Anna, Gandhi and me – dialogue on corruption

Posted on August 25, 2011
Filed Under India | 8 Comments

Suddenly it seems am living in Gandhi time. Flags everywhere, chants of Vande Matram and people clad in white kurta pajamas. A revolution eh? Just cant see the Gandhi yet.

anna hazareOvernight Anna Hazare has become a media phenomenon. Thanks to Facebook, online petitions, sensation-hungry media and jingoistic opposition parties. Under the leadership of Hazare, India is going to weed out corruption by forcing the government to pass a bill. And that bill is the solution. The last thing that this country lacks is a bill!

On a positive note, yes this campaign has galvanized millions and has drawn attention around the world. For a while, our corrupt bureaucrats would go hiding for fear of being milled. People can follow their routines without bribes or delays.

Now talking on Hazare and his demands, it very ostensible that this is more a peril than an elixir to the problem. Like rightly pointed by Arundhati Roy and few others conversant with the issue, the solution lies in cleaning up the root causes and not undermining India’s time-honored Constitution that we proudly hold on to.

Many questions need to be answered. Who gave this 25000 odd people the right to represent the entire civil society? Who selected members of Team Anna? What if the institution of Lokpal that is supposed to administer a giant bureaucracy turn in to another corrupt organisation? Where was Anna when Gujarat riots and Bhopal gas leak occur? And are we living in British age that Anna needs to blackmail a democratically-elected government by the people for the people?

It is funny, one could only laugh at this. It was Anna who first took up the issue and began fasting…then the opportunists joined him, then came the youths who are so revolutionary that even school-going children began talking of corruption. Read closely, with the movement getting nationwide support, the next joining the mass is politicians, those of all colors and parties. So even the culprits and looters have also joined the agitation, so where is this anti-corruption voice? Corrupt clamouring against the corrupt? I don’t see now who is to be blamed as every bribable crooked bureaucrat known for their nefarious activities is part of the Anna campaign holding flags and shouting anti-govt slogans.  So who is the target? The Prime Minister and his Office?

Forget about it, another serious objection is how many have read the Lokpal Bill they want passed? We Indians are icon worshippers. In this country where even cricket captain Dhoni is a God, such a movement is possible..but nothing independent of itself. Yes, there is fear…a fear rightly pointed by Arundhati that the campaign for the Lokpal has gathered steam around the same time as embarrassing revelations by Wikileaks and a series of scams, including the 2G spectrum scam, broke, in which major corporations, senior journalists, and government ministers and politicians from the Congress as well as the BJP seem to have colluded. So could this be a game played by big corporations supporting the campaign to bring down the government and save their face? What a timing!!

“Who is he really, this new saint, this Voice of the People? Oddly enough we’ve heard him say nothing about things of urgent concern. Nothing about the farmer’s suicides in his neighbourhood, or about Operation Green Hunt further away,” asks Arundhati.

“Will the 830 million people living on Rs.20 a day really benefit from the strengthening of a set of policies that is impoverishing them and driving this country to civil war?”

Ok, now to introduce a little religion and culture here. Like Aakar Patel says, to know why Indians are corrupt one should look elsewhere. What patterns and practices distinguish us?

“Indians think God accepts cash from us, not good work, for which there is no reward. Why does the wealthy Indian give not cash to temples, but gold crowns and such baubles? To ensure his gift isn’t squandered on feeding the poor.

When God accepts money in return for his favours, what is wrong with my doing the same thing? Nothing. This is why Indians are so easily corruptible. Our culture accommodates such transactions morally. This is key.”

Religion and culture hold majority space in India. Indians are super religious. They listen to God and his people (all saffron-clad swamis), whether they are asked to do a special pooja to destroy their foe or donating a diamond-studded crown…they do it. Our religion and its practices itself promote being corrupt, liberation should start from it. It might be a slow process, but it can be obtained. And education can break barriers of inequality (poor rich difference), bring sweeping changes to corruption seeped into our culture.

Clearly, the septuagenarian activist’s movement has failed to understand why corruption happens. I like how Prashant Panday has put it: “The real truth is that Anna is a good man who has been hijacked by a poor quality team. This is the difference between Gandhi and Anna. Gandhi had a great team with him in the form of Nehru, Patel and many others – who would negotiate with the British in a language they understood. Never giving up on their demands; yet doing things the appropriate way. Anna’s team is no comparison to Nehru and Patel. They all want to be Annas. But what Anna needs is not more Annas in his team; but more Nehrus and Patels. That’s what is sadly missing. And that’s why, while even I want to root out corruption as much as anyone else, I cannot support Anna’s movement beyond a point…..”

Apparently, some dozens of corrupt ministers were arrested in one single day when a similar Lokpal bill was implemented in Singapore. MAY be this could be a reality in India? I don’t know…may be wait and watch. For now, it seems am part of a history making…this blog post is the record :D . Surely, I AM not ANNA, but am a concerned patriotic Indian. God bless this country!

Adios ~

Comments

8 Responses to “Anna, Gandhi and me – dialogue on corruption”

  1. William on August 26th, 2011 8:30 am

    Very interesting, especially about corruption being part of the religion (bribing God etc). Where did that quote come from it’s quite interesting?

    BTW I have a few concerns that I may be being Indianised and wondered if you had any advice.

    Here are my symptoms.

    1: I recently was given a Nehru jacket by a certain person and I love it.

    2: England whitewash of India under “God-Captain” Dhoni should be great news for me – but I was so disappointed.

    Is it possible I am being Indianised and if so what should I do about it?

  2. webgracesam on August 26th, 2011 1:40 pm

    Will :) am glad you liked it..was worried if you would :( Guess there is no need for Indianising you..someone told me you were so conversant with Indian history and even knew figures like Vallabhai Patel ;-)
    BTW..England’s win came no surprise :( our players are yet to come out of the WC victory..lazy fellaz..in any case ive so lost interest in Cricket..hardly read the sports page these days..but was very very excited about Liverpool’s launch of a soccer academy here…love that game..but duno if I could kick some goals with all this fat on me :(

  3. Raul on August 29th, 2011 10:23 am

    this is going to be the greatest victory of people against corrupt government. why should not we support people movement? for the sake of protecting constution can we be sitting ducks?

  4. Will on September 2nd, 2011 8:40 pm

    Sorry to hear about your fat levels, you’ll have to join Hazare’s fast as well :) .

    I studied Indian history a lot at university and college. Mainly about the period of British rule, but I also read a book about the whole history of the country.

    To be honest the only part that was really interesting was the Raj and about the msterious Harrapans. That’s not because India is boring (as we know it’s not) it’s just way to big! But because its difficult to get a feel for the whole country when so many different things go on in all different places!

    On Vallabai Patel there is credible but unproven theory that it was actually him who was the real “Father of Pakistan” rather than Jinnah. Details available on request :)

  5. Sam on September 8th, 2011 4:34 pm

    wow..Harrapans and stuffs..hardly can remember :(
    And do share more on the patel-vinci-code :)

  6. William on September 9th, 2011 7:46 pm

    The basic theory goes something like this:

    Jinnah does not want a separate Pakistan as it’s not a viable state (After all there’s not much there worth having)

    So what does Jinnah want then? Well, he wants a more confederal style India in which each region has much more autonomy. Within this he would be head of the Muslim region, you might call this “Pakistan”, but it would basically be another state of India but with many self governing powers.

    BUT

    Congress, especially under the influence of “Iron Man” Patel want a strong central government controlled India where Congress can have most of the power over the country.

    SO

    Jinnah knows this and demands an independent Pakistan as a bluff. He does not want this but he assumes Congress will never accept a proposal that would split India and so he thinks they will accept his demand for confederal system rather than split the nation.

    BUT

    Patel basically calls his bluff and says “You
    want independent Pakistan? Fine you can have it! Now we can make strong central system in all rest of India!”.

    RESULT

    Patel wins and creates a strong centralised India while Jinnah becomes leader of Pakistan, a country he never wanted and which he actually described as “moth-eaten”.

  7. Sam on September 11th, 2011 1:53 pm

    that’s interesting :) tx fr sharing..
    Jaswant’s book had described a part of this..here is the book launch article which i read long ago..

    http://goo.gl/neGDD

  8. Sanjay on February 19th, 2012 10:41 am

    He is always correct

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