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The nation has witnessed a huge
spectacle from a section of visible population with Anna Hazare’s
fast for getting the Jan Lok Pal bill being drafted and
implemented. His fast unto death was an event in which not only we
witnessed the ‘Tsunami of Sentiments’ but was also used by media
to create an atmosphere as if it a ‘second freedom struggle’.
While one can see that the dissatisfaction of the people from the
system was overflowing, one also registered that this is a
response to the massive corruption scams which have been unearthed
during last few years. While Government succumbed to the mass
pressure and the media projection, the whole episode also raised
many a questions about the message which the fasting and Jantar
mantar protest gave.
In the whole event, the backdrop was provided by Hindu imagery of
India as Bharat mata, a Goddess. One hoped that such issues
needing of worldly grounding can have icons like Gandhi as the
central projection. Gandhi as the central backdrop of the movement
would not only have given a correct moral message but also had
been equally welcoming to all the citizens of the country
irrespective of their religion. Gandhi as the backdrop would also
have reminded the leaders that corruption cannot be isolated from
other political dynamics which is leading to gross injustices to
the poor and marginalized of the society.
Unfortunately the criticism of elected leaders and the doubting of
the democratic system itself were taken to the cynical extremes.
People writing on their hands that ‘Mera Neta Chor Hai’ (My leader
is a thief) was one such example where the attempt to denigrate
the elected representative along with the electoral process could
be discerned. One concedes that there are serious flaws in the
electoral system, the money power, muscle power and Corporate
influence, but to paint all the leaders in the same brush shows
the warped understanding of a section of leadership of Jantar
Mantar movement. At the same time all the voters were insulted by
stating that people cast their vote just for the goodies they get
in advance as if these goodies are the core deciding points of
election. Surely our electoral system needs serious reforms but
this type of projection also needs to be seriously questioned.
Then we have the issues of leadership of the whole event. We saw
Anna Hazare as the Supreme commander with associates like Baba
Ramdev trying to moralize the nation in the politics which is not
so hidden by now. Baba Ramdev is a partisan of a particular type
of politics which bases itself on religion and Baba in the clothes
of a yogi is playing the role, which does not promotes democratic
values. Baba was accompanied by RSS leader Ram Madhav. Sri Sri
Ravishnker was also there. Both these Godmen are for the
construction of grand Ram Tmeple at Ayodhya, and that should be
enough to tell us their political leanings. Others in the core
committee surely have more objectivity but one does not know as to
how much influence they could exercise on the tilt being given by
Annaji, Ramdev, Ravishanker and Company.
Anna Hazare, in the centre of the whole event also projected his
pro right wing politics by praising Narendra Modi. One learns that
Annaji has worked in his village in an authoritarian way, keeping
the caste and gender hierarchical notions intact in Ralegaon
Siddhi. His praise for Modi does let the cat out of the bag.
Narendra Modi has successfully created and image of honest
administrator but those who know the state better like Malika
Sarabhai, Chunibhai Viadya, Rohit Prajapati and Trupti Shah have
pointed out that in Gujarat the villages are suffering the rot,
poverty levels are abysmal, people are migrating to cities in
large numbers and their lands are being given to the coterie of
Industrialists who are in the good books of Modi. Lakhs of
villagers are yet to get the compensation for the land which has
been taken away from them. The very definition of corruption needs
to be looked at while talking of Gujarat, as Industrialists are
plundering with both the hands and state exchequer is the major
victim of Modi’s policies. Instances of this abound, the massive
subsidy to Nano being one major example.
Same Narendra Modi not only refused to appoint the Lokayukta in
his state and there are multiple unadvertised scams which are away
from the media glare. There are criminal accusations against this
person who has been called as the Nero by the Supreme Court, and
who is authoritarian to the core. With such a role played by Modi
in the Gujarat carnage, with blood on his hands, if someone can
praise his work, it is not out of naivety, and it is part of the
political agenda of that person. Same Anna Hazare had praised Raj
Thackeray, the architect of violence in the name of language. As
per Annaji, Raj Thackeray’s ideas are correct but violence should
not be resorted to, forgetting that violence is a just an outcome
of these political formulations which Modi and Thackerays have.
The massive mobilization and channelization of middle class angst
is at one level indicator of the deeper levels of frustration in
the system. In this whole upsurge there was a spontaneous
expression of dissatisfaction and also a planned mobilization all
across to take advantage of the situation to enhance the politics
of those who have rode on the wave of section of society mobilized
earlier also. One recalls that Jaya Prakash Naryan’s movement was
much more broad based still it came to be controlled by the RSS,
and its Swayamsevak Nanaji Deshmukh became the central person. The
JP movement, irrespective of its noble intentions gave
respectability to the organization, whose member had killed Father
of the nation, and which till that time was looked down upon. Same
way V.P.Singh’s tirade against corruption was swept away by the
politics of those who were out to demolish Babri Masjid. Sitting
on the waves of anti Corruption movement, both time RSS and its
political progeny became stronger to the extent of becoming the
second largest party in the country.
Ironically in the whole episode while the ruling party and
politicians as such were being humiliated the other component of
the corruption phenomenon, the Corporate World and the industrial
houses were really the beneficiaries of the way anti corruption
drive was projected. Corporate World got exonerated by default, of
all their crimes of getting around their ways through corrupt
route. During earlier decades when the economy was controlled by
state, the so called license-permit raj, it was said that
corruption is due to state control of economy. Now with globalized
economic scenario, the corruption has gone up to unimaginable
levels, and the role of Industrial Houses as being the equal party
to the game remains hidden from the scene.
Corruption is the big scourge to the system. We do need to look
beyond the leaders and parties to realize that Corruption is
primarily due to lack of transparency of the system, lack of
accountability of the elected representatives and the very nature
of our economic system and injustices inbuilt in the social
system. While one lauds the tremendous response to the anti
corruption movement, one can just hope that the sectarianism of
Anna Hazare should be totally bypassed and the religious tilt of
the imagers should be done away with. One hopes that while working
on the Lok Pal Bill, the collective leadership of the movement
will take note of these points to ensure that this movement does
not meet the fate of two similar earlier one’s and that Right wing
divisive forces are kept at bay.
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