Let us get some facts right first - I am not for Corruption, and neither am I a card carrying member of any political party. I am just another Indian, who is equally frustrated by the way this country is being run by the government - any government, it does not matter - UPA, NDA, XYZ... they are all the same. I also get angry, very angry, when I see the sanctimonious nonsense that these politicians spout against corruption in public, knowing fully well that most of them, if not all, are venal and corrupt.
At the same time, I do not agree with Anna Hazare and his ilk. I believe that if you have institutions which are not functioning as they ought to, creating one more monster institutions does not help. In fact it creates bigger problems. The solution, I believe, is to fix the institutions using the methods that are available. My one simple question to Anna is - why dont you fight the elections? Anna Hazare knows that any election that he fights today, he will win, hands down. However, his reluctance to fight elections is testimony to the fact that Annasaheb does not want to strengthen the institutions, he wants to destroy them. He is a true Gandhian, in that sense - Gandhi did not want the British to reform, he wanted them to leave. In Annasaheb's case, he also wants the existing politicians, judges, civil servants to become subservient to a new super cop - he does not want to reform the cops and the system, it is too cumbersome and may throw up some new heroes.
It somewhat akin to saying that if your hand is not functioning well, for some reason, don't fix it, get a new hand, better still, create a super organ, that will now manage your hand. Same for head, brain, kidneys... I know that we are now bordering on absurdity.. but that is exactly what the civil society is asking for.
Has anyone in the civil society (learned members all) ever talked about joining the political system? Has any one of them Annasaheb, Bhushan (pere et fils), Kejriwals, Bedis, ever expressed a desire to get into the hurly burly of the Lok Sabha or the rarer echelons of the Rajya Sabha? Why not? Why are they so chary of something that we, as a country, should be justifiably proud - a parliamentary democracy? I believe that Annasaheb's team is not fascist, hence they do believe that democracy works, so why not get into the one forum which they keep criticizing, all the time? Frame policies, influence the policies and then, only then, pronounce judgments about whether the system works or not. If the system does not work, fix it. Get more like minded people to enter politics, fight elections, create own party... the solutions are many.
But no, Annasaheb's team knows it is a long haul, like any change in a democratic civil system. They want a vigilante justice. My way or highway. They know very well, that as Indians, we have almost a birthright on emotional outbursts sand logic. And this is what Annasaheb is waiting for, rather hoping for - an emotional outpouring of outrage over the so called 'politicians' who are destroying India, a popular middle- class uprising over the injustice meted out to Annasaheb, a scared government which only reacts to the antics of Arnab Goswami and/or the shrill banshee-like Sagarika Ghosh...the drama is being played out exactly as the learned men and women of Civil Society want, or hoped.
Annasaheb, what is the end game? Do you seriously think that the Parliament will consider your draft, even if it is presented as a private member's bill? You know it will not? So then what happens? Will you again go on a fast-unto-death for another 'mockpal'! In this game of brinkmanship, don't you think you are using the same pieces, that you are accusing the government of - the people's emotions, the only difference being, the government uses the poor and you are using the middle class!
I am not getting into a debate of whether the PM must be under lokpal or not (that is another blog, another day), but I think it is time for all of us, thinking citizens, to just pause and reflect for a minute.
For the last 64 years, we have allowed apathy, encouraged corruption and abetted systematic destruction of each of the institutions. Do we have the courage of our conviction to even partially accept our mistakes, our acts of omission and commission? We have voted the corrupt, not participated in elections, bribed for passports, traffic tickets, train tickets, school admissions, college seats and so on and so forth. Let us first accept our follies. Once we do that, we then ask our civil society members to form a political party and support them - I will support them, openly. Change the system from within. Let us stop dishonesty in our lives, in small or big ways.
Then and only then, will change come.
This my 16 Anna truth!
I definitely agree with your points, but at certain instance you can't wait for the stage to be formed and things set right. Kejriwal an IRS officer definitely has taken a different step right from the first. he believes in self governance and has been adopting it in a way parivarthan is working now. He just happens to give support for a cause which can at least change a mindset of the people. Just imagine asking a group of people who are rather worried about their own household and day-to-day lives of making their lives secure by whatever they earn, the risk of jumping into politics really doesn't arise. As far as Anna, Kejriwal, Bedi and other activists are concerned, even if they get elected, they won't be able to regulate laws the way they want it. At least on the public front, one can know about their own hiding problems.
ReplyDeleteIf there is something wrong with your hand, you need not cut it, but if it is infected with gangrene you definitely have to look for solutions like cutting it off and fixing it with a skin graft or a super hand. You will still be not perfect but you will survive.
Indians are emotional, but not every outcry be named as emotional seeing the corruption going way beyond their control. It is just another attempt to console themselves that something might change. Another good part about this protest is, don't see it as anti-government, its self reflecting and if not all, at least some percentage of people might become honest. There is one tag that goes well with RTI, if you can't punish the culprit, embarrass them. the same tag can be added to us who are participating or not participating in this protest against corruption.
There is no endgame for corruption. Gandhi was too wise not to get into politics, but he was more wiser when he brought the whole agenda of freedom to a community level. That clicked.
If you go back the ages, Indians have united only when they are told to do so, otherwise we are very nuclear with our own set of Ideas. We are not good managers but good employees. We always have lacked leadership and those leading us have always plundered us. The main reason why Anna gets support is not because Indians are emotional, but because they know they can't do anything and need someone to speak on their behalf.
It really doesn't matter with the outcome of the Jan Lokpal bill, its just another institution which is going to become corrupt after it comes in, but it still can make an impact.
The last part of the blog, a realization has always been a part of our household, but to bring it on the streets and celebrate it, is one thing which might bring change in the mindset.
This is just my point of view. I do not know how far am I correct.
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