Fully support Hazare’s anti-graft movement: Dalai

New Delhi: Asking Indians to pay “more attention” to eradicating corruption, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama today said he “fully” supported Anna Hazare‘s movement but refused to go into the merits of his methods.

Calling Tibetans ‘chelas’ (followers) of ‘Guru’ (master) India, he said issues like corruption make the ‘chela’ feel ashamed.

The Dalai Lama said people in India have an impression that corruption has become part of life and he came to this conclusion after interacting with students and businessmen in this regard.

He said "narrow-minded" thinking will never help in resolving any problem. Reuters
“Many people have little reservation about his (Anna‘s) method. But the motivation is very important. People have started thinking that corruption has become part of life. The movement really reminds the nation and politicians that corruption is totally wrong,” he said.

“I fully support the movement, but the method I don’t know,” he said after receiving the ‘Dayawati Modi Award for Art, Culture and Education’ here.

He said corruption takes place in countries like China where there are no “moral ethics”, but in a nation like India the menace should not have any place.

“India is a great country. But some actions like corruption make chelas (Tibetan) feel a little ashamed. Please pay more attention,” he said and asked people to also contribute in eradicating the menace.

To a question that Tibetan youths in India do not have the same love towards their motherland like their counterparts in Tibet, the Dalai Lama said the quest for freedom will be alive in people who see the “difficulties” and face “discrimination” everyday.

In an apparent reference to China, he said “narrow-minded” thinking will never help in resolving any problem.

Hazare’s campaign a lesson for Sharmila supporters

Imphal: Supporters of Manipur’s ‘Iron Lady’ Irom Sharmila, who has been on hunger strike for the last 11 years demanding withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from the state, are inspired by how Anna Hazare steered his anti-corruption campaign to success by fasting for only 12 days.

“It has been an inspiration for us. We have realised that if our movement is more organised and we manage to garner a pan-India support, the government would be bound to listen to us,”  said Sharmila’s long-time associate Babloo Loitongbam.

However, Loitongbam admitted that theirs is a much more difficult fight than Hazare’s.

Sharmila’s elder brother Irom Singhajit, who has now turned into a human rights activist, also admitted that their struggle against the ‘draconian’ AFSPA has got new motivation from Hazare’s crusade against corruption.

“His movement shows that Parliament also listens to the voice of people. So this is the right time to strengthen ourselves and make our voices heard,” he said.

Irom Sharmila supporters are hoping the media and the government will pay more attention to their cause, thanks to Anna's campaign.

 Reuters Singhajit said they have realised is that there must be a political platform to voice concern about the AFSPA. However, he clarified, “That doesn’t mean we will support any particular political party.”

Babloo, who leads Manipur’s Human Rights Alert and the Just Peace Foundation, said they are looking to broaden their support base.

“We need to solicit support from all progressive forces and civil society groups all over the country. And then, we need to form a lobby within the government. Using all of them we have to communicate that removing the AFSPA will help the growth of India’s democracy,” the activist said.

Now, the biggest challenge before them is to run an aggressive and unrelenting anti-AFSPA campaign in the national capital just the way Hazare did, Babloo said.

“We are sitting here in Manipur, which is far from Delhi. That is why we are ignored. For us, having a sustained campaigning in Delhi is difficult but very important. We are trying to do that through our supporters there in Delhi,” he said.

While fasting in Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan for 12 days, Hazare had made the entire nation come to a standstill following which Parliament decided to consider a strong Lokpal bill.

Sharmila, on the other hand, is fighting a lone battle in an isolated ward of the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital in Imphal city. She has been forcibly nose-fed for the last 11 years.

In Delhi, Sharmila’s supporters from various civil societies like the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), Asha Parivar, Chetna Kendra, etc. have joined hands and are campaigning with renewed vigour.

Her supporters are happy that after Hazare’s movement, suddenly the media, intellectuals and even the government has started discussing the issue afresh.

Even former Union home secretary G K Pillai had recently remarked that Sharmila’s efforts were not appreciated by the rest of India till Hazare sat on a fast.

Digvijay talks about Anna’s arrest; praises him

New Delhi: Days after describing Anna Hazare as an RSS mask, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh today called the Gandhian a ‘simple, good, well-meaning man’ and said the issue of his arrest should have been handled more tactfully.

“The matter (Anna’s arrest) should have been handled more tactfully. Anything else that I’ve to say about it, I’ll say it directly to my leader,” the Congress General Secretary said in an interview to Headlines Today.

“….When I say more tactfully I mean for example: why were the opposition parties not involved in the drafting process (of Lokpal). We made an unprecedented move, and we made it just out of respect for Anna. But why leave the opposition out, it made the BJP very angry,” he said.

Showering praise over the Gandhian, Singh said he is a simple man who has unknowingly fallen into the trap of RSS.

“I have known Anna from the time the media didn’t know him. I made him member Madhya Pradesh Planning Board. He did some great work. He is a simple, good, well-meaning man. But he has been misled. Anna has unwittingly become a front of the RSS. Anna is a Gandhian but he enjoys support of the RSS. I never called him an agent, but a front,” he clarified.

“He (Anna) has unwittingly fallen into that trap. Anna has been used by the RSS. I have letter of RSS support to Anna. They had RSS support, that now is an established fact,” the Congress leader said.

However, Singh did not tone down his tirade against Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal.

“I attacked double standards of Kejriwal. He took a study leave. He said he will return. Why did he not? He accepted donations from abroad while he was still a government servant.

Did he take permission from the government to start his NGO? He wants us to follow the rules, I think as a government employee he too should have followed them,” he said.

Singh also took a swipe at LK Advani over his proposed Rath Yatra saying he must start from Ahmedabad and take it through all BJP-ruled states to find out the “level of corruption that is there”.

Trashing Arun Jaitley’s jibe of too many lawyers advising the government, the Congress general secretary said, “If that’s a problem, then Arun Jaitley should stop advising the BJP.”

Dismissing BJP’s opposition to the proposed Communal Violence Bill as part of the party’s communal agenda, Singh said, “Communal disturbances happen due to inflammatory statements. Who gains the most from them? It’s the BJP.”

However, when asked about Mamata Banerjee’s note of dissent to the bill, Singh just said the content of the legislation can still be discussed.

He also came out strongly in support of beleaguered former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, saying, “I have full support for Amar Singh. He’ll prove his innocence. Every man is innocent until he is proven guilty.”

Even as he hit at some for making inflammatory speeches, he defended his tirade against RSS, saying he has never played politics over terror.

“I have never politicized the issue. I have always said religious fundamentalists give inflammatory speeches that incite terror. I have never interfered with a police probe.
Even in Batala House I questioned the encounter not the probe.”