As govt slings mud, people say: It’s about Lokpal, not Team Anna

Ever since reports about the misconduct of members of Team Anna began to surface, commentators have been very critical of Anna Hazare and his team, and have even questioned the legitimacy of the anti-corruption movement. But the responses that followed the publication of one such column in this newspaper — titled ‘Why should we blindly believe Team Anna?’ on November 4 — made it clear that not everything is black and white in people’s minds. A majority seems to think reading too much into Team Anna’s alleged misconduct will take away the attention from the larger cause — that of having a strong anti-corruption legislation.
Here are a few responses from our readers:


I read the article titled ‘Why should we blindly believe Team Anna?’ published in DNA on November 4.
The heading attracted my attention and I thought: Why should we not? When people have faith in leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Amar Singh, A Raja and others, then there should not be a problem in believing Team Anna. Your question would have been right had it been raised in the era of Sardar Patel or Lal Bahadur Shastri.
I, however, agree that we had more expectations from Team Anna and the revelations of the last few weeks were shocking. But I believe we should support them in public interest.
Anand S Mahajani, Pune
 

I am just a common person to whom you have appealed through your column.
1. Is there anybody who has never done any wrong — physically nor mentally — to anybody? Does he or she lose his or her rights to fight against evil? Of course not.
2. Arvind Kejriwal — and even Anna — might have committed some mistakes, but the cause they are fighting for is good. Everybody should join them.
3. Who asks you to support Anna and his team in their private matters too? Don’t you think a Lokpal will be beneficial to every common Indian? We are here to support the Lokpal campaign and are not here for what Anna did in the army or Kejriwal did during his service or for Prashant Bhushan’s views.
4. Just compare the fodder scam, mining scam, Bofors scam, 2G scam, and the Commonwealth Games scam to the amount Bedi received or what Kejriwal did during service or what Anna spent on his birthday. If you are true to yourself, you will laugh.
Avinash Kulkarni, via e-mail


I feel very sorry for the columnist and his thought process, which lacks maturity.
Rather than taking on Team Anna, if you had taken on the many dishonest politicians it would have been better. Before writing such an article a sensible human being should have thought ‘n’ number of times: What has Team Anna given to this country? A platform to fight! Does anyone have the ability to take on the corrupt government? Team Anna has.
Deepak Gajare, via e-mail
 

Anna’s core support thankfully does not come from DNA’s readers or the likes of Ashok Malik!
Sure Team Anna members have not conducted themselves well. (Hissar was unnecessary) but the sense that I get is that the middle and lower-middle class are fed up with all politicians, not just the UPA. They are being short-changed in every aspect of their daily lives and they see Anna as a voice/stick which represents them to speak and preferably beat the politicians with. Thankfully, Anna is still regarded highly and would need to make some organisational changes. And I believe he will come back stronger — the recent increase in petrol prices and the nearly 12%
inflation will go a long way to increase Anna’s base.
Mr Malik and DNA need to wake up!
Ashish J Sanyal , via e-mail

Finally, a columnist has taken a critical view of ‘Gang Anna’! However, I am surprised that you have ignored Anna who has been indicted in a court of law. I am distressed by the public adulation for this team. We need intellectual solutions and not more laws.
Slavery was abolished because of innovations in technology. People would have been forced to carry night soil by the powerful if there was no suitable sanitation technology available. It has become fashionable and politically expedient to be anti-intellectual.
Dr Nagraj G Huilgol, Mumbai