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This is an archive article published on August 18, 2011
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Opinion Power to choose

The government shot itself in the foot by arresting Anna Hazare.

The Indian Express

August 18, 2011 02:09 AM IST First published on: Aug 18, 2011 at 02:09 AM IST

Power to choose

* The government shot itself in the foot by arresting Anna Hazare (‘Anna arrests Govt’,IE,August 17). If they had simply allowed the protest unhindered,originally,and gone on with the business of Parliament,they would have saved themselves this embarrassment. However,the comparison of Hazare’s movement with Gandhi’s August Kranti is disturbing. Hazare is waging war against a rightfully elected government in a functioning democracy,in which we have the power to choose and change the government.

— Suren Abreu,Mumbai

Mismanaged

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* The biggest,avoidable blunder the UPA government committed in Anna Hazare’s case was not to include the clauses Hazare’s group wanted the government to place before Parliament in its draft Lokpal bill (‘No middle ground?’,IE,August 17). This is a clear case of lack of management expertise. If the draft included Team Anna’s suggestions,there would have been no question of Hazare going on a hunger trike,and the burden of the final decision on the bill would have fallen on Parliament,neither the UPA nor the Congress.

— Percival Fernandez,Bangalore

Artless

* Apropos the editorial ‘No middle ground?’,in its attempt to dissuade Team Anna,the Union government,more so the Congress,has been outmanoeuvred and stands isolated. Hazare’s arrest irked the common people,notwithstanding the fact that many of them had earlier thought Hazare’s demand for and means of instituting a “super-cop” Lokpal is undemocratic. The government has been put in the dock for its moral bankruptcy and high-handedness in taking the confrontational path in an artless manner.

— Ved Guliani,Hisar

Isolated

* The UPA has further estranged itself from the people by arresting Anna Hazare and his team members. This has enraged his campaign supporters throughout the country as also the aam admi whose back has been broken by the unprecedented rise in prices of essential food items and corruption in everyday life. What wrong have Hazare and the people done in demanding an end to corruption?

— Yash P. Verma,Pune

A gamble?

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* The more “foolish” the government appears to be,the more certain it is that behind the seeming foolishness lies a carefully crafted plan formulated by experienced,crafty minds. Let there not be the slightest doubt that the UPA knew what it was doing when it arrested Anna Hazare. The Congress was gambling on one of two outcomes: first,the BJP would try and take charge of the movement,thereby lending credence to the UPA’s sustained accusation that Hazare is a “stooge of the BJP”; second,Hazare’s followers would erupt in anger and violence,which would create widespread public revulsion against Team Anna.

— R.P. Subramanian,New Delhi