"Movements determine the future of "India that is Bharat", says Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi said here yesterday that "movements" wrote the chapters in the history of India, and would continue to so, the latest being the Anna Hazare movement.

Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the noted diplomat, administrator and thinker , who delivered the Upendra Vajpayee lecture recalled the earlier movements since independence like the fast and death and Poti Sriramulu, which started the movement for reorganisation of states, the Jayaprakash Narayan movement which brought the Janata party to power, the latest being the movement led by Anna Hazare for the establishment of a Lokpal, which had its impact on the political system in the country.

"I believe the Anna Hazare movement has made its mark and has had much to do with the fact that after his own inexplicable and very erratic act in relinquishing office, Arvind Kejriwal was again reposed with the trust to make the government again. But the movement which Anna Hazare started will perhaps find its culmination soon in the establishment of a Lokpal," Gandhi said at the eighth Upendra Vajpeyi memorial lecture.

"That movement which is not just about corruption against officials and ministers but against the entire combine of techno-commercial India, in other words corporate India, India Inc., with those who are in authority of all parties put together," he added.

Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who is also a distinguished professor of the Asoka University, stated that India was blessed to have an extremely vibrant and vigilant polity, which keeps the government on its toes.

"The fact is we are blessed to have an extremely vibrant and vigilant polity, which keeps the government on its toes. The Union of India is one entity but India that is Bharat has a centuries old tradition, the legislatures and Parliament formulate laws in paragraphs but movements in the country write chapters," he added.

The memorial lecture was presided over by the Member of Parliament, H. K. Dua.