Fight Against Corruption

Corruption has always been an issue but has become the main issue today. Young India seems to have risen to demand a corruption-free environment in which fair play and justice would prevail. This great rising of youth should not be mistaken. It is the sincere yearning of educated young men for a level-playing field so that they can make effort to get what they feel they deserve. It must be kept in mind that for decades India has been suffering from all kinds of malpractices––financial embezzlement, nepotism and favouritism––which surely lead to misgovernance.

India has witnessed many risings in the past. But the current or ongoing struggle led by Anna Hazare is a bit different. Similarly the government’s response to the movement is also of its own kind. Perhaps no government had ever heeded to the civil society as much as the present one has done. There have been many rounds of dialogues and the two sides were 95% in agreement over what is called the Lokpal Bill. Some more dialogues and debates might have enabled the two sides to hammer out a satisfactory compromise. Unfortunately both the sides erred, misjudged the other and ultimately became adamant.

The government was wrong in talking to Anna team alone. They are not the only voice of the civil society. Many would not agree with, even detest the tactics of blackmail that the Anna team has adopted to get their Jan Lokpal Bill passed by Parliament. The government would have been wiser had it engaged other groups also in the discussion and debate over the Bill.

Team Anna is on the moon at the moment enjoying public support and media attention. But soon they would realize, as did the Yoga Guru Ramdev, that the men in the government are not a bunch of idiots. People with power and mind have many ways to handle difficult situations. Already the government has succeeded in converting the issue as a conflict between the Anna team and Parliament. Some arrogant members of the Anna team have indeed played to the government’s design. They would soon see that the opposition that made so much hue and cry over Anna’s arrest, has different take on the so called Jan Lokpal Bill. It is ultimately they, the government and the opposition that would finalize and pass the Bill and the team Anna would see that it was not the one they had presented or asked for.

The youth and media support seems to have misled the Anna team about its abilities. At best they are a pressure group which cannot sustain itself like a well-organized and well-managed political party. Parts of civil society is already annoyed with the Anna team. A fairly large section of the civil society is afraid that the Anna movement has been overtaken by RSS. These things surely have weakened the Anna movement already. If something similar to what was done to Baba Ramdev happens again in Ramlila Ground, one cannot be sure if the youth would stand up and be counted. Many seems to be on holiday enjoying a sort of picnic. In all probability they would disappear like the fog the moment heat is applied to them. In enthusiasm some liken the Anna movement with that of Jai Prakash Narain. It is wrong indeed. The J P movement had succeeded because it had many politically motivated and committed activists and enjoyed the support of almost a united opposition. It was also helped by the arrogance of Mrs Indira Gandhi. All these factors are absent today making the task difficult for the Anna Movement.

The best option for the Anna team is to grab the olive branch extended to them by the government. That they must engage in dialogue with the government and be ready for give and take. They must remember what the former P M Mr. V P Singh used to say that politics is “the art of the possible.” So they must realize what is possible to achieve and try to get it alone. Mere enthusiasm never succeeds; the mind game does.  

{August-2011}