All movements have episodic highs and lows. This is a given even before a movement starts, as should be obvious to anyone who has made even a cursory study of the Mahatmas’ freedom movement between 1917 and 1947. There should therefore be no reason for 'disillusionment', depression or ‘I told you so’ revelations by some prominent Activists. A movement should not be compared with some 'competition' or sport where there are clear cut results and winners. A movement such as IAC always has winners if one studies it carefully.
This IAC has been the ONLY movement in the world in the past 65 years where Jan Jaagran has occurred without violence or upsetting life in the nation or cities. Almost one year of IAC activities in Delhi, Mumbai and so many cities and towns of India, have gone by without a single incident of violence or 'situation' requiring police intervention. This is a record for India and for the World, a peaceful movement involving citizens across all sections and sectors, with no 'netas' or 'abhinetaas' is unheard of in the whole world. For the FIRST time some citizens have become aware of their 'need for participation' in a vibrant democracy. That such a thing could happen in so short a time – just over one year - with so little resources and so widely across a vast nation should make any citizen feel PROUD. The fact that a national bill could be discussed so widely in public and in the print and electronic media for so long, is something to feel PROUD about ... this is also a FIRST in the whole world in recent times. The fact that some politicians have exposed themselves so fully, in and out of Parliament ... as incompetent and selfish, without upsetting a national government, is something to be PROUD about.
When the above is taken in perspective, all negative feelings and thoughts should be gone. So, citizens need to focus on the REAL GAINS and not on imagined losses. This is an answer to all those who view national movements with a very small lens ... my request is that use a birds eye view and see beyond immediate wins and losses.
The future needs to continue with this non-structured national civil society Group, staying out of electoral politics and concentrating on citizen politics, inviting all concerned to express themselves, reaching out to all classes and Groups in an all-inclusive fashion, to respond politely to repeated queries which have obvious answers, to create local support groups, design training modules to prepare local leaders in colleges and residential zones, to start a newsletter or piggyback on an existing one. The whole set of national level and state level reforms covering: elections, public information, taxation, local governance, local resource rights, judicial and police, need to be put in a wider public domain. The promoters need to be accurate, consistent and persistent.
The public needs to be constantly informed of the 3D poison and the PAT antidote. The citizens need to beware of the Government offered ‘khichadi’ which has only two ingredients (rice and daal) missing out of the probable twenty. The spirit of IAC needs to be repeated ad nausam:
1. Ahimsa in Thought, Word & Deed. While the last two might be easy and are generally practised by an overwhelming majority of Volunteers, it is the Ahimsa of Thought that is to be achieved by all, in order to reach higher Conscience.
2. Satyagrah against existing Systems and Processes of the Government (at all levels) which are based or copies of what the extortionist English left behind and which do not reflect the current and future needs and wants of the Citizens of India. We must not forget that a simple inquiry will demonstrate that none in the current and the past three generations have been asked what 'systems and processes of governance' are desired. No explanation has been offered and no feedback is sought even today, unless under pressure.
3. Avoidance of trap of 3D (which is Deny, Divide & Divert) which has been practiced by all invading powers and adopted by the democratically elected Government at all levels in the nation. The last, that is Divert is like a Bhramaastra, most citizens easily become emotional and get carried away by peripheral issues forgetting the central issue for which an agitation is launched.
4. Persistent and consistent use of PAT (Participation, Accountability & Transparency) in all social transactions, such as meetings, activities and agitations.
Let us not try to look for shortcuts and instead prepare for a decade long struggle. STOP THE PLUNDER OF INDIA.
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