India On Streets !

Political corridors are inherently dynamic in nature. Here, things happen; face of the party changes, while someone disappears from the scene leaving no trace, others resurrect from the dead; scams are exposed and forgotten at the same pace, and most common of all, loyalty towards one’s party changes etc. Yet, political opinion of Indians remains surprisingly constant, including the one of yours truly. Maybe each one of us truly is, in the words of Amartya Sen, an Argumentative Indian!

However, the recent events have been so unprecedented, that most of are shocked, to say the least! When I wrote my first post on Anna Hazare (Cricket, Politics and Anna Hazare- April, 7, 2011), I never envisioned myself writing this piece. For once, I found my own arguments and reasons flawed, vision disillusioned and goals hazy.

UPA’s Failure

This government has done all the blunders it could in handling the issue. No amount of trust or loyalty towards Congress and allies could prevent anyone in believing this. What Arun Jaitley said (video) in the Parliament was correct verbatim. The lack of political will and statecraft, as he put it, has made the whole Parliament look draconic. The 542 people sitting there are all elected members. However, they can never outnumber the people outside of the Parliament and the common man would always have the last say in the functioning of the country, either by being a part of the drafting committee or by electing a new government in 2014. The loose tongued leaders of the Congress have made such silly statements and allegations that people are surprised. Every time Digvijay is on screen, you know another blunder is about to be blurted out! No one ever thought that Congress would find itself in such a quagmire. The reactions that followed the arrest of Baba Ramdev should have given them some hint about people’s sentiments, but they have failed utterly in reading the mass pulse. Even if they were right at times, using the words Hijacking or Ransom did no good to them.

Hazare is no Gandhi or Lala Lajpat Rai, but his arrest and his subsequent fast from the jail, could well prove the last nail in UPA’s coffin!

India on Streets

This movement was always going to involve people. The popular belief may be that Indian middle class is not involved in politics and they just sit and curse. The voting percentages in every election are a testimony to that. But this was always going to be different because of its timing and the cause that affects the middle class the most. The inception of the Anna Hazare phenomenon was brilliant. “An old Gandhian fighting the corrupt government single-handedly” could be a one line script for a best-seller novel that also turns out to be a Bollywood potboiler. And we fell in love with this. Finally, someone was doing something! The country had just rediscovered its long lost passion and often-hidden patriotism due to the World Cup victory and Cricket had done its trick. Suddenly, we felt the power to change everything wrong with the nation and what better than corruption to start with. Nothing wrong with any of this, till we got too emotional and a lot less practical!

If 2011 has taught us something, it is that getting an Indian out on streets isn’t that hard. The electronic media, the social media and the suicidal government all contributed to that. But getting out on streets isn’t going to solve anything. Remember, in 2006, there was another mass movement-Anti-Reservation Movement. That was also led primarily by students and youth. The prestigious institutions like AIIMS and IITs were at its forefront. Organizations like “Youth For Equality” mobilized people in large numbers to come on the streets and protest. The protests, then, were also peaceful and there was no bloodshed. There was a lot of social media involved then too. Facebook hadn’t made big in India by then, but we had Orkut! The communities like “Reservation Sucks” and “Youth for Equality” had around 5000 and 8300 followers respectively. The images of doctors in front of water cannons became common and everyone showed solidarity. However what did it lead to? Supreme Court upheld the 27% OBC reservation and the movement fizzed out.

Draw parallels to the current scenario. The social media is much stronger with Facebook at its forefront. There are countless groups supporting Anna and the movement with 5-10 times more members. Now, we have another group “India Against Corruption” which is mobilizing people into peaceful protests all across the globe. Déjà vu? Anyone? The jokes are also the same, previously they were on Arjun Singh and now they are on Sibbal and Digvijay! The PM was called powerless then too and Rahul was also a “baba”!

My point is not that coming out on streets is useless. That is a way to show the government that the most important cog in the wheel of democracy is still the common man. But that’s not going to bring a change. Liking pages, updating statuses and sharing links is not going to make any corrupt official or politician pay for his actions. Take the famous example of Egypt where the power of social media brought a regime down in 18 days. What happened after that? If you read the recent Time issue, you would know that the people of Egypt are clueless now. All the Facebookers, Bloggers (yes ! I am as much guilty as anyone) etc have disintegrated and no one wants to be a part of the government. Even the man who started the social media movement, the famous Google employee, Wael Ghonim, also doesn’t want to be active anymore. The global interest is over and Egypt faces yet another leadership crisis.

In India, we don’t need a Tehreer Square. Elections in India are Tehreer Square like movements every 5 years. If the doctors, who were protesting in 2006, would have voted in 2009, UPA wouldn’t have won with such overwhelming majority! If you want to see a change, think beyond the streets. Political issues would always be dealt in closed rooms in Delhi and not on the streets!

Why did we follow Anna Hazare?

Not all Indians are Idol-Worshippers by religion, but we all are idol worshippers by heart! This trait transcends all religious, state and language barriers in India. The lack of political will in the common man of India forces him to follow anyone who stands up for a cause, sometimes even without understanding the cause in its totality. Till we were determined to root out corruption, it was good and meaningful, but when we started to follow a person, the movement lost its sheen. The initial idea was to have a public say in the drafting of a stronger Anti-Corruption Bill which soon transformed into exposing how the government is preventing a stronger law to be tabled in the Parliament. Then it moved a step ahead and became an anti-UPA movement, primarily around Congress. And now, it has become only and only about Anna Hazare. I criticized how Baba Ramdev took center stage and tried becoming bigger than the movement itself in my last post (Ramdev Fasts Shorter And Runs Faster..!, July 3^rd, 2011). Anna dissociated himself from Baba because he didn’t want to be the part of the Ramdev sham, or at least it looked like that then! What’s happening now is that people have become so fanatic about Anna that any view that is not his, makes you pro-Congress or anti anti-corruption, in public eye. The buzzword has changed from Lokpal to Anna Hazare. Now, it’s either Anna Hazare or Anti Hazare! Bringing government down was never the idea when the movement started but the focus has shifted dangerously.

Politics should be about “Ideal Worship” and not “Idol Worship”!

Comparing Hazare to Gandhi is the evidence of lack of political knowledge and imagination. Gandhi fought in a time of foreign rule for India’s sovereignty. It was not an anti-establishment or anti-government movement by definition, because there was no government. There is a basic difference between ruling and governing a country. This government has been elected in a democratic way and should be thrown out in a democratic way too. Anna Hazare ,in no way, is working in democratic ways. Slogans like “Anna is India and India is Anna” sound awfully like “Indira is India and India is Indira” during emergency. We all know where that took us! Democratic systems are not perfect, they never were. But it still is the best way a country should be governed. If we start giving deadlines to governments, beyond a point, we all are a part of an anti-establishment movement! To give a deadline to draft and table a bill is acceptable. But to say that pass it till August 30^th, is not only unacceptable but a supreme mockery of the whole system. As of now, the movement has been peaceful and it would probably remain this way. But such deadlines can set a wrong precedent for future where there could be an armed movement setting deadlines for government to heed. I know it has been a controversial term, but this is called Hijacking! We live in a country where Maoist movements are strengthening by the date and in such cases it could be a harmful example for people too.

This system may be corrupt, flawed and ineffective but still remains the best option. Just because you don’t like a government, you can’t be undemocratic. Period.

Why Lokpal?

What we are overlooking in our emotions is that Anna is never going to be a part of a democratic system. He is comfortable rallying people for a cause, which is good, but not beyond a certain extent! Even if we have a stronger Lokpal, the people in-charge of implementing it would still be politicians and bureaucrats. To understand this we must understand the power of the existing laws and the flaws in their implementation. An informative article in Pragati by Amba Salelkar-sheds light on the short comings of the idea of Lokpal. According to the people’s draft, the chairperson and the members of the committee should be people with “unimpeachable integrity and should have demonstrated their resolve to fight corruption in the past.” This leaves out a lot of scope in electing people for this post. Anyone can be recommended for these posts and the names would be put up on internet for people’s feedback. Here is my first question, how many people in India have access to such “hi-tech” technologies? It may seem absurd to the people reading this article, because you are online right now, but the reality is that in India just a little over 8% people have net access! Also, if we have such people willing to make a change, why not have them in the existing agencies and committees and empower them?

Moving on.

Coming back to “unimpeachable”! If anyone is found to be of less than “required honesty” then only the already overburdened SC can remove him/her. However, if someone is dismissed wrongly, there is no appeal system! You can see how half-baked the whole idea is! The experts of Constitution also point out a very basic “unconstitutional” flaw in the Lokpal-it crosses the 3 wings of the Government, the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislature. The basic idea of separating the 3 is to thwart the power abuse. However, Lokpal goes over this very definition.

I have written enough against Lokpal, to make the “revolutionary youth”, mad at me, call me “Congressi” and stop reading beyond this point! :)

However, if you are still reading, I would still say that I support Lokpal. We do need a change. Though I am a little skeptic and I have my reasons.

The very root of corruption is the complexity and the hierarchy of the system as a whole. To have one person, supremely empowered, sitting over all the existing wings of the government, probably even PM, just make it a lot more complex and still leaves a lot of scope for corruption if that one person is not the right one!

That’s a huge risk!

Where do we go from here?

The enthusiasm the country has been witnessing and the rage the government is facing, from the common men, is not just about the Lokpal. I believe, it is more about losing hope in the elected members. People are confident that the 542 members sitting in the Parliament are unwilling to do anything good. The support for Lokpal and Anna is derived from the loss of faith in Democracy. How much ever sad it may sound, it is true!

But there is one more truth. “Janta” is not going to come out on streets for every cause. Anna says after this he is going to have a movement for police reforms, farmers etc. That is an impractical approach. If you have to reform this nation, you have to be a part of the system. Fasts can only take you this far!

Lokpal or no Lokpal, government’s version or Anna’s version, are the issue that won’t matter once the logjam is cleared. What would matter after that is public memory. Even if government relents now, are we going to forget this phase of rage and impasse? Are we going to repeat the 2006-2009 analogy?

Trust me, 2011 seems important, but the real “struggle for independence” (another holy term grossly misused in this context), would be 2014! We have to come out of the "mobocracy" mode and take some serious decisions!

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