NEW DELHI ~ In this age of information, we must all grow used to the fact that no matter how hard we try, we cannot always get away with what we do in broad daylight. For some reason, though, Team Anna continues to believe it can defy this ground rule forever and emerge unscathed again, despite a rather overt display of its ties with the RSS. What is even more perplexing is the manner in which the group has reacted to Open’s on-the-field report on how sectarian pamphlets were distributed at Team Anna’s rallies in Uttar Pradesh and how it has been campaigning—more or less—for the BJP ahead of the first phase of Assembly polls in the state.
If anything, the press release issued by India Against Corruption (IAC), the official outfit leading Anna’s agitation, in response to our report on the team’s activities at Fatehpur (Barabanki) and Gonda on 2 February and Faizabad and Basti on 3 February proves that very point: it still believes, and naively so, that it can keep misleading people as long as it can make self-righteous claims. Instead of countering and refuting the issues and facts raised in ‘BJP’s Team B’ (Open, 20 February), it seeks to obscure some truths, misinterpret others and disown outright what appear to be the most damning ones. As if still not sure whether it has made its point, the IAC release takes recourse to ad hominem attacks, a clear sign of having run out of arguments—it attributes motives and charges the news report with being ‘a predetermined story’ to which ‘Team Anna members including Manish Sisodia and Maulana Shamoom Qasmi’ have ‘strong objections’.
Let us consider the charges one by one. In its release, the IAC says, ‘The magazine claimed that our public meeting at Baramanki (sic) was coordinated by Rakesh Kumar Premil, who is an RSS associate. The correspondent also claimed that Premil was assisted by some Ram Kumar Yadav, a local quack who was also the president of the Fatehpur unit of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, the farmers’ wing of the RSS… Our Fatehpur rally at Barabanki was coordinated by Dr Sajjan Lal Verma, who has been associated with the IAC movement since April 5 last year. Also, we don’t know any Ram Kumar Yadav, as mentioned by the reporter. Rakesh Kumar Premil has no association with the RSS or BJP. However, Premil runs an NGO, Manav Utkarsha Sewa Sansthan, [which] was part of the organising team.’
To begin with, Open’s report never claimed Rakesh Kumar Premil is district coordinator of Team Anna’s Barabanki unit. That post indeed is held by Dr Sajjan Lal Verma. Why then this attempt to confuse readers? The report says that Premil ‘led the local group organising the entire event’ at Fatehpur, which is a subdivision in Barabanki located 40 km away from the district headquarters. That Premil led the Fatehpur event is beyond dispute. Not only were banners of his NGO displayed all around the Mahadev Talab ground, the site of the public meeting, even permission for use of the venue and vehicles for the purpose had been obtained in his name.
In fact, Premil himself told me that the responsibility of organising the inaugural rally at Fatehpur fell on him once the IAC decided to kickstart its campaign in UP from Barabanki and Dr Sajjan Lal Verma expressed his inability to muster a large enough crowd at the district headquarters. Thereafter, it was the local organising group at Fatehpur that did most of the work on the ground. This group was undoubtedly led by Premil, while Dr Verma arranged funding and supervised it from Barabanki.
Premil, indeed, is a prominent member of the local unit of the Sangh Parivar. I was, therefore, not surprised when he said that “Hindus must be roused to fight against corruption”, or when he revealed that he was president of the Shiv Sena’s Fatehpur unit in the late 1990s and early 2000s, or when he made his way round the Mahadev Talab ground together with the local unit president of the RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Ram Kumar Yadav, issuing instructions to volunteers. Team Anna may now disown him and claim that ‘we don’t know any Ram Kumar Yadav’, but this only reveals the IAC’s hypocrisy.
Also, who exactly compose the IAC today? And when it says that it does not know Ram Kumar Yadav, what does it mean? Does it mean none of the five prominent members is aware of him, or that none of the main coordinators is aware, or that whoever drafted the press release is unaware?
The IAC then goes on to claim, ‘… the reporter alleged that a 13-point “letter of oath” was being distributed during the public meeting at Barabanki. IAC is surprised to learn such false claims through this magazine Open.’
The truth is that this communal and absurd ‘letter of oath’ was distributed widely at the Mahadev Talab ground, together with a pamphlet with Anna Hazare’s message to prospective voters of UP, by local volunteers of the team. In fact, it so happened that I lost the ‘letter of oath’ on my way back from Fatehpur. The next day, I called Premil on his mobile phone (which I had taken at the ground after a half-an-hour interview with him), and requested him to fax me the pamphlet at Faizabad, where I was staying. Within hours, he faxed it. Two days later, as I began my journey back to Lucknow, I called Premil once again and asked him if he could give me a few copies of this pamphlet as I wanted to keep the original copy with me. He readily turned up at Barabanki town, which lies on the way from Faizabad to Lucknow. There he also told me that after distributing this pamphlet at the Mahadev Talab ground, his team was now going door-to-door, convincing prospective voters to get poll contestants to swear themselves to the cause—and particularly the pledges printed in the ‘letter of oath’.
The links are clear. Why is the IAC press note silent on the role played by volunteers of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and Rashtra Bhakta Vichar Manch as well as the Jai Kali Kalyan Samiti of Agra?
The IAC’s release further says, ‘Gonda coordinator Dilip Shukla is a lecturer at Lal Bahadur Degree College, Gonda.’ Indeed, he is a lecturer, but he is also a known RSS face in town. Also, why doesn’t Team Anna’s note talk about its lieutenant at Basti, the last stop of its first leg of the UP campaign? Here, I cite the same Open article that Team Anna has ‘strong objections’ to: ‘Harishchandra Pratap Singh, an advocate and a key figure in the local committee (at Basti), has been district convener of the Shri Rama Janmabhoomi Mukti Sewa Samiti formed in late 1980s and was one of the leaders of its karsewak wing. He is a well-known Hindutva face in the district.’
As for Faizabad, Open’s report clearly states that it was organised by those who have for long been associated with the Left and Dalit politics in the area. The pre-ss release, by deliberately misinterpreting our report, is trying to mislead its own au-dience. If Team Anna has nothing to hide, it should come clean on its RSS links.
OLDER COMMENTS FIRST
18 COMMENTS
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Unfortunately, you are one of the worst journalists Ive ever seen. You are countering their claims with your own claims. How are you any better than them? It would make sense if you countered their supposed false claims with PROOF. Do learn from your senior journalists like Arun Shourie, who provide PROOF, whenever they make claims. They give links to websites, upload scanned documents, put up pictures. You have done none of the above and yet want to take the "Im a journalist so Im honest and objective in my approach" attitude.
Also, to reiterate my comment on your original bogus article, IT DOES NOT MATTER WHO SUPPORTS THE ANNA MOVEMENT, AS LONG AS THE MOVEMENT DEALS WITH ANTI CORRUPTION! stop communalizing everything just to create a controversy and sells copies of your magazine. The more I read articles here (although you are succeeding as I am still reading Open), the more I realize this magazine is full of dramatized accounts of selfrighteous crap! From the famous Hartosh Singh Bal's criticism of JLF to this new shit.. Kudos to youll!
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Good arguments against the IAC's allegations. Could you also please share the "letter of oath" with the readers? A scanned copy or something? It would add greatly to the sense of your arguments.
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When I first read your magazine i became a fan of your journalism. But,you have continued to disappoint me over your coverage of Anna Hazare and the anti corruption movement led by him.You guys have been insulting Anna Hazare from day one. Shame on you being Digvijay Singh's team B.
By the way, i am not a member of the RSS.
Chaitanya Vardhan
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kudos for the above person for his comment .... and why are you distributing this bogus magazine in a company like TCS .... go and try some company of your own group ... there you might force workers to read you CRAP.
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excellent!!bravo!!! ubermensch... ubermensch!!!!!
here is one magazine which can stand up to the ignoramus believer who would employ everything from culture to perverted cultural nationalism in an attempt to silence criticism. while other media outlets wince at the fear of being ostracised by the foul-mouthed patriot whose only source of escape from the hall of shame is the now famous cliche of " you-are-a-traitorous-congie-agent", OPEN magazine has fearlessly trodden down a new path, of answering back in the same aggresive tone and tenor. continue the machismo with these philistines who are still at a barbaric stage of mental development, when it comes to taking in criticism.
from the niraa radia case to this, you have been a juggernaut of explosive journalism. let the rssies shout hoarse and indulge in as much character assassination as possible, mr. jha. stand firm. this nation is made up of a lot more than these shallow intellect chest-thumping saffron-only nationalists.
btw, excellent reply.
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I don't know why these reporters give so much importance to the spent force Anna hazare. Infact the whole world has seen their game and have learnt their lesson in Mumbai and closed their shops immediately. Why when the people understood their hidden agenda and rejected them summarily, the reporter takes so much pain to prove again that they belong to RSS? Waste of time and energy.
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It wont matter taht whos supporting Team Anan as long as they are on right path. Please stop all the hulaboo all around this mask or theories about sangh parivar or any other group. A pure intent is to remove the Corruption whether its BJP or Congress they both will have to go .
P.S:
Please stop acting like Digvijay of Media and be responisble on your posts.
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OK, plz do a favour uncle, make a list of organizations you think consists of members who have no rights as common citizens of India and hand it over to IAC so the next time IAC start their FIGHT FOR GOOD ANTI-CORRUPTION BILL or EDUCATING VOTERS ON CHARACTER OF PARTIES and CANDIDATES, these ppl are banned from their gatherings.
Plz also include the names of the communities in that list who, according to u, have no right to ask for CLEAN GOVT., who have no right to vote on issues like incumbency, food, roads etc. but shud only be misled by corrupt politicians into voting in the name of caste-religion etc.
I have suggested all this bcoz it is apparent that there is no word called INDIAN in ur dictionary.
What the hell do u actually want ??
Common Indians shud not unite and fight for clean laws ??
When a person says "I support Anna", he means that I support his bill which is 1000 times better than govt.'s Jokepal. And joining Anna doesnt require u to shred ur political and ur religious ideology, it doesnt mean breaking all connections to the grp u have been formerly associated with.
If people from RSS support him, why there is pain in ur a** ?? Is any demand of Anna promoting RSS ?? Do members of RSS dont have any rights as common citizens ?? If u think that Anna is "misleading" ppl, why is ur boss Sibal afraid to conduct a referendum ??
And if u think that conducting referendums is to "Hindutva type", Rajiv Gandhi conducted referendums for constitutional amendments twice :P
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Is it paid news? If a group of persons speaks against corruption does it lose credibility if it is found to be associated with RSS? What is the logic behind this article? Is a case pending that we are trying to solve? It may be an agenda of Open or Digvijay Singh or Congress to prove link of IAC with RSS so that muslims can be kept away but for a normal Indian who keeps himself away from stinking politics this is not an issue. May be certain journalists are compelled to follow stinking politicians very closely that they also start emitting the same stink. I used to hate RSS for its narrow mentality and its divisive politics but if this news is correct I would seriously think to revise my opinion about RSS. These guys mean business; they seem to be on right track. Everyone had complained against them that they have a very poor agenda at their hands. If now they have taken up eradication of corruption they must be respect for this. We should do this to wean RSS away from Mandir and Hindu muslim politics. No problem if 15% muslims do not support anti-corruption movement. Brand it as urban middle class movement and remove a few billion as well, brand it as a movement of forward class and still reduce some number. Agreed that journalists have a responsibility to reveal the truth but the guiding principle is to bring a change for betterment. Have you forgotten that Mr. Jha? Truth is not dependent on number of people that believe in it.
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It's kind of funny that some of the people think that good intentions equate to good solutions. What open has actually done is expose the chicanry of the RSS. The gulliable and entitled Indian middle class is allowing itself to be lead astray and are fawning over those doing so.
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the issue is not about "cant rss support anna", the issue is "which are the particular cases of corruption" in which rss supports anna. why is the IAC page on facebook criminally silent on karnataka, madhya pradesh, punjab and uttarakhand? as if the common man does not know what is happening in these "nationalist-ruled states"??the BJP speaker and MLA's have formed a himachal lokhit party alleging gargantuan corruption in their own government. why is rss, the so-called bete-noire of corruption silent alongwith team anna and ramdev on these issues of corruption in non congress states?
had the rss' motives behind such a movement against corruption been apolitical , where were the knicker-wallahs when RTI activists were butchered in their own sweet states of gujarat, jharkhand and chattisgarh??
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I will buy your magazine and will flush it into my toilet....that's what it deserve
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Hi,
What you are proving is that RSS, BJP and Hindu right being principal oppositionare beneficiary of Anti corruption campaign led by Team Anna. Hindu right might be milking it to its advantage doesn't make Team Anna equivalent or team b of RSS.
Team Anna has people like Arvind Kejriwal, Santosh Hegde, Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi, Anna Hazare who have lived their entire life fighting injustice. They have taken on communal agenda of right wing parties as ferociously as Open, Tehelka and and activists have.
Anti communal-ism activists on the ground don't ever dare imply that any of the IAC leadership communal. How dare you ?
Also, what you don't get is that they have taken up Anti-Corruption as their rallying point. All INDIANS be it mulims, rss, bjp, poor, rich etc. should be part of it.
If deoband Muslims join IAC, IAC doesnt become muslim extremist organization, similalily if RSS cadre volunteer IAC, that doesn't make it Hindu right wing organisation.
Shame on Open for such a low standard journalism !!!
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Jha
Simple, though outstanding work. Sadly, you're going to get little credit for your time on the ground, because our home grown nut-jobs can scarcely read. As with your previous piece, most of the comments remain wide off the mark. They just don't get your point that An-nut & co are well within their rights to suck at the RSS's tit. Just don't tell us that An-nut is NOT an RSS ally.
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Some RSS supporters have asked simplistic questions about the very valid points this article makes: Qn.1. Does the RSS have no right to oppose corruption? Ans.1. Of course the RSS has that right. However, that is not the only aim that RSS has, is it? The corruption issue is extraneous to its real agenda. It is just a trojan horse through which it hopes to destabilise its political adversaries, and hopes also to capture power. Qn.2. So what if the RSS supports the Anna agitation? Anna needs all the support he can get. Ans.2. That may be, but why are the Anna Team so secretive about this connection? The RSS and BJP have sought credit for being anti-corruption, but everyone knows how much credibility that claim has. The truth is, even the Anna Team realises that openly fraternizing with RSS honchos would be a political liability for them, which is why they are not forthcoming on this connection.
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Mr.Jha,
Did the Congress or the BJP paid you somthing for this??? I mean you sound like a political pimp...god knows which party!!!
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discourse in India is dead. most of the so called suave, educated classy internet hindus , supposedly the prometheus-es of modern india can do nought but throw one ad-hominem after another when their brittle cherished ideals are criticized or shaken. an exceptionally lame way of debate and discussion. rather than opening up new fronts of discussion in which mr. jha's points could be rebutted, all the so-called educated internet hindus have done in the 20 or so odd comments from them are as follows:
1) mr. jha is a congress agent.
2)OPEN is a congress sponsored magazine.
3)hence, OPEN team is a team of traitors.
as they say,religious leaning at one time or another makes lunatics of men.this is perfectly evident here. some reasons:
1)OPEN was the first magazine to go hammer and tongs after the media involvement in the niraa radia -2G case.
2)OPEN has exposed every political party's faults till date.
3)just a year back, these same cultural nationalists were fulsome in their appreciation of OPEN magazine as a saviour of Indians, and now with this single article, OPEN has metamorphosed into a traitor.
no reason, no rationality, no sense of history, and most importantly, no coherence between stances taken at various points of time. these, in a nutshell, define today's elite hindu nationalists. with a hollow rationality, and shallow reasoning, we can , but smirk at the condition of Indian right wing (non) intellectualism.
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The two OPEN articles and the IAC’s press release whose chronology is as follows: BJP's Team B, OPEN, February 11, and not February 20 as mentioned in this report; IAC has strong objection with the news report carried in OPEN Magazine, February 13; and the one presented here, Anna and the RSS, February 18, all revolve around a supposed link between Team Anna and the RSS. While IAC deals with this unnecessary and malicious distraction, I would warn that Indians should never allow the main issue to escape their attention in the melee. The main issue remains the Team Anna’s nationalist campaign to fight corruption. Come one come all, including RSS and all those with concern for nation’s plight at their heart; join the Campaign.
I pity you Dhirendra Jha. I pity you not because they say you are a liar and a manipulator. I pity you because you are like lakhs and crores of naive Indians who for their individual reasons supported and helped sustain the foreign rule in the Indian Subcontinent for over two centuries. As a newspaper man then you would not have supported Ram Prasad Bismil because he was a Hindu; you would not have supported Ashfaqulla Khan because he was a Muslim; and you would have certainly not supported Bhagat Singh based, again, on his religion. Likes of you did not support nationalists even when they all assembled at the Jalianwala Bagh in Amritsar.
As a child, in 1947, I could only buy a toy made of clay while they had mechanized toys in Europe. Now, as an old man, I see utter poverty and perils of life all around. Dhirendra Jha, do you know why? It’s because the rulers did not care for the country before and after the so called independence. Beleaguered at home by the devastations of the WW1, firangi knew they could no longer hold their empire for want of man power. And, very early before the WW2 started, they had trained indigenous men and women in the INC to carry on their proxy rule after they made safe and honorable exit. Do you see firangi’s clever plan? Only a few did at the time. During partition of the country we witnessed the largest transfers of population in the history and in the bloody carnage that followed it, almost one million Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims who mostly lived together peacefully, lost their lives while the firangi remained unscathed.
Unless you have Sushant Patil’s sense of history, Dhirendra Jha, when you ever understood why both the firangi and the INC, founded in 1885, scoffed at the RSS, you might as well consider some other profession or at least I should hope to see you work with India Against Corruption or any other nationalist institution.
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