Anti-graft crusade catches attention but miles to go

VIEWPOINT

August 20, 2011 11:11:12 PM

AMITABH SHUKLA

Anna Hazare has caught the imagination of not only the people of Delhi but also of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. Protests were held all across the region against corruption, the arrest of Anna and in favour of a Jan Lokpal.

None of the protesters blocked traffic anywhere nor did they show signs of ugliness and hooliganism, part of most political protests. They merely sat on dharna near the Chandigarh roundabouts and with smiles on their faces, waived the national flag, urging people passing by to support the septuagenarian anti-graft crusader.

At one place near the Rajiv Gandhi Technology Park, a demonstrator carried a placard asking the motorists to blow horn to express their support for a Jan Lokpal. The passing motorists, obliged, merrily blowing the horn several times, much to the delight of the traffic police personnel and the pedestrians. Those driving trucks, autorickshwas, luxury cars, Activa, motorcycles or the 600 and 800cc cars — all felt that they too were involved in the churning going on at the national level. The Anna supporter, carrying the placard, acknowledged the support and waived at the new ‘converts’ to the cause.

Imbibing their Delhi counterparts, the Chandigarh Administration had imposed Section 144 in the city, prohibiting the assembly of five or more people. But given the national mood and the mood of the city residents, it did not care to implement the law and looked the other way round whenever and wherever the peaceful sit-ins of Anna sympathisers took place.At some other places, the number of police personnel outnumbered those who were waiving flags but the message was not lost. Students of Panjab University and students of colleges decided not to attend their classes to take part in the flag waiving at roundabouts and motor cycle rallies in the day time and candle march during the evening at the Sector 17 market.

Sometimes, I wonder where the protests will take us to. Is there a long term vision in team Anna or is it merely a flash in the pan for only one cause - Jan Lokpal. Beyond this, do they have any idea what to do and how to go about on an issue. When I had joined Delhi University, Vishwanath Pratap Singh had emerged as an anti-graft icon. He held a rally at Maurice Nagar, the heart of Delhi University with his Jan Morcha colleagues - the likes of Arun Nehru and Arif Mohammed Khan. The students, including me, lapped every word. They shouted slogans against corruption and built a movement which led to the defeat of Congress and Rajiv Gandhi was dethroned as the Prime Minister. Bofors was the drumbeat on which VP Singh catapulted himself to power.

No sooner had he come to power, Singh brought in the Mandal Commission from the dusty shelves, not for the love of OBCs but to fight a political battle against the OBC satraps who were dictating terms. Singh wanted to prolong his political career through Mandal, it collapsed like a house of cards in no time. The same students, who had hailed Singh as a messiah, dubbed him as one of the biggest villains of the country and organised one of the fiercest anti-Government protests which lingered on for over three months in the national Capital. The dream of the youth had been shattered. Some aspects of the movement then and the social bitterness it created were aptly captured by film-maker Prakash Jha in his latest movie Aarakshan.

Twenty-one years after the fiasco of VP Singh, it is only now that the youth feel that the Gandhian approach of Anna could steer the country on the path of progress. They might not understand the nuances of a Jan Lokpal but feel that if corruption comes to an end, there is a better future for every individual, every citizen of the country. But for this, even team Anna has to come out with a perspective beyond Jan Lokpal. The institution may not be a panacea for all the ills plaguing the country. They cannot let down the youth of the country after bringing them on the streets.

There are undoubtedly, Doubting Thomases. Some even doubt whether corruption exists in society at all. They just want the existing laws and institutions to take care of graft, conveniently forgetting that they have so far failed to do so. Interacting with some officials, I found that the bureaucracy in particular has doubts about Anna and they are expressing it openly. They say that this will lead to nowhere and unnecessarily a mass hysteria is being generated. Some of them genuinely argue that this will let lose a ‘mobocracy’ as the Indian democracy is only 64 years old, not mature enough to tackle such mobs and dictatorship of an individual in the garb of mass support.

One of the Anna sympathisers said that those with vested interests, those who are averse to change and those who think that an effective Jan Lokpal could reach them, their houses, their properties, their lockers and bank deposits are criticising the Gandhian’s anti-graft crusade.

But people also want a vision beyond Jan Lokpal. Team Anna has already said that it was averse of joining the political process and won’t contest elections. In India, even if you do not like, democracy is the only method of governance we know and we do not want to replace it with mobocracy or anything similar to it. Anna will have to co-opt the existing political forces, be ready for being co-opted by one of them or alternatively begin his own version of a political outfit. The real test of team Anna would be in the heat and dust of the electoral field with a long term vision and not merely on Jantar Mantar, Ramlila Maidan and in front of the TV cameras on the streets. (The writer is Senior Editor, The Pioneer, Chandigarh)

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