A HOLLOW VICTORY

The social networks, print media and news channels have been abuzz with a sense of elation about the ‘victory’ of Mr. Anna Hazare and his entourage in having the Parliament ‘accede’ to their ‘demands’ regarding the scope and ambit of the proposed lok pal bill.

While many people, who have vented their frustrations about the system, by spending their energies in supporting Anna Hazare over the past few weeks, are quick to call this a victory for India, I, as one of the supposed beneficiaries of the victory feel circumspect, for this feels more like a victory in a battle where you have lost more than you have won.

The first and obvious casualty of the entire exercise is the working democracy of the country as envisaged in our Constitution. The blame for this, however, does not rest on Mr. Hazare’s shoulders alone, but more so on our Government and the Parliamentarians too. Our Government has mishandled the situation from the very beginning, ever since this hulabaloo started in April. At the outset they should have simply ignored Mr. Hazare for lack of locus standi, and carried on business as usual. After all, Mr. Hazare is neither an elected member of the Parliament nor does he have any other constitutional or statutory authority vested in him to allow him the privilege of ascertaining the scope and ambit of a law to be passed by the Parliament. However, as would have been the expectation of Anna camp, the Government couldn’t help but succumb to the vote bank politics and in the process tripped all over itself in (mis)managing the situation. Mr. Hazare, a nobody, was conferred legitimacy by placing him on the committee discussing the bill, and after that there was no turning back. Once you grant legitimacy and recognition to someone, it’s not easy to take it back. In fact this action of our Government would have helped tremendously in ramping up the supporter count in the Anna camp. Here on Mr. Hazare was quick to treat it as his autocratic birthright to dictate what he wants and does not want included in the lok pal bill and to coerce the Parliament through threat of suicide in conceding to such demands. The Parliament, in turn, comprised of the typical category of shameless politicians who will do anything under threat of losing their vote bank, played to the arena and agreed to consider the proposals put forth by the Anna camp in total subversion of the democratic process.

I am sure Shri B.R. Ambedkar would have rolled over in his grave bunch of times by now, at this de facto hijacking of the Parliamentary process by an outsider!!!

So what is being hailed as a victory for India, is in fact a back handed slap to the democratic process, and sets a precarious precedent where any person off the street looking to make a name for himself, or generally looking to go on a ‘detox diet’, can muster up a spectacle and hold the Government and Parliament to ransom to consider his ‘demands’ regarding any piece of legislation to be enacted. It does however set the mind thinking about the bucket list of ‘demands’ I would have if I decide to venture on such an escapade in the later years of my life, when anyway the body has given up on its desire for culinary delights.

As for the outcome of the entire exercise…it’s quite a damp squib I must say. Nothing is going to change with this bill. When India wakes up tomorrow, it will be business as usual. The corrupt will be corrupt and the people who pay the corrupt will continue to do so (this includes most of the Anna supporters as well). Corruption is a systemic issue. It is inherent to human nature. Mere enactment of a single piece of legislation in whatever shape or form, is not going to change that. While many will hail this as a small step towards a cleaner India, I feel it would not make any significant difference to the way things are.

Any country, which is an operational democracy in the truest sense, USA, UK, France for instance, have taken many generations to bring down corruption to a minimal level. Don’t get me wrong, corruption does still exist in all countries, however it’s impact on daily lives is refined out of the system by generations of working of the engine of democracy and economic growth. Higher levels of per capita income, education, awareness and better pay scale across the board, act as a natural disincentive to the corruption at an everyday level. Same shall surely happen in India. We are as yet a young democracy. As generations progress, there will be culling out of the blatantly corrupt from the Governance system, the new blood, aided with higher level of education and awareness will not pollute everyday lives with the poison of corrupt practices. Economic growth shall bring in better pay scales of Government officials and higher per capita income to deter corruption of a routine nature. What will be left will only be the sophisticated level of corruption at the highest echelons, which is last to go, if at all it ever does.  

The above, in my view, is the only way corruption will get marginalized, and enactment of law or placement of ombudsman like agencies to monitor corruption will never be the answer. There are plenty of such agencies existing in our system already, whether it be the CBI, CVC, CEC or the Judiciary itself. At the end of the day all of these have at different time intervals been accused of corruption themselves, after all these are manned by human beings only at the end of the day. The lok pal, or whatever other institution will not be any different. It would be a safer bet to wager that people in the lok pal institution will also be accused of corruption after it comes into existence than risking your capital on the Indian test cricket team!!!

The second casualty of the entire exercise has been the sensibilities of the Indian audience which has been subjected to this ‘reality masala show’ over the past few weeks and the suckers who have been lured to ‘participate’ in this ‘movement’ in the sincere belief that something will actually come out of it. Having yet again made a scapegoat of its viewers, the media will move on to a fresh news cycle, hopefully getting new fodder for their chewing and spewing out the excrement which we now receive as ‘news’ and news of Anna will become stale faster than we can say ‘lok pal’.

 As for Anna’s cohorts, I am sure they will be inspired to capitalize on their new found ‘success’ in some suitable form or the other, whether it be by resorting to literary avenues or to annals of politics.

Last but most importantly, Mr. Hazare will probably continue his labour of love, and seek to follow up on the final enactment of the lok pal bill in such shape and form as HE likes and then hopefully will also follow up continuously coercing the Government in putting the institution in place quickly. I wonder who will be vested with the daunting task of heading such an institution which would even more so be under the scrutiny of the public given the labour pains the country has had to go through in giving birth to the institution. Maybe Mr. Hazare himself? No. For Mr. Hazare, I would much rather challenge him to an even more daunting task than that….If he really really really wants to make a change for good of India, all he needs to do is to muster up 276 odd supporters, field them along with himself in the next elections, become Prime Minister and then run the country himself and purge it not only of corruption but all other evils that plague us, while managing the mammoth responsibilities which accompany the task of running this great country. If he really has the determination to make a change, this is what he should do. It’s very easy to sit on the sidelines (eating or not eating – doesn’t matter), giving speeches and criticizing, while having no accountability of one’s own actions.

All of the above notwithstanding, I am happy though, for the thousands of Anna supporters, that at least he was not a casualty of the entire exercise. He managed to ‘break’ his ‘supposed’ fast well in time and did not succumb to death, which outcome again was as predictable as India’s loss to England. He will live to fight another day, and have more of such ‘hollow’ victories making a sucker out of the gullible and desperate citizens, and if he does step up and takes the challenge of running the country himself, I would love to see how much of corruption he manages to eradicate, or for that matter how many skeletons come tumbling out of his closet.

For the record….I am against corruption!!!