an RBI report, to which Sambit challenged him to show where the RBI had used the word ‘Muslim’. Sambit even said that if a Muslim leader speaks of Muslims it’s not an issue, but the moment a VHP leader speaks of Hindus people go crazy accusing them of imposing the Hindutva ideology. The most amazing of his counters was to Owaisi’s claims of Muslims not having been brought into the banking system. Sambit said that when banks or ATMs are to be opened in Muslim areas leaders like Owaisi shout that banking is un-Islamic and that Muslims should refrain from it! This video of debate between Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi is going viral in social media.