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The crusade must last
Saul Pereira on how Team Anna should steer its way in the face of multiple attacks
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Photo:Vijay Pandey |
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THE ANTI-CORRUPTION movement is raising its pitch again, though it may have lost some of its lustre and glamour. Anna Hazare himself may come back with a vengeance if public support does not decline with the fatigue induced by gaps of inactivity, economic and inflationary difficulties distracting them sufficiently to kill the motivation; and, above all, the wanton maligning action of vested agents and agencies to pick holes in the character and past records of Team Anna. Whether the political class chose the method of using delaying tactics around passing the Lokpal Bill by design or accident is questionable. But with politicians, if you give them the benefit of doubt, it is at your own peril.
Whatever the position you take, the Lokpal Bill is floundering and is being passed around like a hot potato, with no serious taker willing to stick his neck out — or in this case, embrace a singeing Bill. If someone did, you can be sure that the MP stands to face the onslaught of his not-so-willing ‘comrades’.
The Lokpal Bill is a real test of the genuineness of our lawmakers. But the way it was embroiled in controversy by all kinds of politicians and parties, it was designed to falter, stumble and fall. It would have got pickled if it were not for the insistence of Annaji. The sham of arguments, media interviews, debates, within and without Parliament, made sure that we, the gullible, will stay amused and unaware of the careful ploy to keep it at bay. No one, in parliament, seems interested to rake it up any more — that is indeed very convenient. We suffer from short-term memory loss, and our elected friends know it too well.
So the need for Anna to raise the bar, as it were, to leverage some action out of these reluctant lawmakers is more than urgent now. His latest move, inviting Gen VK Singh to join the movement after his retirement was a class act of timing and strength. This choice, of a man with an impeccable record in the services, whose credentials took a turn for the better by the exposure of corruption in army procurements, and the lack of our defence forces’ combat readiness due to its outdated and poor quality equipment, was a strategic masterstroke. He brings with him the strength of 4.75 million (as of 2010) active and reserve personnel, who are potential voters to boot! Not to mention the thousands of ex-servicemen who speak glowingly of him. If the general accepts, he will have a platform, post his retirement, to further his personal war against corruption and inject Team Anna with a fresh dose of patriotism. Until he retires and makes that national call, we can only keep our fingers crossed.
The meticulous attempts to tarnish the image and credentials of Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan and even Anna were well handled by all of them. In fact it must be noted that no one is without flaws, and when one is identified, the honourable thing to do is gracefully accept the wrongdoing and then go about rectifying (the same). The nation was not expecting the chastest people to represent their woes against corruption. They wanted some important leader to finally put up stiff resistance to confront the rampant fraud of almost every agency and government. We are reminded of an incident in the Bible where Jesus Christ prevented a mob from stoning a woman by saying, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to cast the stone.” There must have been a remarkable silence before, one by one, the people left. The older men, who had sinned more, were the first to leave! That Team Anna is without blemish is a huge fallacy, but that they were willing to stand up to this polluted system despite their own failings is noteworthy and deserves praise and support.
The government, engaging intelligence agencies at its disposal, suddenly found reason to carry on a witch-hunt in order to tarnish Team Anna in the eyes of the public. But it fell flat on its own face. By raking up old cases, they only revealed their silence for such a length of time that even the perpetrators had forgotten. The connivance with the establishment is obvious, and that was used to threaten the team into submission and to dampen the fan following’s enthusiasm. That failed to happen, and it was back to the drawing board in Parliament, where true colours were exposed. The games that were played out were visible (thankfully, they were televised) and understood by the public. In the public glare, especially for those who ventured to present themselves as straight-talking and exemplary politicians, people witnessed the squirming, twisting and turning with the shrewd use of semantics to skirt around issues.
NOW THE raging debate and concern is whether Anna would choose to have any truck with Baba Ramdev, whose credentials have taken a nosedive ever since he went public about his intention to form a party to contest elections across the country. Baba Ramdev has a wonderful platform of his yoga teachings, ayurvedic medicines, and a mammoth following of disciples, creating a little wealthy empire for himself, which is under scrutiny now. He has a tendency to suffer from ‘foot-in-the-mouth’ disease. He is well intentioned, but is not well advised. Whether he has an advisory group is not clear but he shoots off his mouth with periodic regularity, only to later confess he was not well informed.
In February 2011, Ramdev proposed a seven-step process of eradication of black money. One among them was a shocking provision in the Indian Penal Code for death penalty for the corrupt. The nation and the world have moved unanimously towards abolishing capital punishment except for terrorists; and Indian courts currently accord the death penalty only in the ‘rarest of rare’ cases. But if Baba Ramdev persists in this vein, seeking death penalty for the corrupt, we may not have many people living; nor does it behoove a spiritual man to even think in violent and cruel terms like this. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”
Some of the Baba’s disciples have formed vigilante groups, resorting to violence at the slightest provocation, and he has not been heard expressing adequate displeasure or disapproval at that. Perhaps success has gone to his head and he does not listen to others or takes guidance from a committee. No one is infallible.
By taking Baba Ramdev on his bandwagon, Anna Hazare will invite quite some mud-slinging. The sanctity of the principles that the anti-graft crusade stands for will get sullied; Anna’s pure image and great sacrifice may be compromised. Hopefully, being the upright stalwart he is, prudence will prevail to give this ‘second freedom movement’ another shot at the system to eradicate this endemic cancer of financial impropriety.
Saul Pereira is a Bengaluru-based psychological counsellor and the author of Psyche of Addiction. The views expressed here are personal
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