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People And Their Problems
New Delhi, 31 August 2007
A New Gandhian
Satyagraha
COMBATTING
CORRUPTION & CRIMINALITY
By Satyagrahi
Hundred years after Mahatma Gandhi gave the call for Do or
Die, hundreds of Satyagrahis, including leading citizens aged between 70 &
90 years have picked up the Mahatma’s baton to launch a new Satyagraha against
the failure of successive
Governments of India to combat mounting corruption and criminality in public
life. Published below is an open letter dated 9 August 2007 from the Gandhian
Satyagraha Brigade based at New Delhi’s
Lajpat Bhawan to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conveying its deep anguish and
requesting once again immediate action to stem the rot.
Respected Dr. Manmohan Singhji,
We beg to introduce ourselves briefly as a strictly
non-party, non-communal organization of Gandhian persuasion in the service of
the country. Our membership comprises Freedom Fighters, Sarvodaya workers from
Gandhian institutions and concerned citizens, all spread over the country but
none interested in any political office or power. All of us are appalled at the
steep moral decline in our public life.
As you are no doubt aware, corruption accentuates poverty,
increases economic disparity, retards speedy development of the deprived classes, undermines democracy and, worst of all, corrodes
the moral fibre of the entire nation. No surprise that the transparency
International Berlin ranks India
among the twenty most corrupt countries of the world.
Our rampant and burgeoning corruption in government offices,
in bureaucracy and in commerce and industry can not be controlled unless political corruption at the top is rooted out.
For this purpose, our fraternal NGO, the Lok Sevak Sangh of Servants of the
People Society (founded by Lala Lajpat Rai and inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in
1921 at Lahore, now functioning after partition from their headquarters at
Lajpat Bhawan, New Delhi), have been campaigning against political corruption
since more than 10 years with no success.
As Lok Sevak Sangh’s work is confined to Delhi,
they have with the help of a few Gandhian institutions, promoted this Gandhian
Satyagraha Brigade and entrusted all their anti-corruption work to this wider
all India
initiative.
Your kind attention is invited to our predecessor Lok Sevak Sangh’s seven letters to you re: Lok
Pal and allied matters, ending with their letter dated 19th February
2007. We endorse, adopt and own their last letter dated 19th
February 07 titled “The Last Reminder”, copy whereof is enclosed for ready
reference.
In the Lok Sevak Sangh’s letter dated 19 February they had
stated that if there is no positive response within one month to their three
following demands for eradication of political corruption and criminality, they
will resume their Satyagraha –
(i) Appointment
of a three member Lok Pal for which the Nation has waited for 38 years despite
promises made by political parties in their election manifestos, including the
latest promise of UPA in its Common Minimum Programme.
(In this context we may remind you,
Sir, that you had made a firm commitment in your valedictory address at the all India Lok Ayukta Conference at
Dehradun on 29 September, 2004 viz:- “The need for Lok Pal Bill is more urgent
than ever….The UPA Government would lose no time to enact the Bill” (as
reported in the Tribune). About three years have passed
and the Lok Pal remains as elusive as ever.)
(ii) Disqualification
of candidates standing for election to Parliament and State Legislatures who
may have been charged by a law court with criminal offences involving moral
turpitude, six months prior to the election date unless
there is a stay or order in restraint by the High Court. This was also
recommended to the government by the previous Chief Election Commissioner, Shri T S Kirshnamurthy.
(It is often argued that false cases
are filed against political opponents. Six months time is enough to go to the
High Court for quashing any case if it is really false or frivolous. If this
remedy is not available, then let the Party allot ticket to a person not facing
criminal proceedings, who may be asked to step down in favour of the former
when the former has secured an honourable acquittal. Our submission is that only persons with clean hands should
be allowed to enter the legislatures which are the temples of our democracy.
Prevention is better than cure; if this elementary precaution is not taken, a
time may come when the Parliament of India would have a majority of the corrupt
rich and the powerful criminal. This Nation shall not go to pieces if a few
persons charged with serious criminal offences are not allowed to enter
legislatures, much less Ministries,
even if they are found innocent later on).
Forfeiture of illegally acquired
property of public servants including Ministers, MPs & MLAs according to
the foolproof draft bill prepared by the Law Commission
of India and sent to the Law Ministry as far back as February 1999. The Law
Commission’s Draft bill is
reproduced in full on pages 33 to 60 of the Appeal to Parliament which was
submitted to your goodself, your council of Ministers and all MPs on 9 November
2005. (In this context, we invite your kind attention to the legislation for
the forfeiture of illegally acquired property passed
and implemented by your Party’s Chief Minister of J&K, Hon’ble Shri Ghulam
Nabi Azad. Sir, why can’t the Central Government enact similar central
legislation applicable to all States of India?)
6. The
Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade decided to wait for a few months to see if any
indications were forthcoming from the Union Government to accept the
recommendations of the 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission (Moily Commission)
appointed by the Government, which has supported the three aforesaid demands,
with even greater emphasis, as summarized in Appendix-I of the enclosed Lok
Sevak Sangh’s letter of 9 February but, alas, to no avail.
7. Consequently
and most regretfully we beg to inform you that the promised Satyagraha for the
eradication of corruption, criminality and abuse of authority from Indian
politics, to ensure ethical governance shall commence at Delhi from Sunday the 19 August, 2007 i.e.
after full six months from the 19 February letter. The demand of the Gandhian
Satyagraha Brigade now is for the acceptance of the three recommendations made
by your 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission
(IV Report) as summarized in Appendix-I of the enclosed Lok Sevak Sangh’s
letter of 19th February 2007.
8.
We
shall send you shortly details of the above Satyagraha re: venue etc. But we assure you that the Satyagraha at Delhi and elsewhere
in India shall be conducted in the Gandhian way viz --- There shall be no
shouting of slogans, no obstruction of traffic, no hatred or ill will against
the wrong doers and, since we are all law abiding citizens, no violation of any
law or of section 144 shall take place. It shall be a gentlemen’s and ladies’
Satyagraha in the Gandhian way as a moral protest on the part of educated,
patriotic and concerned citizens.
9.
Following
are the strict qualifications for our Satyagrahis, which we have borrowed from
the earlier writings of Mahatma Gandhi, the author of Satyagraha:-
(i)
He
must have a living faith in God or Truth, or that is his only Rock.
(ii)
He
must believe in truth and non-violence as his creed and therefore have faith in
the inherent goodness of human
nature, which he expects to evoke by his truth and love expressed through his suffering.
(iii)
He
must be leading an ethical life and be ready and willing for the sake of his
cause to make any sacrifice required of him.
(iv)
He
must carry out with a willing heart all the rules of disciplines as may be laid
down from time to time.
(v) He
shall never discriminate against any person on the ground of religion, caste,
gender, region, language or any other divisive tendency.
10.
The
number of our Satyagrahis shall go on increasing as our message spreads. We are on the right track as will be
evident from the moral support extended to us for the three aforesaid demands
by about 400 persons. Out of these 400, we enclose a smaller list of about 100
esteemed persons, eminent in their respective field, who have conveyed their
moral support. Some of them have also offered to participate in the Satyagraha.
11.
The
Satyagraha shall continue for some months and, in case there is no positive
response, five of our Satyagrahis (including myself) shall commence their
indefinite fast.
12.
Since
our Satyagraha is addressed to your
goodself, your Council of Ministers and the Parliament, we are endorsing copies
of this letter, complete with enclosures accordingly.
13.
We
are writing this on the historic date of 9 August, when in 1942 the Quit India
Movement was launched under Gandhiji’s leadership. Our Satyagraha would also be
a fitting observance of the Centenary of Gandhiji’s 1906 Satyagraha in South Africa,
which our Government, along with many world leaders, had celebrated recently.
Hoping to be excused for encroaching
on your valuable time with this longish letter and with respectful regards,
Yours sincerely,
For Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade
Shambhu Dutt Sharma
Hony. General Secretary
(a freedom fighter of Gandhi’s 1942
Quit India
Movement, now in his 89th
year)
PS: The
Satyagraha was launched on Sunday 19 August 2007 in front of the main gate of
Gandhiji’s Samadhi at Rajghat and continues to beheld every Sunday by three
Satyagrahi volunteers from 10 am to 7 pm. This is scheduled to be followed by
daily Satyagraha and, if necessary,
by indefinite fast by five Satyagrahis.---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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