I had been so busy with work the last few days that I think I completely missed out the entire Anna Hazare campaign, and only woke up when the Government had accepted his demands on the Lok Pal Bill. My loss, definitely, that I could not read and listen to this campaign as it happened, but I was aware of the wave of support that Anna had generated across this entire country, most of which was online. This is not to say that the people who stood by him in this campaign, as he sat at the Jantar Mantar in a fast unto death - Dr. Kiran Bedi, noted RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal, and Swami Agnivesh, among many others, had any less contribution, especially Dr. Bedi and Kejriwal, who addressed the media on numerous occasions.
If I simply delved into the facts of the case, they are there for all to see, but I just want to write about the factors that I thought about as I watched the whole thing unfold. First, the fact is that the government, any government for that matter, no matter at what level of sycophancy or anarchy, still fears the people. I think it has been a long time since the people of this country got behind an issue, and an issue so specific as this. Perhaps its the aura of the people who led from the front. Anna Hazare is well known in the country, so is Dr. Kiran Bedi, Swami Agnivesh and Arvind Kejriwal as well.
The biggest support, in my eyes, came from the young, educated of this country. Within days, there were numerous sites supporting Hazare, numerous Facebook pages and groups declaring support, and of course the media, sniffing great public interest, went to town with the story. After all, one old man brought the mighty Government of India to its knees!
With so much online support for Hazare, of course there were numerous philosophers amongst them who rued that all we can do is show our online support and write one or two lines about it. We need to do more. Unfortunately, and its been happening for a long time, the line goes quiet after that. We need to do more is the usual refrain, but what we need to do is usually a very broad and vague something. I used to be in this category earlier, but I've been trying hard to get out of it. I love to rant, don't get me wrong, that's the very reason I started this blog, but I realize simple ranting does nothing to lessen my anger, and just makes me very repetitive. Well, my point is that even if there was "only" online support from majority of the people of the country, whats amazing is that it was big enough for the government to notice.
I feel very stupid when I type this, but I still do not know exactly what Anna Hazare asked for, and what the government granted. Oh, but I do remember the biggest news from the past few days, that Anna Hazare made Sharad Pawar quit from the Group of Ministers Committee on Corruption! That was quite entertaining actually. Sharad Pawar is allegedly one of the most corrupt politicians in the country, and yes, even if it does nothing to his ego or the power he wields, I suppose it is symbolic that he decided not to fight but leave altogether. Of course, Mr. Pawar tried to make light of the demand by trying to be at his wittiest by saying that wants to be removed from all the committees of the government. Ha ha, oh Mr. Pawar, you're cracking me up!
Of course, now that it is all over, at least the high drama of fast unto death and the consequent government response, a lot of issues are being discussed, such as whether it was right of Mr. Hazare to arm twist/blackmail the government this way. Some say he was being undemocratic, some say he's a messiah who's brought the young of this country together against corruption.
My own opinion on this issue is that our society today is at a very strange and precarious junction. While most of us are sheep, others are wolves, and for the sheep, the priority is the protection of life, while for the wolf, its killing and hoarding meat. Of course, it is all symbolic here. Then there are other different categories of animals, such as the media who seem to be playing only a catalyst in this story, and the political class, which is now a wolf in sheep's clothing. Like I said, it is all symbolic here, because this country today is a strange concoction of morality, materialism and everything else. None of us know that what prompted Mr. Hazare to lead this fight at this juncture, or what transpired behind closed doors in New Delhi, or what will happen in the future, but I suppose Mr. Hazare did stoke the awareness of the people against corruption. It was a fire that was lying dormant, because most of us have come to accept it as a way of life for a while now, and now our society, it seems to me, is adapting itself to live with it as something that is just there and one has to live with it. I suppose the idealist in me could say that Mr. Hazare maybe stepped in to disturb this comfort zone that our society is sinking into with regards to corruption.
I mean, if one just surfs the internet for any news related to Mr. Hazare, anybody and everybody has an opinion on it! The Samajwadi Party now invites him to UP to see for himself the wealth that Sister Mayawati ji has created for herself, the Chief Justice of India says that the youth of this country is bright but arrogant, somebody saying Mr. Hazare should contest polls, somebody else saying that Mr. Hazare shouldn't have talked to Narendra Modi (yes, Mr. Hazare committed the pseudo-secular's gravest sin too!) etc. etc.
A politician is the mirror of the society. When we can't change ourselves, why are we expecting the system to change? Harping about corruption is all good, but we'll still pay bribes, we'll still pay a traffic policeman to get out a ticket, or a TTE to get a railway ticket. I suppose supporting Mr. Hazare, for many people, must be a way to ease some of their guilt. After all, the intentions are good, even if the actions are bad. In that case, lets just move on till the media finds another story to latch onto.
If I simply delved into the facts of the case, they are there for all to see, but I just want to write about the factors that I thought about as I watched the whole thing unfold. First, the fact is that the government, any government for that matter, no matter at what level of sycophancy or anarchy, still fears the people. I think it has been a long time since the people of this country got behind an issue, and an issue so specific as this. Perhaps its the aura of the people who led from the front. Anna Hazare is well known in the country, so is Dr. Kiran Bedi, Swami Agnivesh and Arvind Kejriwal as well.
The biggest support, in my eyes, came from the young, educated of this country. Within days, there were numerous sites supporting Hazare, numerous Facebook pages and groups declaring support, and of course the media, sniffing great public interest, went to town with the story. After all, one old man brought the mighty Government of India to its knees!
With so much online support for Hazare, of course there were numerous philosophers amongst them who rued that all we can do is show our online support and write one or two lines about it. We need to do more. Unfortunately, and its been happening for a long time, the line goes quiet after that. We need to do more is the usual refrain, but what we need to do is usually a very broad and vague something. I used to be in this category earlier, but I've been trying hard to get out of it. I love to rant, don't get me wrong, that's the very reason I started this blog, but I realize simple ranting does nothing to lessen my anger, and just makes me very repetitive. Well, my point is that even if there was "only" online support from majority of the people of the country, whats amazing is that it was big enough for the government to notice.
I feel very stupid when I type this, but I still do not know exactly what Anna Hazare asked for, and what the government granted. Oh, but I do remember the biggest news from the past few days, that Anna Hazare made Sharad Pawar quit from the Group of Ministers Committee on Corruption! That was quite entertaining actually. Sharad Pawar is allegedly one of the most corrupt politicians in the country, and yes, even if it does nothing to his ego or the power he wields, I suppose it is symbolic that he decided not to fight but leave altogether. Of course, Mr. Pawar tried to make light of the demand by trying to be at his wittiest by saying that wants to be removed from all the committees of the government. Ha ha, oh Mr. Pawar, you're cracking me up!
Of course, now that it is all over, at least the high drama of fast unto death and the consequent government response, a lot of issues are being discussed, such as whether it was right of Mr. Hazare to arm twist/blackmail the government this way. Some say he was being undemocratic, some say he's a messiah who's brought the young of this country together against corruption.
My own opinion on this issue is that our society today is at a very strange and precarious junction. While most of us are sheep, others are wolves, and for the sheep, the priority is the protection of life, while for the wolf, its killing and hoarding meat. Of course, it is all symbolic here. Then there are other different categories of animals, such as the media who seem to be playing only a catalyst in this story, and the political class, which is now a wolf in sheep's clothing. Like I said, it is all symbolic here, because this country today is a strange concoction of morality, materialism and everything else. None of us know that what prompted Mr. Hazare to lead this fight at this juncture, or what transpired behind closed doors in New Delhi, or what will happen in the future, but I suppose Mr. Hazare did stoke the awareness of the people against corruption. It was a fire that was lying dormant, because most of us have come to accept it as a way of life for a while now, and now our society, it seems to me, is adapting itself to live with it as something that is just there and one has to live with it. I suppose the idealist in me could say that Mr. Hazare maybe stepped in to disturb this comfort zone that our society is sinking into with regards to corruption.
I mean, if one just surfs the internet for any news related to Mr. Hazare, anybody and everybody has an opinion on it! The Samajwadi Party now invites him to UP to see for himself the wealth that Sister Mayawati ji has created for herself, the Chief Justice of India says that the youth of this country is bright but arrogant, somebody saying Mr. Hazare should contest polls, somebody else saying that Mr. Hazare shouldn't have talked to Narendra Modi (yes, Mr. Hazare committed the pseudo-secular's gravest sin too!) etc. etc.
A politician is the mirror of the society. When we can't change ourselves, why are we expecting the system to change? Harping about corruption is all good, but we'll still pay bribes, we'll still pay a traffic policeman to get out a ticket, or a TTE to get a railway ticket. I suppose supporting Mr. Hazare, for many people, must be a way to ease some of their guilt. After all, the intentions are good, even if the actions are bad. In that case, lets just move on till the media finds another story to latch onto.
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