support anna ji

I am going to India Gate today along with my friends on a rally to support Anna Hazare against corruption. I asked many of my fellow classmates as well to join me. They flooded me with questions, who he is? Why anna ji is creating a melodrama now? Where was he before all this started? To answer all such foolish and dumb questions for all of you, am writing this blog. Please do continue reading with patience.

Anna ji or KISSAN BABURAO HAZARE was born on 15 June 1937 (before Indian independance) in Bhaaingar, in Maharastra. He started his carrier at the age of 25 as a driver in Indian Army. Before his recruitment in Indian Army he sold flowers in Dadar (Maharastra) to support his poor family. On 12 November 1965, while he was posted at the khem karan border during Indo- Pak war of 1965, the Indian base was attacked by Pakistan and all the comrades with hazare died on the spot. Hazare ji had one bullet that passed through his head,but did not let him die. This experience made him realise the purpose of life. He started reading books of the life of Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Vinobha bhave and many others who sacrificed their life for the needy,poor and unwell people in the country.

Today, Anna Hazare is the face of India's fight against corruption. He has taken that fight to the corridors of power and challenged the government at the highest level. People, the common man and well-known personalities alike, are supporting him in the hundreds swelling to the thousands.

For Anna Hazare, it is another battle. And he has fought quite a few, Including some as a soldier for 15 years in Indian Army. He enlisted after the 1962 Indo-China war when the government exhorted young men to join the Army.

In 1978, he took voluntary retirement from the 9th Maratha Battalion and returned home to Ralegaon Siddhi, a village in Maharashtra's drought-prone Ahmadnagar. He was 39 years old.

He found farmers back home struggling for survival and their suffering would prompt him to pioneer rainwater conservation that put his little hamlet on the international map as a model village.
The villagers revere him. Thakaram Raut,  a school teacher in Ralegaon Siddhi says, "Thanks to Anna's agitations, we got a school, we got electricity, we got development schemes for farmers.''

Anna Hazare's fight against corruption began here. He fought first against corruption that was blocking growth in rural India. His organization - the Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Andolan (People's movement against Corruption). His tool of protest - hunger strikes. And his prime target - politicians.

Maharashtra stalwarts like Sharad Pawar and Bal Thackeray have often called his style of agitation nothing short of "blackmail".
 
But his weapon is potent. In 1995-96, he forced the Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra to drop two corrupt Cabinet Ministers. In 2003, he forced the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state government to set up an investigation against four ministers. In April this year, four days of fasting brought thousands of people out in support of his crusade against corruption. They also made the government realise it could not be dismissive about Anna Hazare and his mass appeal.  
 
His relationship with the UPA government continues to be uneasy. The truce of April was short-lived. An exercise to set up a joint committee made up of equal numbers of government representatives and civil society activists, including Anna Hazare came to naught when the two sides failed to agree and drafted two different Lok Pal Bills. The government has brought its version in Parliament and Team Anna is livid.

The Gandhian is soldiering on. From one battle to another in his war against corruption. He fought from the front to have Right to Information (RTI) implemented. He is now fighting for the implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill, the anti-corruption bill drafted by his team of crusaders.

This year, more than 30 years after Anna Hazare started his crusade, as the 74-year-old plans a second hunger strike in Delhi against large-scale corruption at the national level. Nothing really has changed except the scale of his battle.

When some people of my age (must say the youth of India) ask idiotic questions about Anna ji and other social reformers of india, my stomach tickles me to laugh out loud. What is wrong with you people? Don't you have studied Indian history ever in school life or being and Indian and working or supporting the welfare of the country is a big pressure on you guys, or will any one take tax from you if you speak out in support of a person who is coming out and trying to help two billion people in India which includes all caste,creed, religion, rich, poor and handicapped. Yesterday when he was sent to tihar jail only less than half of the Indians were out on roads and rest of the so called proud to be Indian men and women were sitting debating about why should they ever support or not support him.

When today Shri Anna Hazare is ready to put his life for the youth –for  us to live in a corruption free country with equal rights in a country with 2 billion people living below the poverty line and half of the politicians bathing in money- now is the time to end all of this. We are not progressing as opposed to other nations because of this corruption seed.

Well Indians, if you do not come out today to support a man who has lived his entire life till now for India and who is out for a purpose to protect and secure the life and future of today's generation and the generations to come, then don't be glad to call yourself and represent yourself as a Indian. Either it will be now that supporting Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi and Arjun Kejrival will be worth it or it might never be possible.

It is a time for a revolution and we should give it strength because the youth is the future of tomorrow.

Join INDIA AGAINST CORRUPTION MOVEMENT. 

In the words of Gandhi, lets be the change we want to see!

Corruption Hatao, India Bachao!

(EXCERPTED FROM NDTV UPDATES AND WIKIPEDIA)