12 Monday 29th August, 2011 The Island Features

Against the Tide tax evasion and bribes turns into black money. A through comprehensive constructive programs BY PROFESSOR VIPIN TRIPATHI major sector where black money is generated and and these were directed against the system. Anna Hazari and his supporters have won a major circulated is real estate. In last eight years prices Gandhi never employed fast as a weapon of satya- victory with the Indian Parliament accepting their t is unfortunate that when a serious initiative of land and homes in Delhi, for instance, have graha. Whenever he underwent fast it was under gone up eight fold and only a small fraction of deep agony and was meant to arouse self intro- demands unanimously. True, the Hazari fast has to curb corruption and black money was need- Ied two fasts, by Anna Hazare and Baba Ram money involved in these dealings is in white. spection and sensitivity in the masses. His historic projected corruption as a major issue in India and Dev, have diverted the focus onto two minor issues, Swiss Bank offers 1% or 1.5% interest on its fasts came against communal passions and brought a groundswell of support against it. Will the Lokpal bill and Swiss Bank accounts. There deposits, while real estate return is 30 times more, untouchability. He never encouraged any one to India however change? Will the momentum of the are already several institutions in the country to hence whatever black money goes to Swiss Bank, undertake fast as a short cut to ground work on Hazari movement evaporate once the enthusiasm check corruption, e.g., CAG, CBI, Police, Courts, eventually returns to Indian real estate, as one the issue at hand. He never undertook fast on any dies down? What are the structural changes need- JPC etc. If these are unable to contain it, how economist has recently pointed out. Unless this of the major satyagrahas he launched. ed to sustain the momentum in the long run? We give below the position of one of India’s lead- ing Nuclear Scientists and Social activists who was in Sri Lanka last year. His views contradict the opinion that has surged in the last few days in New Delhi.

would the addition of one more uproot source of black money, in which most upper and it? Corruption is not a phe- middle classes are involved, is choked, Swiss Bank Inset: nomenon propelled by the issue will have little value. An Open Letter to Anna Hazare present government alone. The corruption, that hurts common Respected Anna ji, The preceding regimes man directly is linked to i) day to day deal- can’t claim to be more ings with the government departments, Your fast, in last ten days, has aroused much honest. If it is an all e.g., police, tehsil (city or town Council), emotions in the country and has successfully pro- party pervading phe- courts, trains, ration shops, etc. where one jected corruption as an important issue. Beyond nomenon, then the sys- has to pay undue amounts of money to get this point, however, we believe the fast is of little tem that sustains cor- the genuine work done and ii) hoardings value, expect that it can destabilize the govern- ruption must be of essential commodities (to create artifi- ment and create social strife. The movement so far understood. cial scarcity and price rise) and private has not sprung a leadership, un-influenced by the Polity is intimate- money lending at exorbitant interest rates, market forces and connected to the grassroots, that ly linked to up to 10% per month. It rests on the could replace the present political parties. As a Economy. Our authority of bureaucrats and money and consequence, political instability, in its aftermath present day econo- Professor Vipin muscle power of the traders and money can only i) bring communal forces to power and ii) my is driven by Tripathi at last lenders. give market forces uncontrolled freedom. Anna or Ramdev have not indicated We need your guidance to evolve an alternative market forces, year’s dominated by the any program or vision to fight the corrup- polity at the grassroots, not dominated by the mar- trader, corporate Mahatma tion at the grassroots level or to choke the ket forces but rooted in the masses. We seek your and industrial Gandhi birth sources of black money and bribes at guidance in this endeavor and sincerely appeal to sectors. These anniversary higher levels. In fact their lack of empha- you to give up your fast. (26.08.11) sectors either put celebrations sis on corruption-free conduct of their fol- (Professor Vipin Tripathi is Professor of Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology in up their own men organized by lowers is gravitating the elements engaged in Assemblies and in corruption, be they trading classes or New Delhi, a position he has held since 1983. He is Parliament or the Mahatma the officers, towards them. As the same one of India’s leading Nuclear Physicists and is a influence the elect- Gandhi Centre elements provide the support base for visiting Professor at several international ed MPs and MLAs Colombo communalism, these campaigns are likely Universities. to have policies and to strengthen the communal forces. Anna Professor Tripathi founded the Sadbhav laws favourable to them. A and Ramdev, so far, have not shown apathy to com- Mission, a non-government, non-political organi- large part of exploitation of munal forces. Ramdev was, in fact, at the forefront zation committed to develop nonviolent resistance toiling masses comes through of RSS led campaign against ATS Chief Hemant against sectarianism 20 years ago. This movement unrestrained profit, approved by Karkare when he unearthed the involvement of is based on Gandhian principles. law. Where ever law comes in RSS aligned extremists in terror attacks. Anna too Professor Tripathi was the keynote speaker at the the way, these sections resort to had praise for sectarian figures and his campaign last Mahatma Gandhi celebrations organized by the bribes to get their work done. By was largely picked by the sectarian elements. I am Mahatma Gandhi Centre Colombo on the 2nd of paying a bribe of Rs. 1 crore they afraid the strategy of singling out only the ruling October 2010. His appeal to Anna Hazari given drive profit of 10 crore. The irony is A portrait of Mahatma Gandhi is seen in background alliance for confrontation may effectively help the above “We need your guidance to evolve an alterna- that these real beneficiaries of corruption return of sectarian forces to power, though I do tive polity at the grassroots, not dominated by the as Indian reform activist Anna Hazare gets ready to shout foul on politicians, often on relatively break his fast in New Delhi, India, Sunday, Aug. 28, not doubt liberal credentials of some of the people market forces but rooted in the masses”, reflects also minor irregularities, and themselves around him. the position of the Mahatma Gandhi Centre 2011. Hazare, whose protest galvanized the nation’s remain untouched. Political parties remain anger against corruption ended his 12-day hunger On the issue of nonviolent doctrine I would say Colombo, which stands for a political process to dependent on them for their survival as that all satyagrahas led by Gandhi had a strong evolve from the village, Gramarajya, and one not strike Sunday after forcing Parliament to throw its funding comes from them. weight behind his crusade. (AP component of mass involvement and preparedness imposed from the top downwards. It was also the Money generated through undue profit, theme of the Tripathi address in Colombo.) AH

BY NICK MEO, TRIPOLI gifts and invited to some of the world's most exclu- floor. He put that guy like a dog in a corner and then would help pay for treatment for her father, who has sive destinations. In Monaco she was taken to the he demanded that he eat the whole lot, there in front Alzheimer's. Mutassim Gaddafi's former girlfriend, Dutch Grand Prix and a dinner party attended by Princess of us. It was humiliating. I never saw the servant She only met him once, for a drink a week ago glamour model Talitha van Zon, talks to Nick Caroline. At Christmas, there was Mutassim's annu- again, and I don't know what happened to him. last Friday - the night before rebels attacked Tripoli. Meo about the dying days of the Gaddafi regime. al excursion to the Caribbean island of Saint Barts, "Afterwards he must have apologised to me a mil- Mutassim seemed relaxed, comparing the Libyan with his entourage flown there in his private lion times for it. He said I was one of the few people uprising to the riots in London, and arguing that the Filipino servants wearing spotless white jackets Boeing. When Mutassim was in Paris or London he who was a real friend and says what she feels. He police had to be tough. "He said the rebels were a bit mixed his favourite Jack Daniels whisky and coke, would book several floors of the most expensive said he didn't get that from many people." crazy in the head," she recalled. "He said that in and then Mutassim Gaddafi raised his glass and hotels, filling them with his friends, and the finest The hedonist son also had ambitions for power, countries like Libya you have to do it a bit harder, toasted the victory that he was sure was close. Italian hairdressers would be flown in from Italy, at inspired by his father's example. "He worshipped his otherwise they don't listen. Relaxing in one of his Tripoli homes just over a a cost of 5,000 euros per time. father," Miss Van Zon said. "He talked a lot about "There was no fear that the regime was going to week ago, during a break from commanding at the "I asked him once how much he spent, and he Hitler, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez. He liked leaders lose. I think he was a little bit in denial." front, the fifth son of Libya's ruler was in a defiant took a minute to add it up in his head," Miss van Zon who had a lot of power. He always said 'I want to do One of the reasons for his upbeat mood may have mood. Soon, he boasted to the blonde foreigner sit- recalled. "He said 'about $2 million'. I said 'you mean better than my father'." been because his star had risen within the regime. ting with him, he would lead his father's regime to a a year?' He said 'no – a month'." He is once said to have tried to take power in a Mutassim had directed some of Gaddafi's toughest victory over the "rats". Mutassim, who is aged around 35, was fun, like- failed coup, and was exiled to Egypt for several years units in battles around Benghazi and Misurata, and The woman at his side was Mutassim's ex-girl- despite their questionable per- friend Talitha van Zon, a Dutch glamour model formance, was starting to be who still regularly visited him in the Libyan capi- seen as Colonel Gaddafi's war- tal. rior son, the effective heir in Her most recent trip, however, proved to be a waiting. far cry from the luxury break she was used to - as The day after her drink with the Libyan regime crumbled last week and her Mutassim, Miss van Zon left in a male companion took flight, she endured several Mutassim Gaddafi's girlfriend tells convoy for Tunisia, but it was days of utter terror as battles raged around her ambushed and she had to turn five star hotel. back. As gun battles raged in the On Wednesday, The Sunday Telegraph found city, his staff took her to a hotel, her alone and frightened in a Tripoli hospital where she was put into the care ward, where she was being treated for injuries of a Libyan woman official. after leaping from a hotel balcony - apparently "As the battle was going on I fearful that a group of rebels were about to burn of the final days of Libyan regime spoke to the hotel staff and for her alive. perhaps the first time heard Before she was evacuated from the city by a what Libyans really thought of humanitarian ship to Malta on Friday, though, Mutassim Gaddafi Muammar Gaddafi. People said they hated him she gave an extraordinary account of the final and that he had ruined their lives." days of the Gaddafi regime - an insight into a family able, hedonistic and loyal to his friends - and gener- before being allowed to return. As a gesture of for- When the rebels arrived at the hotel, she begged who will fight to the death and destroy their country ous too. He showered Miss van Zon with presents, giveness, his father appointed him as national secu- for help from the female official: instead the woman before they give up power. giving her the entire collection of Louis Vuitton rity director, although Miss van Zon still saw signs dragged her out of her room and paraded her before "I was shocked when I met Mutassim. He had bags and an expensive watch. of his sibling rivalry with his elder brother Saif, the fighters. Miss van Zon did not understand what changed," said Miss van Zon. "It was the first time I At the time she was untroubled by her friendship who seemed the favoured successor. was being said in Arabic, but picked up the word had seen him since just before the February upris- with the son of the former "Mad Dog" of the Middle He also appeared to confirm Libya's role in the "benzene" (petrol) several times and became con- ing. He had a beard, he was sitting on a couch East. After all, Britain and France had made up 1988 Lockerbie bombing, which the regime had long vinced that they were going to burn her to death. strewn with automatic weapons, and he was guarded their differences with him, and Libya was wide open officially denied involvement in despite paying com- for Western business. She was curious about his pensation to the families of the 270 victims. Alone, terrified, and by her own admission para- by unsmiling 16-year-old boys with sub-machine noid, she threw herself from a hotel balcony, break- father, although she was never allowed to meet him. "We had a big discussion about Lockerbie when guns." On the wall behind was a huge portrait of his ing an arm and suffering back injuries. The hotel "You must become a Muslim first," Mutassim had he was in Amsterdam for a couple of days," Miss father, Muammar Gaddafi. staff took her to hospital through streets where told her. Van Zon said. "I said the victims were civilians, not As he swirled his whisky in the glass, ice chink- there were still fighting, at some risk to themselves. Invitations to Tripoli followed, and she spent days military, and he said 'Talitha, the Americans ing, Mutassim spoke of envying his brother Saif al- Now she is on her way home. Dutch tabloid news- in his beach house, his country estate and city villa, attacked our house in Libya and my father lost one Arab Gaddafi, who was "martyred" in a Nato bomb- paper reporters are waiting for her, excited at the replete with gold fittings and huge chandeliers. The child (a reference to the US bombing of Tripoli in ing back in late April. Libya's war had turned the prospect of a story about a Playboy centrefold, a interior decorating was lavish but in awful taste, she 1986).' He was quite open about the Libyans doing it likeable playboy she knew from the nightclubs of Gaddafi son, and a misadventure in the middle of a said. for revenge." Europe into a ruthless warrior. gigantic battle. "His eyes were cold," she said. "He looked capable "Of course I knew that it was not right to spend Her penultimate visit to him was in February, just before the uprising, when she remembered him com- "Coming to Libya in the middle of a war was the of killing someone, and he hadn't looked like that so much money like that," she said. "I asked him biggest mistake of my life," she said. before. I asked myself, not for the first time; what the many times about the welfare of the Libyan people, plaining about the "ungrateful people" in Libya's restive east. As the uprising unfolded, she found it Mutassim's whereabouts are unknown; rebels are hell am I doing in Libya?" and he said the schools and hospitals were free, that enthusiastically ransacking his luxurious homes. A former Playboy centrefold, Miss van Zon met rice and flour were cheap. It was hard for me to hard to believe the accounts of civilians being killed by the regime - but when she talked to Mutassim on He was last reported in the Bab al-Azizia com- Mutassim in an Italian nightclub in 2004, kindling a judge life in Libya for ordinary people – I was always pound, overrun last week by rebels. If he is still three-month relationship that ended when she staying in a gilded cage when I visited. They looked the phone, she heard a different man to the one she had known. He now used phrases like "wipe them alive, he is perhaps preparing to die a martyr's death learned that she "was not the only woman in his happy enough." like his brother. life". But the girl from Rotterdam remained friends She did, though, see occasional flashes of temper, out" or "show them no mercy". with the son of the powerful Arab leader, and as in particular on one occasion where a servant had Then, at the end of August, she made what she called her 'big mistake', returning to Libya. Assured © The Telegraph their friendship blossomed, she was drawn into a brought in a meal that was cold. Group London 2011 fabulous private world of luxury, showered with "He shouted at the guy and threw plates on the by Mutassim that the regime was prevailing in its battle for survival, she was also hoping that he