Tag Archives: IAC

Civil Society movements and the Forces Behind AAP’s Rise

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After the fall of communist Russia, the Communists and their other flavours of the so-called
‘Left” had to re-invent themselves.  They aggressively took up what they were good at viz “A series of Civil society movements under various garbs were organised for causes like

Alternative media / culture, Anarchist, Anti-corporate, Anti- globalization, Alternative Globalization/Global Justice, Human Rights/Antiracism, Communist, Environmental, Fair Trade/Trade Justices, Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender / QueerRights, Health/HIV, Indigenous People, Labor, National Sovereignty/National Liberation, Peace/Anti-war, Food Rights / Slow Food, Socialist, Women’s/Feminist .

Latin America

 This experiment has been very successful and in the last decade there has been a transfer of power in as many as 12 countries in Latin America including Brazil to ideologies owing their allegiance to the communist ideology but with a toned down flavour of pink instead of Red. This is popularly known as the Pink Tide.

The Pink Tide :

In 2005, the BBC reported that out of 350 million people in South America, three out of four of them lived in countries ruled by “left-leaning presidents ” elected during the preceding six years.

The Latin American countries viewed as part of this ideological trend have been referred to as “Pink Tide nations.

Venzuela

Venzuela

Ecuador

Ecuador

World Social Forum ( WSF )  :
World Social Forum

World Social Forum

The World Social Forum was launched in 2001.  It is a global forum of “Civil Society organisations” . Its first meeting was first held in Brazil and since then in a number of Latin American countries.

WSF  Presence in India  :
It was decided that in 2004,  the WSF meeting will happen in  Mumbai. In 2003, as a
preparation  to this program, a meeting was held in Hyderabad with over 22000 people
participating in it representing  780 organisations from 42 countries.
3 councils were formed in this :
a. Indian General council.
b. Indian working committee, and
c. India organising committee and
8 working groups. Some of these groups have Teesta Setalvad , Aruna Roy in them.
Between Jan 16th-21st 2004, the World social forum had its meeting in Mumbai. Significantly,
this was the 1st  meeting held outside Brazil and the 1st in India. More than 90,000 people
participated from over 111 countries. Out of 90000, 15000 were from other countries outside
Bharat.
From Asia-Pacific region there were three Marxist-leninist Communist Parties, from India
(CPI-ML Liberation, CPI-ML, CPI-ML Red Flag) and two Pakistani organizations (Labour party
LPP,  and PKMP), the New Left Front (Sri Lanka), the DSP (Democratic Socialist Perspectives)
from Australia, two movements from South Korea (Power to the Working Class and All
together) and the Filipino parties: the Marxist Leninist party of the Philippines (MLPP), the
Philippine Workers’  party (PMP) and the Revolutionary Workers’ Party-Mindanao (RMP-M).
The invitation was signed in Europe by the Left Bloc (Portuagal), the United and Alternative
left (Cataluna), the Revolutionary Communist League (France), the United and Alternative left
(Cataluna), the Revolutionary Communist League (France), the Scottish Socialist Party, the
Socialist Workers’ Party (Britain) and Solidarites (Switzerland).
In some of these meetings, Arundhati Rai accused the Indian army of exploiting Kashmir and
for killing more than 80000 people most of the them Muslims. She also spoke about anti-
terrorism laws like POTA and also spoke about 1.5 lacs Muslims being displaced in Gujarat
and over 3000 being killed.
The emergence of “Pink Tide” movement in Bharat :
This neo-left movement is emerging as a very large network of forces. In Bharat, the
movement is taking shape in the form of large scale frequent agitations on issues as stated in the beginning of the article.
In order to gain strength, John Samuel gave a 3 point program and some of their key ideologues become part of the National Advisory Council under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi.
John Samuel’s  3 point program :
He writes
” The fact of the matter is that India needs a vibrant and broad-based Left movement. This has to happen at three levels
a. At the level of the Congress Party – as a network party, it is possible to revitalize leftist philosophy in the name of the ideals and ideas of Nehru.
b. At the level of communist and socialist parties – it is time they rethink their strategies and position themselves as an integrated and broad-based Left alternative.
c. At the level of civil society initiatives and social movements of a dense net work of NGOs and Popular activist movements have to be generated beyond party and politics.
All these three forces, though in different locations, will have to co-ordinate and work together rather than undermine each other. They have to work to resist the capture of the Indian state by the elite, and against communal fascism, inequality, marginalization and corruption. “
Keeping in line with the above, various civil society organisations got into the job of starting
civil society movements.  A network of such organisations functions under the umbrella of
NAPM.
One of the experiments was opposing the nuclear plant at Kudankulam.  Insert image is of
Arvind Kejriwal opposing the nuclear plant at Kudankulam.   Former president Dr.Abdul
Kalam certifed that the plant was safe.
The protests were proved to be the handiwork of NGO’s which were funded by foreign  powers.
Kejriwal protesting nuclear plant

Kejriwal protesting nuclear plant

Foreign funded protests
Kalam on Kudankulam
National Alliance of People’s Movements ( NAPM )
The National Alliance of People’s movements ( NAPM)  is a key player in this movement. It has over 200 organisations in its fold. It is active in 15 states in Bharat.
 As per their own website, http://napm-india.org
” National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) started as a process in 1992 amidst the
impact of Ayodhya incidence and globalization spree and took a definite shape in 1996 after a  long national tour of 15 states by senior activists.
It is an alliance of progressive people’s organisations and movements, who while retaining their autonomous identities, are working together to bring the struggle for primacy of rights of communities over natural resources, conservation and governance, decentralised democratic development and towards a just, sustainable and egalitarian society in the true spirit of globalism. We stand against corporate globalisation, communalism and religious
fundamentalism, patriarchy, casteism, untouchability and discrimination of all kinds. We believe  an alliance emerging out of such a process with shared ideology and diverse strategies can give rise to a strong social, political force and a National People’s movement. In its quest for a larger alliance, beyond the people’s movements, NAPM also reaches out to integrate various civil society organisations and individuals working towards similar goals. “
Medha Patkar & Arundhati Roy

Medha Patkar & Arundhati Roy

The IAC & now AAP Connection with NAPM :
Some of the national level organizations linked with the NAPM are
In the fraternal organizations at S.No 8 is India Against Corruption ( IAC ) .
Anti Corruption Movements :
On 4th June 2011, Baba Ramdev offered satyagraha against the lacs of crores stacked away as black money in foreign banks. In the early hours of 5th June 2011 the Congress party lead UPA Government attacked the peaceful satyagraha of Baba Ramdev and over 1 lac people who had gathered.

.

Rajbala
Later, the India against corruption did satyagraha for a Jan Lokpal Bill.
In the initial  phase, Anna Hazare was fine with sharing the dias with Baba Ramdev but slowly the powers that  ran the show ensured that nationalist forces vacated the space.
Slowly it became clear to Anna Hazare, that was becoming a pawn in the hands of bigger
powers. It seems that he saw through the game a bit late.

The movement like other civil movements across the globe esp Latin American countries catapulted some leaders like Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Prashant Bhushan, Shazia Ilmi and so on and they took to politics and started the AAP, Aam Aadmi Party.

Vision Document Creators :
The AAP has vision documents for various issues. Some of the key AAP vision document creators are also part of the organising committee of the  NAPM. This is in addition to the known names like Sandeep Pandey & Binayak Sen – refer  http://napm-india.org/node/898
It is interesting to note that Brazil’s new model of governance is one of the 3 international examples of the ideal governance in their vision document.

The leadership of AAP have not only hijacked the anti-corruption movement, indulged in name-calling of all politicians. Importantly their views of Kashmir , Batla House encounter,

supporting the missionary NGO’s against the Kudankulam plant are dangerous.
From the above , we can summarize the outlook of disruption mongering and anti-systemic
nature of  Arvind Kejriwal and his team.
Prashant Bhushan

Sandhya Jain in her recent article in niticentral, states ” There are also allegations that at the time of the Lokpal agitation, Kabir, an NGO run by Arvind Kejriwal and his close associate Manish Sisodia, reportedly received grants totalling $3,97,000 from the Ford Foundation.

Besides Sisodia, between 2007 to 2011, some high profile persons who were recipients of the Foundation’s generosity include Indira Jaising, director of an NGO called Lawyers’ Collective which promotes human rights for marginalised people $12,40,000; Yogendra Yadav, fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (and front ranking leader of the AAP) $3,50,000.”

The biggest proof of the AAP leadership’s manipulative and  traitorous nature is to fight for power while  showing faults in the system without any systemic  vision. Motif of disruption is evident from all  this, which more or less confirms the doubt that  they do all this at the behest of parties inimical to Indian interests.

The Common AAP Supporter :
 Ofcourse, the result of the AAP’s rise is the main opposition party losing its grass-root connect with people’s issues esp in urban India.
As any other common Indians, many of the supporters of AAP are not aware of these views of
the AAP Leadership . They have been sold a vision of corruption-free India and control being
shifted into their hands.  While the common man and woman dreams of such a day, the inimical  forces attacking the core of Bharat make their moves.
To ensure that people of Bharat don’t fall prey to these “pink” designs , it is imperative that all patriots of Bharat come together and defeat these inimical designs.
– Compiled by Ayush Nadimpalli
Updates after article was published ( by edit team ): 
1. Mallika Sarabhai offers support to AAP
2. Medha Patkar join AAP
3. Prashant Bhushan, key member of AAP calls for referendum on Kashmir once again. He was also reported to have asked for referendum of removal of forces in Maoist infected areas.
4 . Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Key organiser of WSF in India joins AAP. Note his views on twitter on India and support to separatists . ( News submitted by an observer – read comments section )
Organiser of WSF in India, anti national joins AAP

Organiser of WSF in India, anti national joins AAP

5. Now it turns out that the book “Swaraj” which denotes Arvind Kejriwal as the author itself has been plagiarized by him. Intellectual Plagiarism by Arvind Kejriwal

6.  “Kejriwal needs to tell the nation why and when did he think of snuffing out the IAC and giving birth to AAP. Unless he takes the country into confidence and explains what made him ditch Anna and why he formed the AAP after promising a million times that he would not enter politics, his political morality will barely equal that of any Aam politician. Unless he comes clean, he cannot and should not be trusted. What is the guarantee that the man who fooled his mentor Anna will not fool the people? ” Asks S.Gurumurthy –  Read More

7. Kejriwal quits as Delhi CM on 14th Feb after lying that he is stepping down because BJP and Congress did not support Jan Lokpal Bill.

AK lies in CII

He then lies in a CII meet saying that Transparency International is giving a report that corruption has come down in Delhi during his rule. Transparency International denied any such report. Video Link

8. Medha Patkar announced as MP candidate of AAP. NAPM gives its support

9. Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, a member of AAP National Council suspects his party or its leadership at least has connections with US Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) .

http://www.niticentral.com/2014/03/05/aap-founding-member-revolts-says-party-has-cia-links-196289.html

10. Video expose of Arvind Kejriwal and Prasun Bajpai of AajTak. ( 9th March 2014 )

11. Founding Member of AAP, Shanti Bhushan accuses Arvind Kejrwail of selling party tickets for money – Feb 11th  2015; Link ; AAP sweeps Delhi polls 67 seats of 70 seats. BJP reduced to 3 seats while increasing its vote share over 2013. Congress reduced to zero seats and vote shifts to AAP.

12. AAP MLA insults the police inspector who was martyred by calling Batla House encounter as fake. He was basically articulating what his party leader, Arvind Kejriwal had said earlier for the sake of Muslim votes. Must be remembered that the terrorist organisation AuT had earlier called the two terrorists who had died as martyrs.

Arvind Kejriwal statement on Batla House in 2013

AAP MLA, Amanatullah Khan calls the encounter fake

13. Arvind Kejriwal takes over as CM of Delhi once again. – 12th Feb 2015

14. Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan expelled from AAP PAC for anti-party activities. Watch

14. Sting on Arvind Kejriwal shows that he was trying to poach Congress MLA after the Lok Sabha May 2014 election debacle. They did not even one MP seat during that election.  Read More ; Audio Tape

15. Mar 2015 – Kejriwal Sacks AAP Internal Lokpal. Proves to the world that he will ruthlessly sack anyone who considers a thorn in his pursiuit of power.  Read More

Anna stir – a balance sheet

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Anna stir – a balance sheet
By S Gurumurthy – 29 Aug 2011

http://expressbuzz.com/edition/print.aspx?artid=308507

With the ‘Sense of the House’ letter from the Speaker reaching Anna Hazare, the Anna fast has ended. And the Team Anna and the media have proclaimed victory. Now the nation is relieved from the non-stop 24×7 screams of the media. It can think now! It can now draw a balance sheet of the Anna stir to know what are its giveaways and takeaways. Now go back to where the agitation began.
What is now known as the Anna movement started as India Against Corruption (IAC), whose website says, “India Against Corruption movement is an expression of collective anger of people of India against corruption.”
The IAC website lists as founders besides Anna Hazare, Baba Ramdev, Mahamood Madani, Arcbishop Vincent M Concessao, Syed Rizvi, Justice D S Tewatia, B R Lall and others. Click the January 2011 archives of IAC website, it is full of “March against corruption” in every nook and corner of India from Agra to Chennai and Ahmedabad to Silichar.
The leaders of the IAC, particularly Baba Ramdev, had raised, besides corruption, the emotive issue of Indian black money abroad. But the IAC receded into the oblivion and the apolitical movement against corruption, got reduced to merely a fight for Jan Lok Pal (JLP) Bill. The Anna movement emerged, narrowed into just a battle for a just JLP Bill, marginalised other founders and reduced its leadership to just four, the ‘Team Anna’. See the effect of these changes.
This was how Jan Lok Pal Bill replaced black money and corruption as the core agenda of the IAC? In the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, thanks to L K Advani, the black money issue had become a huge issue; it remained dormant after the UPA victory. But after the Tsunami of corruption hit Indian politics, the public roar against black money stashed abroad by politicians, businessmen and criminals became stentorian.
The media alleged that Sonia Gandhi had huge monies stashed away abroad. It was then that the UPA II suddenly thought of a Lok Pal Bill to ride out of the tornado of corruption and black money. It was a trap. Soon IAC walked into the trap. It dismissed the government version of the Lok Pal Bill and insisted that the draft prepared by its think tank, the Jan Lok Pal Bill, should be accepted. The Congress party saw it as a blessing in disguise to make its Lok Pal Bill fight the Jan Lok Pal Bill, to keep corruption and black money out of headlines.
Meanwhile, the BJP committed a Himalayan blunder. L K Advani wrote a personal letter to Sonia Gandhi for the hurt caused to her. That was made public to make it appear that it was to regret the charges made in the BJP Task Force Report on black money that Sonia Gandhi family was keeping huge illegal funds abroad. The BJP’s move against black money became moot, leaving the issue to the apolitical Swami Ramdev, Anna being confined to JLP Bill.
The Congress, thrown on the back foot by corruption and black money issues, saw in JLP Bill an opportunity to obfuscate both. When Anna started his Jantar Mantar fast, Sonia Gandhi – charged with hoarding black wealth abroad – offered to partner him in his battle against corruption! The result, the Congress successfully divided the IAC agenda between Anna with JLP Bill issue and Baba Ramdev with black money and corruption issues.
The first fast of Anna was thus subsumed into this Sonia-led Congress strategy, leaving the BJP – thanks to its own follies – with no issues. The collateral benefit to the Congress was that Anna helped to depoliticise and rob the BJP of a highly political issue. The Congress strategy also did more damage to the BJP. It helped to club all political parties, including both the ruling party and the opposition – read the Congress and the BJP – as one and the same.
Clubbing the BJP with the Congress on issues other than secularism helps the Congress and harms the BJP. Yet the elite leaders of the BJP allowed the Congress to succeed in its strategy. So after the first fast of Anna the Congress virtually dictated the agenda. Meanwhile Team Anna got Anna, who had first praised Narendra Modi, to talk against him so as to move the Anna movement further away from the BJP. This was the setting for the second Anna fast.
But the simple Anna proved increasingly difficult. He demanded a JLP Bill that included the PM down to everyone in the net. The Congress raised the plea that Anna could not dictate to the Parliament and got the BJP into the trap again. It got the constitutionalists in the BJP to endorse its view, again clubbing the BJP with itself!
But, the Congress strategy to handle Anna like it handled Swami Ramdev failed miserably with the media, which had no other headlines, focussing on Anna 24×7. With the media screaming ‘Anna’ and ‘Anna’ all the time, the Congress was on the run. Alas the BJP also found itself running with the Congress, against Anna. But, RSS workers enthused by Anna’s cry of “Vandemataram” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai” – both branded as RSS slogans – joined the movement in large numbers forcing the BJP president Nitin Gadkari to disregard the BJP Parliamentary Party and write to Anna offering support to his demands.
This forced the BJP Parliamentary Party also to side with Anna, rationalising the shift as the “evolving” stand of the BJP! This tilted the scale in Anna’s favour. But again the Congress would not leave the BJP. It joined with the BJP in the ‘Sense of the House’ exercise. The media claimed victory for Anna and for itself.
Here is the balance sheet of the Anna movement as of date. The BJP bracketed with the Congress loses; the Congress does not. The Congress cannot take Anna for granted; Anna cannot trust the Congress. The nation waits for what the Parliament will do about JLP Bill. The RSS is pleased that the two slogans “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Vandemataram” long ostracised by Secular India have been secularised by Anna.
The writer is a well-known commentator on political
and economic issues.
E-mail:comment@gurumurthy.net