WHO IS ANNA HAZARE???

Let me confess few things right at the outset…till a few days back I had never even heard of Anna Hazare. In fact when I first read of the campaign against corruption in the newspapers I had to decipher whether the main protagonist was a male or a female (at first read the name conjured up images of an exotic and attractive damsel in distress). Those of you who didn’t suffer from the aforesaid ignorance are certainly more well read and aware than me.

But even after I figured what the fuss was all about, I did not go to Jantar Mantar…I did not ‘like’ all the requests and posts on social networking sites regarding Anna Hazare’s campaign against corruption in India. I did nothing, except go about my usual business.

Don’t get me wrong, I have respect for Shri Hazare’s commitment and dedication to the cause that he espoused and the will power he exhibited in pursuing his agenda all the way!!! Truly inspiring. It would surely make a great case study in any self help book and would empower (hopefully) a fraction of its readers with greater sense of self determination. And surely in some instances it would serve as a template for achieving instant media recognition for those wanting it without having to pull stunts like Ms. Poonam Pandey (another name I was unfamiliar with until a few weeks ago). But still the whole movement did not move me to participate.

So here is why…(for those of you who care to read and are not sufficiently pissed off by this point)…

The thrust of Shri Hazare’s movement is the demand for enactment of Lok Pal Bill. The bill, if and when enacted into a law would provide for constitution of an ‘independent’ authority or overseer if you will, who will be charged with the mandate of monitoring the functioning of the governmental authorities and weeding out corruption. The Lok Pal would be organized and aided by an elaborate hierarchy of officers all the way down to State level.

The only thing that lends credibility to this Lok Pal Bill is the fact that admittedly it has been doing the rounds for decades and has been skirted by the law makers in the annals of the Parliament. Nothing else.

So what if this bill gets enacted? Are we seriously naive enough to be fooled by a fasting old man to believe that it will be the demise of corruption in the country? Haven’t we seen enough examples of ‘independent’ overseer authorities existing in our system (such as Election Commission, Judiciary) to know that it’s a pipe dream to think a ‘Lok Pal’ would wave the magic wand and draw the curtains on corruption?

No sooner than a person is installed in the position of Lok Pal that questions would arise about his or her ‘independence’, propriety of appointment procedure followed, and actions/decisions taken by such a person.

As the saying goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely. This would be no different. After all a Lok Pal will also be a human being. And humans are by their very nature corrupt. Its only the nature and manifestation of such corruption which varies. From the stage of infancy, when a child is offered a chocolate to finish his or her meal and onwards, its one big gauntlet of incentivizing and short cuts that define all of our lives.

In all nooks and corners you encounter corruption. Not only that, we partake in it and aid in its proliferation. From the traffic constable to the Babu, we need to grease to aid our cause. Bottom line is that you cannot transact business or go about your daily lives without resorting to these methods one way or another.

Show me a businessman who says they have never bribed to expedite their business affairs and I will show you a liar (Tatas included)!!!!!

So my views on the efficacy of the Lok Pal Bill notwithstanding, I did feel that if someone was to ‘support’ Anna Hazare’s movement after having indulged in corruption and knowing full well that they would be constrained to do so again, it would be nothing short of hypocrisy!!!!

I may be corrupt, but I am not a hypocrite. Hence for this reason also, I abstained.

The other major objection I have is with Shri Hazare’s methodology. The whole movement and the process followed, has ironically made a mockery of the Constitution!!! It is not the design of our Constitution for one man to threaten the law makers or the governance with suicide and black mail them into enacting a law. In fact attempted suicide is a crime and such a person should be put in jail.

The single most important tool in our hand is the universal adult franchise vested in us by the Constitution. If we feel someone is corrupt, let’s vote them out. If we feel all candidates are corrupt, let’s stand as a candidate ourselves. But only if we are not hypocrites and can swear that we have never indulged in corruption and never will.

Merely by going to Jantar Mantar, or seeing the enactment of Lok Pal Bill, or liking a post on facebook/twitter, we will not end corruption in the country. In fact corruption is here to stay, in India, abroad and everywhere that you will find humans.

So let’s stand up and applaud Shri Hazare for his efforts, for he may not have succeeded in ending corruption in the country, but he surely managed to hold the law makers to ransom on the threat of his life and derail the working of the democracy for just this instance. He also managed to screw up Ms. Poonam Pandey’s timing and took a bow for his 15 minutes of fame when it should have been her 15 minutes of display!!!! Now that is something I would have gone to Jantar Mantar for.