THE ANNA EPISODE

|| THE ANNA EPISODE ||

Over the past 4 days, many people have asked me what I thought of the Anna Hazare movement and the kind of national fervour it generated. I was also asked whether I supported it. My blatant ‘no’ to the second question has raised many a brow. As the great Indian episode settles down, at least for the time being, and people celebrating over the ever-denying government turn back to
their normal routine, I would like to take this opportunity to defend my stand.

But before that, let me reiterate that the views expressed here are my personal.

It struck me on wednesday, the 2nd of August, while I was still recovering from a sudden ringing of the phone, which cut short my uneventful night’s sleep.Still scratching my head, and yawning, I reluctantly put on the television, which showed a septuagenarian in a white khadi dhoti-kurta. This old man, for my memory could not help beyond this, is a Padma award-winning social activist, best known for his contribution towards the upliftment of his native Ralegan Siddhi village in Maharashtra and establishing it as a model village. I Salute him for this noble effort.

So what’s the fuss all about this time around, I asked myself. This time he was campaigning against corruption. He demanded that the government pass the Lokpal, or the public ombudsman, Bill—a draft that has been in limbo for around four decades now—in order to eradicate corruption.

The country has witnessed rampant corruption—the Adarsh Society scam, the cash-for-vote scam, the CWG scam, and the mother of all, the 2G scam—the combined magnitude of which, even by Indian standards, was unprecedented.

I followed the non-violent protest by the so-called Gandhi version 2.0 on my TV and through newspapers. I could see the entire nation participating, TV channels going berserk in a race to go one-up.I also saw young kids from schools across Delhi participating live and talking about bringing change, change in the governance. I saw an old man, sitting in the front row, fasting, joining the cause. I also witnessed people conducting a candlelight vigil shouting Anna Hazare zindabad and Vande Mataram, reflecting the emotions of scores who were doing the same at the India Gate. A scene from the 2006 movie Rang De Basanti flashed by.

I think the recent happenings across the world and my constant following of those were one very prominent reason. For India is not Japan. Ever since the recent earthquake—followed by a tsunami and a nuclear crisis, the worst disaster since the World War II—rocked that nation, the Japanese are trying hard to rebuild. No hoarding of food, no looting has been reported yet. In the community shelters they share, no Japanese encroaches more than two-and-a-half-odd feet she is entitled to. Even while searching the debris to find something they can recognize, if they find valuables that don’t belong to them, they are handing it out to the cops. It’s impossible to think of such feeling of society over individual in our country where, worshipers bribe the pandas at temples to beat the queue and have darshan through a secret passage. Or where people jump the line at various ticket counters, pushing there way through and making an entirely new queue.

So far as corruption goes, let’s face it, it can’t be eradicated. For a society to be corruption-free, it has to be a Utopian world which, in practicality, is impossible. For there will be a certain someone, who will be greasing the palms of some babu or the other, to get her work done swiftly, or in the way she wants to. And let’s face the fact that we cannot change that.

These basic problems apart, the so-called movement itself was not completely flawless. Commentators have discussed in length the implications of this fast-until-death strategy, its pros and cons, and certain experts have called it emotional blackmailing where democracy and freedom are held hostage by its practitioners.
What if tomorrow my sweeper goes on the non-violent fast-until-death or till I meet her demand for a sari and a couple of thousand of rupees as a Diwali bakshish?

Jokes apart, there are bigger problems at hand. The way I can it, this menace called corruption is more rampant in the public sector than the private sector. The reason: the sarkari babu thinks that the job has come to them with their dowry. It doesn't matter whether they work or not, no one’s baap can question them, let alone suspending them. Honestly I have known such babus who can’t write a single word correctly without dictation. The office for them is their garden or, at times, their spittoon, and the office hours, long periods of leisure.

It’s this attitude that relegates work to the last in their list of priorities. And it’s then that the common man has to run over and over again to these offices and persuade these babus to do what was supposed to be heir duty. This persuasion translates into some currency notes, denominations of which depend upon the nature of work.

Why then can’t the government simply put into place a system, which can check the productivity of a sector and the individuals who make it, and then take proper action against people found guilty of ignoring their work. But of course, for that the government needs to wake up from its deep slumber.

I am glad that this idea has at least found a place in the wish-list of the agents of change. That brings me to the role these agents will have to play in order to bring about the change, and their authenticity and commitment.

The biggest agents of change, however, were the young people participating in the protest. But what gets me worried is the participation of young school kids. It’s hard to imagine how much the children, still in their early teens, would understand about governance. After a day of protest-cum-picnic, over a couple of choco bars, they will be content with their pocket money of a couple of hundred rupees and pizza parties at friends’ place over the tunes of Akon or Lady Gaga.

Honestly, though I would be sounding pessimistic, what is the guarantee that this Bill. What are the chances that, while taking a decision on some case, the members of this committee—who are advocating the Bill’s passage—wouldn’t be bribed? For humans are susceptible to corruption as bees to nectar.

And again, in case we really want to change things, the first change has to brought within ourselves. Because, it's the corruption of thoughts that lead to other forms of it. And unless we learn to practice that sort of discipline in our daily lives, it's a waste of time to talk about any other change. For the way I see it:

ISS SADAK PAR DUR TAK KICHAD JAMI HAI
HAR KISI KA PAON YAHAN GHUTNO TAK SANA HAI...