A no-ideology stance, all too often, amounts to an ideology, too. It is a stance generally adopted against any ideology of social change. A no-politics stand, similarly, represents politics of an obvious kind. It is politics against any politics that focuses on socio-economic change as distinguished from one of pious, especially ‘patriotic’ shibboleths.
The latest illustration of this comes from Baburao Hazare, better known as Anna (elder brother) Hazare, let loose on India by forces that periodically make a concerted attempt to freeze history. Anna is now out to launch a major political campaign in the name of making a war on politics. The man, whom the dominant media and a distinguishable section of the middle-class have tried to make a second Mahatma Gandhi for the past few months, has now announced the next move in his movement for an all-India ombudsman (Lokpal or protector of the people). Now, he will carry the campaign to six states to face assembly elections in 2012 and ask voters to reject Congress (heading the United Progressive Alliance government in New Delhi) if his demand is not conceded.
The six states are Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Punjab, Goa and Manipur. The elections will provide a dress rehearsal for the general election due to be held in 2014, though the main opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is trying with all its might and main to force a mid-term poll. The state-level contests were never more crucial. The fighting will be particularly furious in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, which has always held the key to power in the centre. Congress and the BJP, led in the campaigns by rising star Rahul Gandhi and returned prodigal Uma Bharti respectively, are making what they regard as a last ditch effort. The Bahujan Samaj Party of Mayawati, the would-be dalit ‘messiah’, is no pushover, while the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh stays in the race too.
HUM HINDUSTANI: No politics please, I am Anna —J Sri Raman - Pakistan Daily Times
The latest illustration of this comes from Baburao Hazare, better known as Anna (elder brother) Hazare, let loose on India by forces that periodically make a concerted attempt to freeze history. Anna is now out to launch a major political campaign in the name of making a war on politics. The man, whom the dominant media and a distinguishable section of the middle-class have tried to make a second Mahatma Gandhi for the past few months, has now announced the next move in his movement for an all-India ombudsman (Lokpal or protector of the people). Now, he will carry the campaign to six states to face assembly elections in 2012 and ask voters to reject Congress (heading the United Progressive Alliance government in New Delhi) if his demand is not conceded.
The six states are Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Punjab, Goa and Manipur. The elections will provide a dress rehearsal for the general election due to be held in 2014, though the main opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is trying with all its might and main to force a mid-term poll. The state-level contests were never more crucial. The fighting will be particularly furious in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, which has always held the key to power in the centre. Congress and the BJP, led in the campaigns by rising star Rahul Gandhi and returned prodigal Uma Bharti respectively, are making what they regard as a last ditch effort. The Bahujan Samaj Party of Mayawati, the would-be dalit ‘messiah’, is no pushover, while the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh stays in the race too.
HUM HINDUSTANI: No politics please, I am Anna —J Sri Raman - Pakistan Daily Times
