Email: gandhiansb@gmail.com Tel.: 011 – 26460825
Website: http://www.gandhiansatyagrahabrigade.org/ 011 – 26224711

GANDHIAN SATYAGRAHA BRIGADE
A NON-PARTY ORGANISATION OF GANDHIAN PERSUASION IN THE SERVICE OF THE NATION

LAJPAT BHAWAN, LAJPAT NAGAR-IV,
NEW DELHI 110 024.

June 7, 2008
Dear Fellow Countrymen/Dear Fellow Citizens,
Sub: Satyagraha for Probity in Public Life and elimination of Corruption and Criminality from Indian Politics
We may introduce ourselves as a non-party, not for profit organization of Gandhian persuasion, free from communalism or casteism and consisting of Freedom Fighters, Sarvodaya workers, retired High Court Chief Justices and Judges, Senior Advocates, Doctors, Engineers, Chartered Accountants, and retired IAS, IPS and other senior retired Civil and Defence Officers – all concerned citizens, generally in the age group of 60 to 90 years from Delhi and other regions of the country, with none interested in power or money, name or fame.
2. As you are no doubt aware corruption accentuates poverty, aggravates economic disparity, thwarts development, undermines democracy and, what is worse, destroys the moral fibre of the Nation. Of the various forms of corruption rampant in our country, we regard the political corruption, particularly of some of the Ministers, MPs and MLAs as a greater betrayal of the Nation. No surprise that India has been branded by reliable International and Indian institutions as one of the 20 most corrupt countries of the world. The Supreme Court in its various judgements has termed our country’s corruption as ‘plague’, ‘cancer’ and ‘aids’.
3. You will perhaps agree that for cleaning a staircase we have to begin at the top. How will our Rulers control the rampant corruption at lower levels, unless they, without a single exception, are above board and set an example of absolute integrity, transparency and accountability. After an indepth study of the problem and consultations with senior retired Judges and leading Advocates, we requested the Central Government, Prime Minister and Parliament to enact fool-proof legislations to give effect to our following three demands or remedial measures:-
(I) (a) Enactment of a high calibre 3-member effective Lok Pal (or Rashtriya Lok Ayukta) to adjudicate speedily the bonafide and serious complaints made on affidavits against MPs and Union Ministers. These complaints may relate to abuse of authority for personal or party gains, corruption, bribery, misuse of Government privileges and facilities and misuse of MPLAD and MLALAD schemes and disproportionate assets, false declarations of assets, false declarations re: election expenses, incurred generally far in excess of the legal ceilings.
(b) The UPA and Congress Party, the NDA and Bhartiya Janata Party and the CPI (Marxist) had promised in their manifestos re: enactment of Lok Pal legislation but alas there is no Lok Pal. The Union Government and Parliament have deliberately avoided to name the Competent Authority, without whose sanction no prosecution can be launched against MPs and Union Ministers under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Thus there is no forum left for speedy disposal of bonafide complaints against MPs and Union Ministers.
(II) Disqualification of candidates for election to Parliament and State Legislatures against whom criminal cases involving moral turpitude filed six months before the election may be going on (as recommended by the two former Chief Election Commissioners Shri T.S. Krishnamurthy and Shri B.B.Tandon), unless there is a stay or order in restraint by the High Court concerned.
(III) Forfeiture of illegally acquired property of public servants and functionaries, as recommended by the Law Commission of India under the Chairmanship of Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy, as far back as February 1999.
It is noteworthy that all the above three remedial measures have also been recommended in unequivocal terms by the second Administrative Reforms Commission appointed by the UPA Government, in their Report on Ethical Governance.
4. We deeply regret to inform you that there has been no response from the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh Ji or the Chairperson of UPA, Shrimati Sonia Gandhi, and our frantic appeals have been treated with ominous silence, compelling us to resume again our non-party weekly Satyagraha in the Gandhian way, which is going on in Delhi & elsewhere in the country.
5. We enclose for your perusal and record (i) List of our Working Committee members, (ii) List of a few eminent moral supporters of our campaign and (iii) The qualifications of a Satyagrahi borrowed from the earlier writings of Mahatma Gandhi. In the uphill task we have undertaken we earnestly appeal to you to lend your active support in the enclosed reply paid envelope. An early reply shall be more than a favour. Thanking you and with regards,
Yours sincerely,
For Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade
S.D. Sharma
Hony. General Secretary
(a freedom fighter of Gandhiji’s 1942 Quit India movement, now in his 90th year)

List of few esteemed persons out of about 500 who have extended their Moral Support (from 2005-08) for the three demands to eradicate political corruption, for which Satyagraha will be launched by the Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade

(A) Judiciary:
1. Justice R.C. Lahoti, former Chief Justice of India
2. Justice Rajindar Sachar, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court
3. Justice D.S. Tewatia, former Chief Justice of Kolkata High Court
4. Justice T.U. Mehta, former Chief Justice of Himachal High Court
5. Justice Kamleshwar Nath, former Judge, Allahabad High Court
(B) Senior Jurists:
1. Shri Soli J. Sorabjee, former Attorney General of India
2. Shri Fali. S. Nariman (also former Member of Parliament)
(C) Former Governors:
1. Admiral R.H. Tahiliani, former Governor Sikkim &Chairman, TI India
2. Shri R.K. Trivedi, former Governor, Gujarat
3. Shri O.P. Mehra, former Governor, Punjab
4. Shri Govind Narain, former Governor, Karnataka
5. Shri M.M. Rajendran, former Governor, Orissa
(D) Vice Chancellors (Present & Former):
1. Shri Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).
2. Prof. K.K. Agarwal, Vice Chancellor, G.G.S. Indraprastha University, Delhi
3. Prof. G.K. Chadha, former Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
4. Dr. Bimalendu Mohanty, former Vice Chancellor, Utkal University of Culture, Bhubaneswar, Orissa
5. Dr Samani Mangal Prajna, Vice Chancellor Jain Vishvabharati Institute, Ladnun-341 306
6. Prof. K.V. Ramana,
Vice Chancellor Andhra University, Visakhapatnam (A.P.)
(E) Gandhian Institutions & Gandhians:
1. Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi
i. Ms. Radha Bhatt, Chairperson
ii. Shri P.V. Rajagopal, Vice Chairman, also Janadesh, Ekta Parishad
2. Sarva Seva Sangh, Varanasi
i. Shri Amarnath Bhai
ii. Shri Satya Paul
iii. Shri Avinash Chandra
3. Dr. Y.P. Anand, former Director, Gandhi Museums & former Chairman, Railway Board
4. Gandhi Seva Sangh, Sevagram, Wardha
5. Gandhian Institute of Studies, Varanasi
6. Sarvodaya Ashram, Ahmedabad (Shri Hasmukh Patel, Secretary)
7. Smt. Janaki Subramanium, Bangalore
8. Smt. R.S. Devi, New Delhi
9. Ms. Delia Maria, Friends of the Gandhi Museum, Pune
10. Shri K.S. Sastry and four other colleagues, Visakhapatnam
11. Shri Amrut Modi, Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad
12. Shri Sooryakant Parikh, Ahmedabad
13. Kumar Prashant, Mumbai
(F) Former Chief Election Commissioners
1. Shri N. Vittal, Chennai
2. Shri R.K. Trivedi, Ahmedabad
3. Shri B.B. Tandon
(G) Journalists
1. Shri Kuldip Nayar
2. Shri B.G. Verghese
(H) Former Union Government Secretaries
1. Shri N.N. Vohra
2. Shri R. Srinivasan
3. Shri M.K. Kaw
(I) Former Chief Secretaries of States
1. Shri N.S. Sethi, former Chief Secretary, Madhya Pradesh
2. Shri G.C.L. Joneja, former Chief Secretary, Orissa & former Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy, Mussoorie
3. Shri S. Reghunathan, former Chief Secretary, Delhi
(J) Present & Former Members of Parliament
1. Shri Saifuddin Soz, Hon’ble Minister (for Lok Pal)
2. Shri AR Antulay Hon’ble Minister (for Lok Pal on telephone)
3. Shri Manubhai Patel, Baroda (Lok Sabha) President, Servants of the People Society
4. Shri Prasannvadan Mehta, Bhavnagar (Lok Sabha)
Secretary, Servants of the People Society
5. Shri N.K. Bhat (Rajya Sabha), INTUC
6. Shri Sharad Yadav, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)
7. Shri George Fernandes, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha)
8. Shri A.B. Bardhan, General Secretary (Communist Party of India)
9. Shri Shyama Charan Gupta, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha)
10. Shri Rajneesh Chaudhary, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)
11. Shri P. Karunakaran, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha)
12. Shri M.S. Swaminathan, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)
13. Shri N. Gujral, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)
15. Shri Rana Gurjeet Singh, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha)
16. Prof. Raja Singh, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha)
17. Shri Chandra Mani Tripathi, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha)
18. Dr. Vallabh Bhai Katharia, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha)
(K) Income Tax Commissioners & Chartered Accountants
1. Shri D.N. Chaudhari, I.R.S.
2. Shri G.P. Garg, I.R.S.
3. Shri Pankaj Agarwal, New Delhi
4. Shri Khamesra, New Delhi
5. Shri Salil Gupta, Kolkata
(L) Retired Senior Police Officers
1. Shri Trilok Nath, I.P.
2. Shri I.C. Dwivedi, I.P.S.
3. Shri R.K. Khandelwal, I.P.S.
4. Shri B.R. Lall, I.P.S.
5. Shri P.S. Bawa, I.P.S.
6. Shri R.K. Kapoor, I.P.S.
(M) Retired Senior Defence Officers
1. Army:
(i) Lt. Gen. Shekatkar, Pune
(ii) Maj. Gen. B.K. Mehta
(iii) Maj. General J.N. Taimni
(iv) Brig. Kaicker
(v) Brig. Sada Ram
(vi) Brig. H.S. Kapur
(vii) Brig. K.N. Sharma
(viii) Col. CM. Ramakrishnan
(ix) Seven Lt. Cols.
(2) Navy
(i) Admiral R.H. Tahiliani (mentioned earlier)
(ii) Cdr Prakash Vasudeva
(iii) Capt. C.M. Vyas
(3) Air Force
(i) Air Chief Marshal, Arjan Singh, New Delhi
(ii) Air Marshal, SK. Sen
(iii) AVM V.B. Batra
(iv) AVM U. Khushlani
(v) AVM Surenji Goyal
(vi) Gr. Capt. S.C. Bahri
(vii) Wg. Cdr. N.S. Jayaswal
(N) Retired Senior IAS/IFS Officers
(In addition to those mentioned earlier)
1. Dr. Bhupinder Singh, I.A.S.
2. Shri G.N. Mehra, I.A.S.
3. Shri M.N. Buch, I.A.S., Gurgaon
4. Shri Prem K. Budhwar,
5. Shri Saran Singh, I.A.S.
6. Shri V.S. Chaudhari, IAS
7. Shri Kirpa Narain, I.A.S.
8. Shri M.M. Khurana, I.A.S.
9. Shri O.P. Dube, I.A.S.
10. Shri D.K. Oza, Chennai (and 4 others)
(O) Freedom Fighters
1. Shri K.S. Sastry (Mentioned earlier) along with four Freedom Fighters, Visakhapatnam
2. Dr. N. Bhaskara Rao
3. Rajyogandra Guruji with eight Freedom Fighters from Karnataka
4. Shri H.R. Suri
5. Shri J..K. Agarwal
6. Shri Malaba Ram Basra
7. Shri O.P. Chopra
8. Shri R.D. Saini
9. Shri Surya Mani Panda
10. Dr. S. Shivarajappa
11. Shri I.K. Agarwal
12. Shri O.P. Chopra (and 10 others)
(P) Special Mention
1. Ms. Vimala Thakar
2. Dr. S.N. Subba Rao
3. Dr. Vinod Prakash, U.S.A. Local Add: New Delhi.
(Q) Volunteers for Indefinite Fast
1. S.D. Sharma, Delhi (mentioned earlier)
2. Shri Omkar Razdan, New Delhi
3. Shri Murari Lal Gupta, New Delhi
4. Dr. Kundan Lal Dua, Hodal, Faridabad
5. Shri K.P. Sahu, Bhubneswar
6. Shri E. James Rajsekaran, Madurai
7. Shri A.K. Tiwari, Lucknow

Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade– Working Committee Members
(as on 7.6.2008)

1. Justice Kamleshwar Nath
‘Gunjan’, C-105, Nirala Nagar,
Lucknow - 226 020
Ph.: 0522- 2789033, 4016459(M): 9415010746
Email: justicekn@gmail.com
(former Judge, Allahabad High Court & Up-Lok Ayukta, Karnataka)
2. Justice Rajindar Sachar
A-19, New Friends Colony,
New Delhi - 110 065
Ph.: 26847786 (M.): 9810009644
Email: rsachar1@vsnl.net
(former Chief Justice, Delhi High Court)
3. Admiral R.H. Tahiliani (retd.)
290, Defence Colony, Sector-17,
Gurgaon (Haryana)
Ph: 95124-2340182 (M) 9810030310
Email: admiralrht@hotmail.com
(former Chief of Naval Staff & former Governor Sikkim, Chairman, Transparency International India)
4. Dr. Y.P. Anand
513, Pocket-C,
Sector-A, Vasant Kunj,
New Delhi - 110 070.
Ph.: 26898913
Email: ypanandindia@yahoo.co.in
(former Chairman, Railway Board and former Director Gandhi Museum)
5. Shri M.G. Devasahayam,
103, Ceebros Bay View,
4th Seaward Road,
Valmiki Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur,
Chennai- 600 008
Ph.: 044-42171186
Email: mgd@airtelbroadband.in
(former Commissioner, Chandigarh)
6. Shri R. Srinivasan IAS
D-402, Kaveri, Alaknanda,
Kalkaji, New Delhi- 110 019
Ph.: 26029192 (M) 9810312858
Email: rsrinivasan32@gmail.com
(former Union Health Secretary)
7. Shri I.C. Dwivedi IPS
4/26, Vishal Khand,
Gomtinagar, Lucknow - 226 010
Tel.: 91-522-2391141, 4003481
(M.): 9415001468
Email: icdwivedi@gmail.com
(former DGP, UP)
8. Shri P.V. Rajagopal
‘Janadesh’ 2007,
Jangpura ‘A’ New Delhi- 110 014
(M.): 9810921240
Email:rajagopal_pv@rediffmail.com
(Vice Chairman, Gandhi Peace Foundation & President Ekta Parishad)
9. Prof. H.R. Dasegowda
No. 158, 7th ‘B’ Main, 3rd Cross,
R.P.C. Layout, (Hampinagara)
Bangalore - 560 040
(Director, Gandhi Bhawan Bangalore)
10. Shri B.R. Lall IPS (retd.)
H. No. 11, Officers Colony-II,
Opp. Civil Lines,
Gurgaon - 122 001
Ph: 95124-2339209 (M): 9871439097
Email: brlall@yahoo.co.in
(former DGP Rank Officer)
11. Shri R.K. Khandelwal IPS
B-4, Triveni Apartments,
Sheikh Sarai-I,
New Delhi - 110 017. Ph.: 26011888
Email: ram@vardan.net
(former DGP Rank Officer)
12. Prof. Shoaib Azmi
337-C/23, Batla House,
P.O. Jamia Nagar,
New Delhi- 110 025. Ph.: 41890383
(Ph.D., retired Professor from Jamia Millia))
13. Shri N. Vasudevan,
19, Rajghat Colony,
New Delhi-110 002. Ph.: 9810643550
Email: n_vasu@rediffmail.com
(Senior Gandhian Constructive Worker of Four decades)
14. Shri Prasannvadan Mehta
3, Yaguna Krupa,
Takhteshwar Plot,
Bhavnagar (Gujarat)
Phone: 0278-2515630
(former Member of Lok Sabha from Bhavnagar for 12 years and Secretary, Servants of the People Society)
15. Shri Onkar Chand
Servants of the People Society,
Sector-15-B, Chandigarh-160015
Mobile: 09814164502
Ph: (O) 0172-2780611 (R) 2542241
(Chariman Lok Sevak Sangh & Head Chandigarh Branch of Servants of the People Society)
16. Shambhu Dutt Sharma (S.D. Sharma)
KD-18A, Ashok Vihar-I,
New Delhi- 110 052
Ph.: 27427978
Email: sdsharma18a@gmail.com or gandhiansb@gmail.com
(Vice Chairman, Servants of the People Society Delhi Branch & a Freedom Fighter now in his 90th year)
17. Shri K.S. Sastry
48-13-2, Srinagar,
Visakhapatnam- 530 016 (Andhra Pradesh) Ph.: 0891-2755764
Email: sastrygandhicentre@yahoo.com
(Founder- Secretary, Gandhi Centre, Visakhapatnam)
18. Shri Bhagvanji Raiyani
Kuber Bhuvan, Bajaj Road,
Vile Parle (West), Mumbai-400 056
Ph.:(O): 26146009 Telefax: 26148872
(Res.) : 26105358, 26184225.(M.): 9820403912
Email: janhitmanch@vsnl.net

Qualifications for a Satyagrahi

(Partially borrowed from earlier writings of Gandhi Ji in South Africa)
1. He must have a living faith in God or Truth, for that is his only Rock.
2. He must believe in truth and non-violence as his creed and therefore have faith in the inherent goodness of human nature, which he expects to evoke by his truth and love expressed through his suffering.
3. He must be leading an ethical life and be ready and willing for the sake of his cause to make any sacrifice required of him.
4. He must carry out with a willing heart all rules of discipline as may be laid down from time to time.
5. He shall never discriminate against any person on the ground of religion, caste, gender, region, language or any other divisive tendency.
I have noted the above qualifications of a Satyagrahi and it shall be my earnest endeavour to observe and implement the same. (Sd/- Satyagrahi)
Note: Gandhi Ji’s basic postulates shall be observed while offering Satyagraha: (1) Satyagraha is a tapasya for Truth; there is no room in it for untruth or violence (2) In Satyagraha there is no enemy and (3) A Satyagrahi knows no defeat.

From : Name & Address (in block letters) & Tel. No. if any

............................................................................................ Place .....................

............................................................................................ Date .........................

............................................................................................

To: Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade c/o Lok Sevak Sangh, New Delhi – 110 024
Dear Sirs,
I acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated 13th May, 2008 and am glad to respond as under :
(a) I shall join the Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade for Satyagraha for probity in public life and elimination of corruption and criminality in Indian politics: please send me details..
Or (b) I support your three demands viz. (i) Appointment of Lok Pal (ii) Disqualification of candidates with corrupt or criminal antecedents (iii) Forfeiture of illegally acquired property of public servants including Ministers, MPs and MLAs; I shall send you my a/c payee cheque for some donation towards your Satyagraha expenses.

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