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September 23, 1998
ELECTIONS '98
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How Readers reacted to Dilip D'Souza's recent columns
Date sent: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 09:50:58 +0100
Anna Hazare is one of the few people in government service (an army truck driver) who has given himself wholly to the service of the country, even if it is one village that has mostly benefited from him. He did not translate his fame into power, which could have made him immune to defamation suits. Instead he spoke his mind. All of us can be accused of this crime. How many times have we all felt utterly, absolutely, powerless against the juggernaut of corrupt leaders? Anna did something to a village that the Maharashtra government could not do and we reward his honesty and dedication by putting him in jail! The government has been incapable of even copying his methods and spreading the well being of Ralegan Siddhi. I am waiting for the day when somebody will realise that politicians are supposed to serve the people, not the other way round. Things are supposed to get better, not the other way round. People are supposed to get happier, not the other way round. Vinay Rao
Date sent: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 16:39:02 +0900
Dear Dilip D'Souza, Great. I completely agree with you. It is patently stupid to punish Anna Hazare while other criminals are going around scot-free -- like the many cases you quoted in the article. Uday
Date sent: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 08:53:21 +0200
I write this after reading Mr D'Souza's column on Mr Hazare's jail sentence. I feel equally outraged as he about this imprisonment. I think there should be a petition to the Supreme Court (or the next highest appellate authority) to overturn this judgment. If Rediff is initiating any such move, I will be happy to append my signature to it. V Anantha-Nageswaran
Date sent: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 10:24:53 +0800
The real problem is that we have accepted corruption as part of our life and do not know what to do about it. Anurag
Date sent: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 17:02:51 -0400
Dear Mr D'Souza, So what do you think Indians can do about this? Any ideas? I would like to hear from you on this. Would like to help. Padmaja Singal
Date sent: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 16:57:33 -0400
Frank, free and forthright. We should be ashamed of even saying that a court in our land can put Anna Hazare in jail. What have we come to?
Date sent: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 11:07:56 +0800
I am glad that there is at least one person who stands up for Anna Hazare. When I read the news, I felt outraged that a person who fights corruption ends up in jail. What a wonderful country India is! Arvind
Date sent: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 11:53:23 PDT
Dilip has shown us the real picture of our Bharat. It shows how we have become insensitive to corruption and other social evils, which are increasing every minute. Everybody knows that there is lots of corruption from top to bottom in our society. If the top level is sincere then we can remove this evil. For example, we have seen Mr Seshan's rule. He might have gone overboard to some extent, but at least the public was happy with no posters and a clean, noiseless election. I also think that in these disturbing times, people in general will do some kind of revolution ( kranti). It will definitely happen. It's only a matter of time. Till then, everyone will have to face these hardships. Thanks again, Dilip. We Indians are with you.
Date sent: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 13:38:43 PDT
I really appreciate Dilip's comments on this topic. In India, hardly anybody differs from the opinion that (nearly) every politician is corrupt. Their motive to stay in politics is very clear: to earn by whatever means they can but not by the noble means of serving people. They do not want to be named as public servants either, to escape from whatever accountability it demands. They differ about all the good and bad issues which concerns the whole country, but are united when they vote for raising their salaries and other privileges. I really feel it's time for us to expose these people. It's foolish to leave our country in their hands any longer. The media has an extensive role to play in this regard.
Sreenivas
Date sent: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 13:27:09 +0900
I think everyone, except our politicians, will agree to what you have put down in this article. Rahul
Date sent: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 19:47:53 EDT
We Indians have no self-esteem. So what's the use of you and I whining? If we had any self-respect, would we look forward to a foreigner, whose compatriot and family friend is being sought by the law of the country? Who has no other qualification than just a surname to lead a party that boasts of a hundred-year history and that has ruled the country for nearly fifty years? Our politicians are crooks and sycophants. Our people, who think that any woman with the surname Gandhi must be a daughter or grand-daughter of the man whom we call Mahatma, and who either do not bother to vote or sell their votes, are just getting what they deserve. Serves us right.
Date sent: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 14:28:45 -0700
One article from Dilip D'souza that makes great sense. We haven't seen enough coverage in the press of the judgment. The protests from the press have been next to nothing. Why is the editorial community so insensitive to this development? Biswajit
Date sent: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 22:15:02 EDT
I am reading this correspondent's articles for some time. Very cleverly, he has blamed fifty years of misrule on a few-month-old government. All great Indian institutions were destroyed in about 700 years of foreign rule. Only two organised foreign-inspired parties -- the Congress and Communists -- were able to win elections. The Indians had no other choice. The Congress and the Communists had different agendas. For most of our independent years, Indians had no organised representation because they were carrying Nathuram's false albatross around their neck and their token institutions had no energy or tools to fight this defamation. Rasik Sanghvi |
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