Sarkari Gandhigiri

Culture ministry nominates Anna Hazare for the Gandhi Peace Prize,surely it cant be a joke

What should one make of the Union culture ministrys decision to include Anna Hazare in its list of nominees for the International Gandhi Peace Prize? A sense of humour? That would be giving it too much credit. There is one charitable explanation,though. Like many,it also saw the giant cutouts of the Mahatma the real one at Ramlila Maidan,felt the fluttering of the Flag,heard the constant invocation of Satyagraha,the Second Independence Movement,the references to traitors and gaddar,and,like many,fell for the cardboard cut-out. Or did the czars in the ministry largely unemployed during office hours decide,in the infinite wisdom of the government,that this was the way to win the angry Anna over? Well,if that was the intention,then the ministrys misplaced Gandhigiri has fizzled out.

The Prime Ministers Office has withheld the list and asked for more names. Along with Hazare,the ministry had nominated Aung San Suu Kyi,A.P.J. Abdul Kalam,M.S. Swaminathan,Sheikh Hasina and the late Bhupen Hazarika. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj,who is part of the five-member jury,has been asked to give her nominees for the new list,and she is rightly wary of doing so when she is involved in the final decision-making as well. Another member,filmmaker Shyam Benegal,says he has not even been informed that he is part of the jury.

With a process like this,maybe the best way to honour the Mahatma would be to let this prize launched in 1995 go ungiven. After all,thats been the governments tradition since 2005.