Anna Bol Halla Bol

790 parliamentarians VS 1,200,000,000 billion citizens of republic of INDIA.

If even after all the protests, rallies, hunger strikes and overwhelming public support, government of India is not even willing to discuss the Jan Lokpal bill and debate it in the Parliament , how difficult will it actually be to get Lok Sabha and Raj Sabha to pass the bill without compromising on its effectiveness?

None of the political parties with exception to Akali dal have expressed their support for the Jan Lokpal bill.. Why? Because approximately 30-40% of members of both houses of Indian Parliament across party lines have pending criminal cases against them.

They will make promises of drafting new bills, they will promise us to pass Lokpal bill soon but since 1968 they have rejected and delayed the 9 times. They are waiting for us to simmer down and go back to our lives. They are waiting for the Newspapers and TV channels to find a new story (Tendulkar’s 100 century? Salman Khans new movie? Etc etc). They are waiting for the protesters to back to their normal lives so they can go back to their unscrupulous ways.

US$ 50 Billions.

In the last 3 years alone and only considering scams which are in public knowledge; the scams amount to over

• Madhu Koda mining scam: Over  4,000 Crore (US$ 1 Billion)
• Uttar Pradesh food grain scam: 35,000 Crore (US$ 7.81 Billion)
• Belekeri port scam:   60,000 Crore(US$12 Billions).
• 2010 housing loan scam in India: 1,000 Crore
• Commonwealth Games Scam:  8,000 Crore (US$ 2 Billion)
• 2G spectrum scam : 67,719 Crore (US$ 15.1 Billion)
• Bellary mines:  16,000 Crore (US$ 4 Billion)
• Hasan Ali Khan: 35,000 Crore (US$ 7.81 Billion)

What can I do to support the Jan Lokpal bill?

Politicians know we cannot go out on protests every day, they know we will have to go back to our lives sooner or later. But what they dont know is that we all can and will support Anna Hazare/ Jan Lokpal bill through various means besides participating in rallies and protests (lets face it, unlike parliamentarians we actually have make a honest living!).

Silent support.

Wear Anna Hazare/ Jan Lokpal Protest badges, Gandhi caps, T shirts or even a small Indian Flag  on your dress. Follow the rules of your company but do start those conversations with your superiors and ask them about how they feel about employees showing support to this non violent, democratic, constitutional movement. Ask them how they would view you signing up for voluntary arrests. Even if you dont participate this would make them spead the word in your organisation (they would ideally send a email to the entire organisation to state the organization policy and those of us working in multinational companies will get Senior management of major corporations all across the  world to sit up and take notice).  

 Mail them Pink Chaddi

Remember Pink chaddi campaign ???, Wake up Nisha Susan and other cyber activists, cyber hackers etc. Make an impact and make sure whatever you do is inline with Anna Hazare's prinicipals. 

You can't run but you cant hide

Email, Phone, picket your local MLA, MP ask them on their stand on the Lokpal bill.

Click here to identify your local Member of Parliament

Click here to identify your local MLA

Those of you who have personal email ids/cell phone numbers of your local politicians, share it with others by emailing to  annabrigade@gmail.com or through some other means.  

Shame them

Urge Foregin Print media to cover this news (NYTimes, BBC), know a friend who has a friend who knows the assistant sub editor of any news paper magazine ???

Call that NRI cousin/aunt/uncle acquaintance who always claimed to be a big shot and ask them to pressurize their senators/congressmen/local politicians on democratic reforms in India. All the world leaders have had their pictures taken in front of Taj Mahal, Gandhi memoriam but now is the times to prove the often heard phrases such as 

“We are betting that India's vibrant pluralistic society will inspire others to follow a similar path of tolerance. We are making this bet not out of blind faith but because we have watched your progress with great admiration," -: Hillary Clinton

 "India has a special place in my heart" and "The world's oldest democracy and the world's largest democracy are natural partners, sharing important interests and fundamental democratic values"-: Obama .

Spread the word

Spread the word on the internet, join the IAC Face book , register yourselves as volunteer, Tweet, Blog, make video messages on Youtube.

If possible attend a protest rally in your city even if it’s for a few minutes. Get a feel of how your grand parents felt in their time.  

 

Nominate Anna for Nobel peace prize.

Petition UN to not consider India for a permanent security council membership just yet.. we are not a functional democracy. Not just yet!! and when we do get Jan Lokpal bill passed no one can doubt the legitamcy of India's claim for the permanent security council permanent seat.

Any more ideas?

Email us your suggestion at Annabrigade@gmail.com, every idea counts.

Remember there a is a long fight ahead and it wont be easy we are asking the Politicians to sign their own Arrest warrants; we are asking them stop their own illegal sources of funding with which they run their own parties.

Did you really think that all those Congress, BJP etc volunteers, Lavish Party offices and loud election campaigns were funded by donations from the common man as they claimed?