Avadhesh Kumar Phone: 27018015
/ 27020903
A-16, Pundrik Vihar, Pitampura, Delhi-110034
Socio-Economic
– Ecological Facilitator on Self Reliance
Ex-Member:
A.I.Khadi & Vill. Ind. Board (Govt. of India)
Ex-Member:
Cent. Cert. Comm. KVIC (Govt. of India)
Ex-Chairman
: SLACC (Delhi), KVIC.
· Anna Sudha Village Industries (KVIC approved)
· PANI : People’s Action for National Integration, 1/13/190, Civil
Lines, Faizabad, UP-224001
· SCRIA :
Social Centre for Rural Initiative and Advancement, Khori Centre, Khori Distt. Rewari, Haryana.
Ref No. AK/Satyagraha/93/2007-08/
Dated 10th August, 2007
To,
Shri
S. D. Sharma,
Gandhian
Satyagraha Brigade (GSB)
Lajpat
Bhawan, Lajpat Nagar-IV,
New
Delhi-110024
Respected
Sri Sharma Ji,
SUB: Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade
Sadar
Namaskar,
1. Thanks for your very kind letter dated 1st
August, 2007 along with the format of the pledge to be signed as a Satyagrahi. I
am also in receipt of your letter containing the information that you had been appointed as the Vice Chairman of the Servants
of the People Society (Delhi Branch). Please accept my heartiest congratulations. This will certainly give you a better leverage
to handle work. No doubt, till now, we were already under the impression that you are the Vice President, as was given to
understand from time to time by other staff members. Any way, it certainly was long overdue to your good-self.
2. I take this opportunity to write this letter, as one of the 4 (four) co-promoters
of the “Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade”, the other 3 (three) being (1) Dr. N. Radhakrishnan, (2) Sri N. Vasudevan,
(3) Shri S. D. Sharma, i.e. yourself and myself and also as one of the members
of the proposed so-called ‘Working Committee’ of the “Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade”.
3. Sir, the way things are moving and taking shape, one by one, are in utter disregard
to what was presented in the two-day dialogue, held at IGNOU in connection with the observance of the 100th year
of SATYAGRAHA, launched by Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa, as a token of our humble
contribution, in an effort to ‘Make India Free from Hunger and Violence’.
4. That the way the names of three of us, viz., Dr. N. Radhakrishnan, Sri N. Vasudevan
and myself has been so much freely used and abused by a very senior person like your good-self has made me dumbfounded and
bewildered, specially keeping in view the fact that we three are the persons who were behind the whole effort of the entire
event that took place at IGNOU and thus you have brought our name in a very vulnerable position and having great regard to
your status and seniority this has made me all the more distressful.
5. That my other 2 (two) colleagues viz. (1) Dr. N. Radhakrishnan, (2) Sri N. Vasudevan,
are none the better
6. That I am a very small worker and have no qualms in admitting that I in no way
qualify to be a so-called Gandhian nor do I have the audacity to judge others and prescribe for them certain Code of Ethics
and that too in the name of Gandhi.
7. I must say in all humility and with all the due respects that even an attempt
to judge some body else on moral or ethical grounds, rather than one’s own-self would amount to be the height of the
reflection of an egoistic boasting.
8. That I have never applied anywhere to anybody or to any organization with any
request for any enrolment and as such I do not understand that what makes you to have demanded from me to sign a certain pledge
or Code of Ethics?
9. What I know, might be wrong, but as my
humble perception goes, is that you have been a veteran Freedom Fighter and as
such have been very much upset as a genuine Freedom Fighter to see that the virus of corruption has seeped in so deeply in
our polity, that it is eating away the very soul of the purpose for which the Freedom Struggle was launched under the leadership
of Mahatma Gandhi and hence you have been trying to bring into focus in your own humble way the attention of those who are
sitting at the helm of affairs and in this process you have been sending letters to various destinations of height and might,
very religiously.
10. In that process you, wittingly or unwittingly, even went to the extent of making
a unilateral declaration that if your point is not heeded, you will be constrained to embark upon a journey leading to an
“Indefinite Fast”. It was at this juncture that I said, “Sir, if you are going to sit on an indefinite fast,
then I would not let you do it alone, I would also join and sit with you”. And I am proud to say that I not only myself,
but along with my esteemed friend Sri Milap Choraria ji, sat along with you in front of Lajpat Bhawan, where one of our other
colleague and your close friend Sri Jagat Ram Sahni could also join.
11. Although it is a sad augury that after two days, when the situation was getting
warmed up as a result of the activities of some of our well wishers and moral supporters and when the then Mahamahim Rashtrapatiji
was getting ready to send his emissary to get him the feedback of the situation, your good-self at the advise of some of your
senior luminaries, all of a sudden unilaterally decided to call off and withdraw and hence broke the Fast even without consulting
the two of us, i.e. Sri Choraria and myself, what to say of taking us into confidence.
12. No doubt it was not only a great shock to us, but was also a great embarrassment
specially for me in the eyes of Chorariaji, as anybody can well imagine that though neither he was known to you nor he had
known you and it was only on having talked to him so highly about your good-self and your mission that he volunteered without
even a second thought to accompany me in joining the “Indefinite Fast”.
13. However, we kept quite taking into consideration that we were there mainly just
to keep up your morale.
14. This is an old story, more than 10 years from now. Since then Governments have
successively changed their hands. However, your hype is still going on unabated, every time with a fresh warming up exercise
of writing letters, with a veiled threat to undertake the ‘Fast’.
15. All this exercise you have been doing with the support and under the banner of
‘Servants of People Society’, founded by late Lala Lajpat Rai, whom I have always venerated as the First Victim,
rather the First Martyr, the First Shaheed
of the Freedom Struggle, and thus the First Satyagrahi, much before even the Salt Satyagraha was conceived of. Lalaji met the valiant death in the True Spirit of a Satyagrahi, and it is a very very
sad augury that you have chosen to totally ignore him, rather to wipe out his very role in the annals of the history of Satyagraha.
Perhaps, because, in your eyes he is not as saleable as the name of Gandhi. You don’t want even to put his picture on
your letterhead, perhaps just to show that your mission is taller than him, though there is no denying of the fact that you
have been seeking all the support from the very organization he has founded. It is the standard and parameters of your so-called
Ethics in the name of Gandhi.
16. And now, that you want to repeat the same old merry-go-round exercise of writing
letters, calling it Phase-I, II, III etc., under the garb of a new name of ‘Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade’. Is it
not a mockery of the very ethics you claim to be observing from the house top.
17. Has the Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade been duly constituted? What is its Constitution?
What is its legal status?
18. You have declared on the top of your letterhead of ‘Gandhian Satyagraha
Brigade’, that it is, ‘A Non-Party Organisation of Gandhian Persuasion in the Service of the Nation’, then,
what is its structure? What is the authority behind that? All this must be made transparent.
19. Here all those whom you might cite as its constituents are defined as Gandhians,
when Gandhiji himself have observed that he does not want any ‘ism’ to be tagged with his name. What are the credentials
of these so-called Gandhians? And yes, you might well say that as ‘Gandhi’ is the ‘Father of the Nation’,
hence every citizen is a Gandhian and much more who is able to adore his photo or some ‘Saying’ in his/her chamber
or room or on his/her table. Then, Sir, let it be known that every government office invariably carries a big photograph of
Gandhiji and hence every one is a Gandhian, so why you want to become a super judge by prescribing a certain Code of Conduct
or Ethics, for the fellow citizens.
20. Not only content with this, you have also taken the privilege of abrogating to
your own self the authority of the right to redefine and rewrite the definition and or parameters of what a Gandhian Satyagrahi
ought to be making all sorts of compromises to suit your own conveniences and comforts. Is it not the height of elitist egoistic
tendency? What authority does you have or any one else to do so, may I ask most respectfully and humbly?
21. Then, let us also be aware of the fact that we cannot use the name and fame of
Gandhiji and or of such words which might bring it in disrepute in the public eyes and for any public consumption without
the prior approval under the law of the land. Have we taken any such permission from the competent authority to use his name
as commerce, to raise funds in his name and so on.
22. Then not satisfied with all this, you have also gone to the length of abrogating
to your own good-self the right to redefine the parameters of Satyagraha, setting at naught all the limitations that Gandhiji
had set, just to enable your coteries and your own good-self not to be deprived of the cool comfort of all the logistics and
conveniences and facilities, including that of India International Centre and India Habitat Centre etc..
23. How does this match the Spirit of Satyagraha, I fail to understand?
24. According to you the place Jantar Mantar, designated by the government and accepted
by the people at large to vent their feelings and emotions with regard to certain policies affecting the people adversely,
is something ‘Humbug’ and not suitable for Satyagraha. Sir, does it not show scant regard of the common man in
the yes of you ‘elites’ and yet you want to bask in the glory of the name and fame of Gandhiji. What a joke? Does
it not amount to something as super humbug and a hoax. Can we remember that whenever Gandhiji visited Delhi, he preferred to stay in the Harijan Basti. The place still bears testimony to this.
25. I, therefore, urge upon your good-self to stop all this with immediate effect.
26. Coming to your demand for signing the pledge, I am constrained to write that
in the past as well you had similarly created an unwarranted situation for me to sign a pledge for the adherence of a ‘Code
of Conduct’, under the aegis of Lok Sevak Sangh/Servants of People Society, by sending the format of the pledge to me,
the same way you have again sent this time. And while I was just wondering as to the manner in which I should respond without
embarrassment to either side and hence while I was trying to borrow time by keeping away from giving any response to that
request of yours, as it needed some very crucial clarifications, as the proposed pledge contained certain such stipulations
which had far reaching implications. For example, it stipulated that in case of any difference or dispute, I would not go
to any Court and that the matter shall be settled within the society and that shall be binding on me.
27. At that time also it was my dilemma that how come to expect such a ridiculous
pledge to be signed a person like me, who is in no way structurally bound and connected with the Servants of People Society,
as I go their only to join in the deliberations on issues on public interests, e.g., corruption in public probity, rural development
etc., whenever invited as a social worker in my own right, and therefore, the aforesaid pledge was totally irrelevant in my
view.
28. However, before I could get any opportunity to seek any such elucidation on the
aforesaid contentious issue of vital importance to me, you stage managed an abrupt show, in the presence of all those attending
the meeting, by announcing that the ‘Code of Conduct’ is yet to be signed by the three persons, viz. (1) your
own good-self, (2) the then President of Servants of People Society (Delhi Branch), Shri Prasanna Vadan Mehtaji, and (3) lastly
myself, i.e., Avadhesh Kumar and in the same vein you dramatically took out one copy of the aforesaid format from your own
file and made a show by signing the same, followed by the President of Servants of People Society (Delhi Branch), Shri Prasanna
Vadan ji Mehta, with the result I could only found myself in a very embarrassing situation, practically leaving no scope for
the mental-set-up of mine to put even a simple question as to ‘why it is required from me, who is no way any part of
your structure and how you expect me to surrender my own interests to the whims and fancy of those who are supposed to have
no legal or formal obligation to safeguard my interest in preference to their own?’.
29. However, taking it to be an internal matter of the Society and having a positive
bent of mind, I took a very liberal view and decided not to come in the way of your expectations, in the wider interest of
the work you have undertaken, and hence I also followed the ritual of signing the much publicized ‘Code of Conduct’.
30. However, the later experience has not been pleasant at all and even you, your-own-good-self,
having forgotten all that, is guilty of having violated that very solemn ‘Code of Conduct’. Meaning thereby you
have placed your own position at a higher pedestal as an arbiter of what is ethical and what is not. It is in this context
as well, I do not want to be made a victim for no fault of mine or for my simple fault that I have reposed faith and trust
in your good-self and that in the ‘Society’, which in spite of all this I still wish to preserve and maintain.
Therefore, I am constrained to write all this in detail just to prevent the recurrence of getting myself further bonded repeatedly
and landing myself in further trouble.
31. I may bring it to your very kind notice and to all your other colleagues in the
matter, that I am painfully regretful to say all this and therefore, before writing this letter, I took care to interact with
my other friends also, specially those who have been instrumental in reaching-out to those 40,000 poor men and women residing
in the remote villages of U. P., Haryana and Rajasthan, who are struggling day-in and day-out to eke out a living to keep
death and hunger at bay, and yet they could come forward to spare a portion of their daily bread by way of their humble contribution
in the form of 20 Paise/25 Paise each, for the success of the two-day dialogue on Hunger and Violence at IGNOU, at the inaugural
function of which it was a moment of great pleasure for us to have offered our heartiest felicitations to a Senior Citizen
and Freedom Fighter like your good-self along with another very senior and eminent luminary in the galaxy of Freedom Fighters,
Sri Shanti Swaroop Dataji, who is a well respected figure in public esteem through out the region of Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Shri Radhakrishnaji and Shri Vasudevanji bear testimony to this.
32. Now, as things are taking a sad turn, I am led to feel that perhaps it was in
the spate of the tide of my all good intentions, a great folly was committed, and the culprit is none other than my own-self,
as my other colleagues had not known to you before.
33. You might remember that in response to your communication to Sri Shanti Swaroop
Dataji, with regard to the Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade, he wanted to know, whether the so-called Satyagrahis would be prepared
to shed or part with the facilities, in full or in part, they are enjoying from the government. Though it is yet to be known
as to what has been your response to this poser? However, I would further take this opportunity to extend this issue with
the query that in case a situation arises where you have to chose between the so-called ‘Ethics’ on the one hand
and some commercial interests of the organization of which you are the Vice-President, viz. Servants of People Society (Delhi
Branch), which way the balance of the conscious of your ethics will tilt? I do not know what you would say, but unfortunately,
the experience has registered the story on the wrong side.
34. For this, I would not like to blame your good-self, because it is a common human
weakness and you are not any exception to it. But what I would certainly like to emphasise that you are not one of those who
are cut against this, and hence you do not have any moral right to ask anybody else to sign a pledge of leading an ethical
or moral life and hence would it not be a mockery to do so?
35. What Moral or Ethical Right then do we have to ask the Hon’ble Prime Minister
Shri Manmohan Singhji to go beyond and ignore the ‘Compulsions of Coalition’, when we ourselves cannot dare to
go beyond our own ‘Compulsions of Parochial Interests’, is a Million Dollar Question.
36. Further, it is something very ridiculous to note that now you have, without any
compunctions, even gone to the extent of claiming to assume the parallel role of your so-called ‘Satyagraha’ with
that of Acharya Vinoba Bhave and Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru? Is it not preposterous? Do we stand even a fig to their stature?
So, please, let us stop talking hollow tall talks. We have had enough of it.
37. Sir, in all humility, I may please be permitted to say that MOVEMENTS ARE NOT
GENERATED ON HILLTOPS, of-course hilltops, nevertheless, do have their own identity and importance as beauty spots, picnic
spots, for holidaying to relax from the grind of a hectic life style, or place for rest and recreation far from the din of
maddening crowd.
38. The gene of Satyagraha demands action, howsoever small it might be and not balloons
of words, written or spoken as is being done by your good-self for more than a decade now.
39. Sir, even if it is agreed for a moment, that alright let us make one more start
afresh, then normal etiquette of procedure demands, forget ethics, that you must apprise with the state-of-the-art position
and the situation, to the new players, before launching any strategy old or new, lest it would be keeping in dark your own
new fellow-travelers and would amount to fooling them and thus would be bordering on the betrayal of the trust, they have
reposed in us.
40. Borrowing words from juristic parlance, I am constrained to point out that we
shall be guilty of keeping them, the so-called Satyagrahis, misinformed, with the calculated view and intention to eke out
their support and help in every possible way, including ‘Fund Raising’.
41. Be it known that any money raised from the public at-large in the name of ‘Gandhiji’
and ‘his activities’ must go either to the ‘Gandhi Smarak Nidhi’, Rajghat New Delhi, set up by law
for the purpose or to the ‘Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti’, again set up by the law of the land and recognized
all over. This is further corroborated by the very fact that you your-self have expressed and emphasised in your communications
that your first preference would be to organize the Satyagraha either at Rajghat, near Gandhi Samadhi or near Gandhi Smriti
and Darshan Samiti or be taken over by the appropriate Department/Ministry of the Government of India, for the propagation
of Gandhian values and the spirit of ‘Satyagraha’, as a mark of observance of the 100th year of ‘Satyagraha’.
42. Till such time the appropriate authority/agency is not identified or created
to take over the management of the “FUNDS” so raised in the name of ‘Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade’,
the operation of the Funds with the Bank Account be suspended and seized, to avoid any further complication in the matter.
43. You would very kindly recall that in the very first Promotional Meeting for the
‘Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade’, by the above named 4 (four) of us viz. (1) Dr. N. Radhakrishnan, (2) Sri N. Vasudevan,
(3) your-good-self and (4) myself, it was unanimously decided that all the Funds Raised in the name of the ‘Gandhian
Satyagraha Brigade’, will be jointly operated by any 2 (two) of the 4 (four) of us, and for this a Bank Account will
be opened in the Lajpat Nagar Branch of Canara Bank.
44. And with this purpose and objective, you even took care to take Specimen Signatures
of all of us, including (1) Dr. N. Radhakrishnan, (2) Sri N. Vasudevan, (3) and myself, on the official document of Canara
Bank itself, prescribed for the purpose.
45. No doubt the Bank Account has now been opened in the same aforesaid Canara Bank,
but with different set of people authorized to operate it. Who are those people? We have no knowledge. Who authorized them
and with what authority or sanction is a mystery.
46. Now, how this ‘Diversion of Funds’, has been allowed to take place
and that too in the name of ‘Gandhian Ethics’? I fail to understand.
47. What has happened to those ‘Specimen Signatures’, I have yet to know?
I am very much worried, lest it could be misused.
48. As far my information goes, neither Dr. N. Radhakrishnan, nor Sri N. Vasudevan,
are aware of the fate of those ‘Specimen Signatures’, you so religiously obtained from us for opening the Bank
Account and Operation thereof, jointly and not severally.
49. Is it not the height of every thing?
50. All these events tend to unfold a story of an exercise to siphon-off the ‘Funds’
raised in pursuance of an effort to make “India Free From Hunger and Violence”, to mark the observance of “100th
Year of Satyagraha”, through the forum of ‘Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade’, to be cornered and taken to ‘Servants
of People Society’, through the tacit maneuvering of your own.
51. You have stated in one of your letters that all the activities of Lok Sevak Sangh/Servants
of People Society stand transferred to ‘Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade’. How is it? Has any such decision being taken
by the two parties separately and then agreed to jointly?
52. At least, on behalf of ‘Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade’, I take this
opportunity to say that it is not so, and it may please be noted with capital NO.
53. This further goes to corroborate that all this is your own tacit maneuvering
to corner and siphon-off the FUNDS RAISED in the name of ‘Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade’.
54. I am therefore, taking care to mark a copy of this letter to the various authorities
concerned, including that of the Canara Bank, where you have cared to open the Bank Account in the name of ‘Gandhian
Satyagraha Brigade’, but with a different set of alleged authorised signatories and thus have not only committed ‘Breach
of Trust’ but also of ‘Diversion of Funds’, no doubts a serious affair.
55. I am therefore, also, requesting Canara Bank to Freeze the Bank Account, so opened
in the name of ‘Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade’, with immediate effect, else they would also be responsible for collusion
in this FRAUD.
56. Every one likes to talk of ETHICS, but how many like to walk on it?
57. Even going by your own parameters, as at present, the so-called ‘Working
Committee’, is itself illegal and unconstitutional and hence NON-EST, as it has been formed without taking from the
respective so-called would be members, the necessary pledge of qualification conforming to qualify the parameters set forth
and after being duly scrutinized by either the promoters or by the General Body.
58. Sir, you must bear in mind that so far as ‘Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade’,
is concerned you are just one amongst the four of us viz. (1) Dr. N. Radhakrishnan, (2) Sri N. Vasudevan, (3) your-good-self
and (4) myself, and that you are in no way authorized to abridge or abrogate the role of others.
59. Before concluding I wish to reiterate that I write all this with an open heart
and open mind and malice to none, and am always open to correction, whenever found to be on the wrong side.
60. Jis taraha se paristhithian nirmit
huin hain, uske chalte mujhe mazbooran yeh sab likhne ke liye badhya hona parah hai aur iske liye main hirdaya se kshma prarthi
hoon.
61. And now it is also learnt that such maneuvering skills are not new for your ingenuity,
as has been seen in the exclusion of some such members, from the General Body of the internationally prestigious, “Transparency
International India”, who were the very founder of the organization. The Society Registration Act very specifically
lays down that it does not visualize the exclusion of its Founder Members, except under certain circumstances, and through
a certain procedure. But all this was not only flagrantly ignored, but even the Rules and Regulations of the “Society’,
where also arbitrarily amended in utter violation to the provisions laid down in the Societies Registration Act, under which
the aforesaid Organisation is supposed to be registered.
62. Gandhi ke is desh ka sabse bara durbhagya
is ‘SATYA’ mein hai ki jo apne ko bara samajhta hai woh apne se chotey ko kabhi bhi thenga dikhane me koi gurez-parhez
nahin karta.
63. The root cause of all the corruption is Money, Money and Money. And alas in the
name of fighting corruption, we the so-called Gandhians are also engaged in the same corrupt practice.
64. Hence, let there be No Collection of Funds in the name of ‘Satyagraha to
fight corruption’, or this much publicized ‘Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade’, forthwith.
65. Is it not a blatant exploitation of the sentiments and emotions of millions and
millions of our countrymen in the name of Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation and activities related to his cherished ideals,
i.e. Truth and Non-Violence?
66. Is it not more deprecating than any financial bungling? Because financial losses
may once be redeemed, but how the loss of Credibility of a Public Worker, in the esteem of the general public could be redeemed,
is anybody’s guess? It is the worst form of ‘Corruption in Public Probity.’
67. I also take this opportunity to share my aforesaid views with all those concerned,
in wider interests of public good and to preserve the sanctity of the name and fame of the Mahatma and his legacy.
68. I, Avadhesh Kumar, is one of the 4 (four) co-promoters of ‘Gandhian Satyagraha
Brigade’, in whose name and on whose behalf Shri S. D. Sharma has been issuing Appeals through out the length and breath
of the country and by his subsequent actions has brought my name and myself in a very vulnerable position along with my other
2 (two) colleagues, namely (1) Dr. N. Radhakrishnan, (2) Sri N. Vasudevan, and hence, I am constrained to take this measure
as a safeguard to prevent further damages.
Yours
sincerely,
Avadhesh
Kumar
Co-Promoter
of Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade
And also a Member of the
so-called
Working Committee of Gandhian
Satyagraha Brigade
Copy to:
(1)
Dr. N. Radhakrishnan, (2) Sri N. Vasudevan, (3) other
members/supporters of Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade.
Avadhesh
Kumar
Copy to:
(1) The Manager, Canara
Bank, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi-110024, with the remarks that he take note of the contents of the letter seriously, as it is
a matter of great public importance and hence should take immediate steps to freeze the operation of the Bank Account in the
name of ‘Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade’ to avoid any further complications.
(2) General Manager, Banking
Division, Reserve Bank of India, for necessary
action in the matter
(3) Secretary, Ministry
of Finance, Banking Division, Government of India,
(4) Dr. T.K.A. Nair, IAS,
Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India.
Avadhesh
Kumar
