Lecture on Azaadi Bachao Andolan

Sagar Mhatre Vashi, TNN 27 August 2003, 03:29am IST

Navi Mumbai Sthanakwasi Jain Sangh, Vashi had arranged a lecture on Azaadi Bachao Andolan, by Rajiv Dixit, at Anuvrat Sabhagruha, sector 9, on the occasion of Padyushan on 24th August at 9 pm.

Padyushan is a Jain festival - which will go on till 31st August - during which Jains observe fast and arrange religious and social functions. President of Jain Sangha, Hiralal Sabadra and secretary Shirash Mody, along with Ashok Dage, arranged the function.

The Azaadi Bachao Andolan (ABA) is the all India organisation striving for achieving Real Swaraj, cherished by Mahatma Gandhi. The ABA has spread into 300 districts, with offices in every district. There are about 10,000 patriotic workers doing part time national service while pursuing their own job, profession or business, under the leadership of Rajiv Dixit, who has denunciated worldly affairs and has dedicated his life to the nation. Dixit, who was an aeronautical engineer by profession, uses his engineering background for talking in terms of facts and figures.

To start with, Dixit described how the country got into a debt trap, devaluation of currency and GATT agreement. As per his information, “India is under a total debt of Rs 18,000 crores and each citizen carries a debt of Rs 18,000.”

Now, the state governments are also permitted to take loans from international bodies and Dixit stated some of the ridiculous reasons given by different states to borrow money, which included building urinals in schools, covering manholes. He also clearly stated that it is not only politicians but also MNCs who are on a looting spree in the country. He gave a clear and disappointing picture of the period after the GATT agreement will be enforced on 1st Jan 2003, when the tariff barriers and quantitative restrictions of government will be no more or diluted. “

The first victims of this might be Indian farmers who can’t compete with farm products of the US, which are highly subsidised. This will result in selling of the farmland. They will then flock to the cities as labourers,” he said. He also exposed the service sector, which will be thrown open to the MNCs.

Dixit also presented some solutions like a mass movement for declaring money kept in the Swiss bank, to get it nationalised. ABA is collecting one crore signatures to take this issue to the parliament or to the Supreme Court to file a PIL.

The speaker talked about abolishing income tax and referred to tax as a source of generating black money. He also revealed that people do not trust the government anymore for the usage of their tax money. Most of the health, education and social services are run by NGOs ie, the people themselves.

He also went a step further and urged people to live a simple life based on swadeshi products, including home remedies. ABA sells booklets regarding the same, he informed. He also unveiled many myths about medicines and medical services. ABA ‘s books were made available without any copyright for more publicity.

The work of ABA can be referred on www.freedomindia.com and www.azadibachaoandolan.com.