With the abrupt disbanding of Team Anna by campaigning icon Anna Hazare, the curtains over the activism held under the banner of India Against Corruption (IAC) have been drawn to a close. Hazare may not have been well educated, but he had the missionary zeal and patriotism to pursue his goal towards rooting out corruption. He was evidently unaware that an association, to have a standing in public domain, must be registered with the concerned department. But considering that all those clustering around him were known to be intellectuals, even highly educated, including a judge and a two supreme court lawyers ( Arvind Kejriwal himself was the joint Income Tax Commissioner when he left government service), it is strange that none from the group merited it right to initiate action to register the organization IAC. This is truly strange. This position leads to the suspicion that vested interests among those who surrounded Anna have deliberately left IAC unregistered. It is even stranger that they did not open a bank account to deposit the massive donations streaming in from people at the venue of the campaign and other sources.
Now the million dollar question being whispered in various quarters is: where has the enormous sums of money disappeared? It is rumoured that Kejriwal may have influenced Hazare and persuaded him to agree to put the money in the bank account of his separate association controlled by him. Until today, after disbanding Team Anna, there has been no talk or public discussion about the money. It is absolutely essential that the account of Team Anna and IAC is presented forthwith for the satisfaction of the public, particularly those good people who willingly made donations believing it to be towards a “good cause”.
Hazare also has to take full responsibility for the failure to account for the money collected. There is suspicion that Kejriwal and company will go in for a fresh round of collection in a bid to garner more funds in view of the elections in 2014. What would have happened to the funds in the unfortunate event of the fast turning fatal for Anna?
There appears to be some mischief in the entire exercise, which ought to be stopped forthwith. There is a strong case for judicial action against Hazare, Kejriwal and all those associated for collecting money and not accounting for it.
It is also essential that Kejriwal should disclose the source of money, some Rs 9 lakh, which he paid to the Government of India to close the claim made by his Income Tax department against him. He had requested at the time of making the payment, that the government should not harass him for information as far as the source of money. If he is the leader of IAC and has the right to question ministers, Prime Minister, even the President of India, he has to clear his name first. He has to divulge his source of money which enabled him to pay Rs 9 lakh to the Government of India. This is vital.
It is not enough to trumpet virtues from Jantar Mantar and Ram Lila Maidan, but also important that they are not only non-corrupt, but are also perceived in the public eye to be non corrupt.
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people’s edit
Wagh with no teeth !
Jerry Fernandes
St Andre MLA Vishnu Wagh whilst replying to the motion of thanks to Governor’s Address on the floor of the House has said recently that elementary education of a child has to be in Konkani or Marathi. There cannot be change in this stand and the agitation against Medium Of Instruction (MOI) will continue till government rectifies it.
Well, if pro-Maharashtrawadi supporters like Vishnu Wagh and the likes are so much against English primary education then all like-minded Goans should see that neighbouring Marathi too is also thrown out of Goa from all the primary schools. That’s, because the sole official language, Konkani, is not just the mother tongue of all the true-blooded Goans but is also the language of our Goan identity.
The government should therefore not be allowed to divide Goans by giving a free choice of choosing Marathi or forcibly impose Devnagiri-Konkani on Catholics, as this faulty education policy can only keep the big communal divide forever alive between both the major communities, with two mother tongues in Goa.
It should also be noted that the majority community historically has always been misusing the definition of mother tongue and educating their children through neighbouring Marathi language due to different factors. The minorities have never been complaining in Goa. Why? Now, why can't the pro-Maharashtrawadi forces like Wagh and his supporters do the same in Goa? Wagh says that, experts in the field of education alone should have a right to decide on the issue of primary education in Goa. Well, who are these so-called 'experts' in Goa? Are they Shashikala Kakodkar, Uday Bhembre, Pundalik Naik, Subhash Velingkar, Arvind Bhatikar, Pandurang Nadkanii etc.
The MOI issue is not about communal politics but its a fight for freedom of choice, equal rights and total justice. Wagh should therefore come in his senses and learn to give justice to all and to appease none, because finally he should know that he has been elected by the voters of St Andre, a Catholic-dominated constituency, also fighting for English primary education in Goa.
I think a more appropriate statement from Wagh ought to have been: "Elementary education of a child has to be strictly only in Konkani, not in Marathi or any other language in Goa". This, unfortunately has never been made on the floor of the House, due to which he stands totally exposed on the issue of MOI.
Wagh, learn to grow up because you still sound like a lion that has forgotten to roar.
