It was meant to be a seminar on the role of the youth in eradicating corruption. However, the audience was a sea of grey, and there was scanty attendance.
It was meant to be a seminar on the role of the youth in eradicating corruption. However, the audience was a sea of grey, and there was scanty attendance. Saheli Foundation had organised the discussion at Town Hall. It began with a cultural programme. That, effectively, was the only part of the programme that ran smoothly.
Soon after the cultural programme ended, the discussion began.
The audience could have pulled its hair out, as the discussion had little to do with what was initially announced. It focused on political vengeance rather than corruption. Speakers were unanimous in their support for the 'movement' that had gained momentum with the hunger strikes of Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev, and omitted any reference to the lack of political leadership for this movement, and the taking over of the political space by 'civil society' which is not necessarily secular or in tune with democratic procedure.
Pramod Mutalik, chief of the Sri Ram Sena, renowned for what has come to be termed 'moral policing,' after the attack on a Mangalore pub in 2009, said, "Corruption is pushing India to poverty. We have to fight the cancer called corruption." He added that Hazare and Ramdev have spearheaded a movement, and the effects of that initiative would last. He added that peace would not solve all problems, and there was sometimes need to resort to 'revolution' or 'kranti'. "Sonia Gandhi is a modern-day Lady General Dyer, for her act of taking Ramdev into custody, even as he sat on a peaceful fast, like Mahatma Gandhi," said Mutalik, drawing historical parallels some in the audience whispered were quite peculiar.
DN Murthy, general secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, said, "There will be more developments, and we will find a way to fight corruption. Baba Ramdev has set us all a good example, one worthy of emulation."Sri Rama Sene's Pramod Muthalik gives Manmohan Singh's face to an effigy at an anti-corruption event near Town Hall on Sunday.
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