Gandhi, JP, VP. . . Anna is being compared to many stalwarts. But is this gummy old man tilting at windmills or is he a genuine harbinger of change? When Arvind Kejriwal and his partners in 'India Against Corruption' brought Anna Hazare to Delhi as the face of their movement for a Jan Lokpal bill, they little imagined that this gummy old man from tiny Ralegaon Siddhi in Maharashtra would capture...
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Ambedkar's way & Anna Hazare's methods by Sukhadeo Thorat
A group of people, with placards showing Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, staged a demonstration in Delhi a few days ago against Anna Hazare's proposals on the Lokpal and the methods used by his team. More often than not, Dalits look with suspicion on any attempt to tamper with the Constitution. Team Anna has, however, suggested that its Lokpal bill would benefit Dalits more than anyone else. This led me to look...
More »Can the hungry go on a hunger strike? by Arundhati Roy
Our country is poised at a dangerous place right now for many reasons. There are all kinds of battles for supremacy. There are real resistances, there are theatrical and false resistances, revolutions from the top, revolutions from the bottom. And sometimes all of this is interpreted by an increasingly hysterical media which doesn't allow space for reflection, for thought, that will only bombard, control the public imagination. At times like this,...
More »Hazare runs into civil society protest by Radhika Ramaseshan
The National Campaign for People’s Right to Information has rejected Anna Hazare’s Jan Lokpal bill and said it had sent its version of the proposed anti-graft law to the parliamentary standing committee that is examining the Centre’s draft. At a media interaction today, NCPRI members Aruna Roy and Harsh Mander, who are also part of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC), emphasised the importance of the standing committee which, they...
More »RS Sharma's works reflected the larger struggle to keep India secular by Neena Vyas
Anyone who came in contact with Professor R.S. Sharma — students, teachers, ordinary men and women from different walks of life as this reporter did — could not have remained untouched by him. Gentle and with a sparkle in his eyes, he came out as strong, determined and always principled. Moreover, as a historian he was never locked up in the ivory tower of academia and did not shy away from...
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