Floriano Lobo makes the foll points: 1. People who want to abolish corruption must get into the political mainstream either by volunteering to contest elections on a non-corrupt road map which is totally written down and published OR find such persons who will contest on this non-corrupt agenda and support/canvass for him/her, not one, but more the merrier. 2. I do think that Anna Hazare is just 'GAS' which will diffuse in thin air in no time. Because, as Tavleen says, this GAS in based totally on UNDEMOCRATIC REALM.I say: TO CHANGE THINGS, ONE MUST GET INTO THE DEMOCRATIC MODE. What Anna is doing is just the opposite. I have done it with GOA SU-RAJ PARTY 3. if you feel that by my toting Anna Hazare's line will prop me up as a legislator, I doubt it very much. Anna Hazare might be very clean. But what he is doing is not sustainable. I can compete with Anna Hazare or a thousand Anna Hazares on a 'clean' competition and I am sure that I will WIN hands down.
Response: 1. I believe it is better to light a candle to banish the darkness than merely rave and rant and curse the darkness. Every candle that is lit counts and spreads more light. I also invite you to read John Miton's classic poem 'On his blindness' where he realises that every person has his worth and ends with the famous line 'They also serve who only stand and wait." 2. Drastic situations require drastic solutions. Corruption in public life has reached its nadir. Politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen have been looting the country with impunity. We definitely need some institution which cannot be manipulated by the powerful to bring the guilty to book. So far as Anna Hazare's so called 'gas' is concerned, please read what happened to corrupt ministers in Maharashtra in the Shiv Sena- BJP as well as NCP-Congress governments after he went on fast. http://www.mudraa.com/trading/85650/0/anna-hazare-from-driver-to-driving-force-against-evil.html http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/i-support-mr-anna-hazares-fast-unto-death-against-corruption-in-india/ 3. As a politician aspiring to rule Goa, I am sorry to say you have shown in this particular case that you lack the keen political instincts and strategy that divides a successful politician from a failure.If your party is against corruption ( as you rightly claim) here was a golden opportunity to showcase your party's ideals on a platform made to order. Had you joined the movement instead of throwing muck on Anna Hazare you would have won kudos from the public and they would have identified themselves with you. A handsome opportunity was lost. Regards, Marshall PS: battles are not won or lost on the field but on the drawing board. The BJP won only 2 seats in the Lok Sabha in 1984. Yet 5 years later in 1989 they won 89 seats. You may ask how? The party was down and out in 1984. They badly needed an issue to capture the minds of the masses. Around that time the serials Mahabharata and Ramayana were being beamed on TV which captured the attention and imagination of the masses. Advani cleverly understood the mood of the masses and made Ayodhya an issue which gained his party instant support and the rest as they say is history. By 1996 the BJP was propelled to power and is today the main opposition party. Indira Gandhi was under tremendous pressure after the 1967 elections. The Congress had lost several states and scrapped through the Lok Sabha with a small majority. There was large scale discontent and unrest in the country. The Congress party had split. She had to assert her authority over the syndicate which was controlling her. Imaginatively she created the slogan 'Garibi Hatao' and captured the hearts of the masses winning the 1971 elections by a huge majority. And thereafter there was no looking back. I do not suggest that you do either as they were opportunistic issues and did not come from the heart. However, politicians everywhere, whether in the USA or UK or France or India need to have an issue which will win the support of the masses. Here was popular sentiment against corruption and your party has been speaking against corruption day in and day out. But when the opportunity presents itself for you to synergise your energies, you are hopelessly found wanting. Maybe you may want to introspect.
