Ek dhakka aur! (one more push)

Tomorrow morning Anna Hazare (AH) will most probably court arrest for defying the Delhi Police's order denying his movement permission for organizing a protest in Delhi. We will again be subjected to 24/7 coverage of the issue for the next few days and hear a lot of talk from both the sides. The way things have unraveled in the build up are indicative that the next few days will be no different.

With the Congress assuming a ridiculous stand, that AH is also corrupt (over a 2 lakh rupee birthday party!) and the AH camp assuming a stubborn stand that the fast is the only way to go ahead, there is not much hope for any meaningful dialogue taking place. The congress may be right (we do not know yet) about the birthday party misappropriation of funds, but does it not reek of petty desperation that a party which is widely accepted to be corrupt, indeed has many leaders accused of large scale corruption, is hoping that a badly organized birthday party is the answer to stopping the impending protest. It is the tool of the weak and scared to resort to mudslinging of the kind we have seen in the last few days.

Not only has the congress resorted to what they know best, petty and the dirtiest type of politics, it has actively engaged all their departments/ministers to deny the movement any chance of legally undertaking a protest. It will be illegal in any form tomorrow. With Section 144 being implemented, the AH camp has little choice but to either court arrest or back down. Given their stubbornness and resolve, one can expect a mini jail bharo abhiyaan.

Although I believe all this talk and tamasha serves some purpose, viz. we are at least talking about corruption, the media is engaged in real debate and not focusing on flimsy bollywood updates, there is concern that all this tamasha will distract us from the real topic.

But before even we get to the real topic a lot of people (other than Congress spokespersons) have heaped scorn on the leaders of the current movement against corruption. A majority of our educated, aware people in urban centers have distanced themselves from the movement, mostly on the account of it being headed by AH. Prominent anti-establishment journos like Tavlin Singh, Vinod Mehta and pro-govt. media channels like NDTV have openly taken a stand against AH, clubbing the movement and the notional head as one. This, in my opinion is the very reason why we as a country are unable to move in one direction together. We are far too often busy pulling each other down and finding mistakes in what other people do.

I do not agree with the methods adopted by the campaign, but think while it is important to undertake the campaign in an effective manner, it is also important to look at the bigger picture. The movement is bigger than an individual. AH is no Gandhi, he is not a saint, so what? The issue is bigger than him or Kiran Bedi or the Bhushans, definitely bigger than Dr. Singh or the Congress Party.

We also need to understand the desperation behind the ways being adopted by the campaign. In a country where the opposition is busy self-destructing, has no common voice, and is as corrupt as the party in power, what are social workers with no political background supposed to do? They have no experience in organizing campaigns of this scale. Does it mean they don't? The govt. after 40 odd years at least tabled the bill in parliament. Most people who today oppose the campaign would be lying if they claim they even knew about the Lokpal Bill or the fact that they thought the govt. would bring it to parliament on their own. Such desperate, albeit incorrect ways, have been legitimatized by the government itself. Because there is no will on the govt's behalf to do the right thing.  

The Lokpal Bill is not the be all and end all of the anti-corruption campaign. It is a start. If the government of India is not even willing to discuss a bill, do we really believe that they are willing to tackle corruption? They thrive on it, they will not ever want to deal with it. Until they are forced to. For the first time we have the government on the defensive. Let us give it all the push we can.

Sadly, we need to keep pushing people from all walks of life to do the right thing; it just does not come naturally to most of the people in this country. So let us push, ourselves, the govt, the campaign.

Just to quote Rage Against the Machine:

If we don't take action now
We settle for nothing later
Settle for nothing now
And we'll settle for nothing later
If we don't take action now
We settle for nothing later
We'll settle for nothing now
And we'll settle for nothing later