| Making accusations without substantiating them
Mr Anna Hazare is a big hero presently. After his marathon fast at Ram Lila ground, whatever he says and does makes great headlines in India. But, we also need to see what he is using his lately acquired power for. On Friday (02/09/2011), Mr Hazare made a speech in which, as per various newspaper versions, he said-
1. Half the cabinet ministers were "frauds" and "liars
2. This P Chidambaram is a mischievous man. Chidambaram has lied many a time
3. The government is full of fools
4. Arvind is a dedicated soldier to the cause of nation-building. It is my sincere request that the government forgoes its plans to harass him.
5. Civil society would have to 'go on a war path' if the government did not give up its disruptive tactics
So, the disease of people making personal comments about individuals seems to have spread now to civil societies as well. Mr Hazare's speech might raise a few temporary thunderous applause but in my opinion, such statements will soon start diminishing his credibility. Instead of producing vague statements without enough documentary backing, it would be better if he presented actual facts and figures for suitable action. This becomes all the more important because now that Mr Anna Hazare is being respected all over India, it would be much better for him if he did not say such words like this. This is because the people have reposed their faith on Mr Hazare and this will yield some results when he talks in terms of some policies and principles instead of making irresponsible and irrelevant personal statements just to make the audience feel happy.
In fact, such a tendency of playing to the gallery has been there for a very long time in Indian political circles and this is among the important reasons why some of the political classes lost their credibility among the people. If respected people like Mt Hazare start using the same techniques and become the self-appointed character analysts, without substantially backing their words, they would only be doing a disservice to themselves and to the cause they are espousing for. In fact, in my opinion we should all try to build a national character where we do not put unsubstantiated blames on others because it only belittles us. In fact I made some comments about Mr Hazare only on the basis of what has been reported in the Media and if the Media reports are false, my comments would also lose much of its sense. Secondly, I would like to make it clear that my purpose in writing this is not to accuse Mr Hazare but only to make us realize that the trend about irresponsible and irrelevant personal statements made by people only go making them look non-serious in the long run. Amitabh
President, IRDS/
President, NRF
# 94155-34526 | 
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