Can Anna and JP ever be compared

(Book review of "13 days that awakened India)

Recently, i completed reading a recently released book which was written on Anna Hazare, titled "13 days that awakened India" written by a famous face of Indian TV channel, Ashutosh, Managing Editor of IBN7 ( a well know Hindi news channel). Throughout the book he made several attempts to compare Anna with Jay Prakash Narayan, the hero who was behind the removal of Indira Gandhi, former Indian prime minister who dared to impose Emergency in a democratic country like India. JP as what he was called as run a movement in Bihar popularly called as "student's movement" which witnessed the wrath of the people of the country against the dictator and finally was successful in uprooting the dictator government and was responsible for the establishment of the very first non-Congress government at the Centre for the first time in the history of India.

In his 226-page-book which seems to be written by a die hard follower of Anna was basically a compilation of the events and some scenes behind the screen. In his book he targeted Chidambaram and Sibal and almost tried to portray them as villains who were allegedly the real hurdles in the process of Lokpal Bill. At some point of time he also tried to deal with some issues like that of Rahul Gandhi and Indira Gandhi.

But the point that amused me and i thought will astonish many others was when he went on to compare JP and Anna and ultimately declared at last that Anna's movement was far mightier than that of JP. He says, "I know by this i am inviting the wrath of many JP followers but without hesitation i think...."

According to me these kind of statement can be passed only through people who had never known the movement and ever tried to understand the intensity and the emotions imbibed into it. For me it is unthinkable to compare JP and Anna and their movements. Even i think no two movements should be compared ever.

But let's talk more about the comparison he attempted to made and supported through some of his arguments. Starting with this,I would like to compare the era in which the both incidents occurred. JP's movement was a story of 70's. In 1975, when there was hardly any private news channel, pre-occupied to convey their views rather than news and accordingly there were hardly any news anchors who were ready to impose their ideas through their aggressive representation of their views cum news.

Of course, we are talking about an era where there was no concept of bombarding the public with breaking news, no matter how authentic they are. That was an era when we knew only about a black and white idiot box known for Doordarshan and a small black transistor known as radio known for All India Radio (AIR) which were public broadcasters know to convey only news minus views.

Moreover, we are also talking about an era when we hardly had any computers, laptops, ipads and internet. Things like Facebook and Twitter must be a fantasy at that point of time. Letters were the only mode of communication besides newspapers and even telephone was not that developed not to mention there were no place for mobiles and not to talk about the facility of SMS and all.

So imagine, if someone plans a movement how effective they could plan when they know their restrictions related to communications and even to some extent transportation.

At last but not the least, the most important time, JP movement took place at a time when Emergency was imposed in India, thanks to the then PM Indira Gandhi. During emergency it was a well know fact that there was no freedom of press, editors were jailed if they dared to publish against the government, from democracy India went into dictatorship government.

Point noteworthy, during that critical time, the student movement flourished which was led by JP. People were eager to giving their helping hand without ever bothering what they would get in return. There was no TV, no internet, no SMS, no facebook, no online campaign, no SMS campaign, no missed call campaign..but it continued, may jailed many exploited. Note that they were not given the respect Anna and his team got in Tihar Jail, thanks to the 24x7 news channels cameras where every steps of the administration were monitored. People were beaten black and blue. Do we have a single example when an Anna member was beaten by the Police rather, they were given immense respect like a son-in-law.

Moreover, when we talk about the aims achieved, there cant be any comparison. JP's movement uprooted the Indira government and the so called "dictator" but what Team Anna achieved?? Even Anna's demand was a childish thing..He demanded on August 2011 that the government has to pass the law before Aug 30.. Was it practically feasible, also did the Gandhian had the simple knowledge that its not the government but the parliament who passes a law, then comes the Rajya Sabha and the Opposition is equally responsible for the same...

There are lots of things which can be narrated to support my statement but ending it now..will add more when will have ample time..

I think some people add some masala in their book to add revenues..same tactics was applied here too when he dares to compare Anna and JP and also when he takes on Arundhati Roy and Ramchandra Guha when they went against Anna and says it is the problem of their class..