Saturday, September 29, 2012

Anna or Kejriwal, who is right?

Recently Anna Hazare announced that he is not going to be a part of the new political party or movement that Arvind Kejriwal is planning to start soon. It was surprising, if not shocking to know this. Forming a political party and taking this anti-corruption movement to the next level was the next logical step in the direction of bringing reforms to our corrupt political and bureaucratic system. The question that comes to my mind is why Anna chose to stay away from a political option? Is it because he feels that involvement in politics will corrupt his movement? Does he think that politics is a dirty game and wants to play safe? What is it, that made him take this decision, and what effect this decision can have on the current political and social scenario? Who is right, Anna or Arvind?

Anti-corruption movement started with a bang when Anna Hazare sat on his fist fast for the Lokpal issue and it charged the whole nation. The problem was there, everyone knew it, and people responded spontaneously which even took the government by surprise. For people of my generation, this movement is a chance to be a part of Indian history, our generation never witnessed any part of the freedom struggle, we were just kids or infants during the emergency, but we can be a very important part of this important movement and that's why it means a lot for our generation.

At the beginning of the movement people's response to it created a lot of hope and many things happened after that. A committee was set up for the Janlokpal bill draft formation and discussion, this didn't work out very well as there were huge differences between the government's version of the Lokpal bill and Team Anna's version. The government prepared its own Lokpal bill and introduced it in parliament, there was a heated debate on the contents of that bill and the effectiveness of this newly proposed system. In general, this issue was there in the media for 3-4 months, and then slowly attention shifted to some recent scams and fuel price hike-related issues. When Anna sat for his second fast for the same issue, it created much less turmoil and public participation was also less compared to the last time. The government also realized that these things were not going to make any dent in its vote bank or affect its stability so they conveniently ignored the movement. This forced the movement and its leaders to think about alternative ways to fight the anti-corruption battle. I think at this point they realized that just fasting or protests are not going to bring change. It might trouble the ruling party or government for some time and force them to discuss these issues but policies or laws can not be formed or changed by using these ways. Maybe this led them to think of the idea of forming a political party that can give voters an alternative to select honest and sincere candidates who are willing to work for people's welfare rather than working to fulfill some personal ambitions. This sounds more logical but very difficult path to follow. Creating a political party and managing it is not a simple thing in the Indian political system, but without doing this it's foolish to expect that current political parties and politicians will suddenly change their ways and become sincere and honest just because of some protests and fasts. Corruption is not a recent problem in Indian politics or bureaucracy, it's so old that it has become a norm now. I don't think ruling parties will care even if few people die while fasting, it might create some temporary uproar among the public but current establishments know very well how to handle these types of things. These things (protests and fasts) work very well for local issues where urgent attention is required but for national issues like corruption different type of movement is required which can run for a longer time to be effective, 10 day protests or fasts are not going to force the change.

As I mentioned giving people a better political alternative sounds very logical but very difficult option to execute for the anti-corruption movement to move forward. I think initially everyone thought this as a very viable alternative and I remember that Anna Hazare himself announced this option at the end of his second fast in Delhi, but something went wrong in the coming days. Arvind Kejriwal and his followers moved forward to form a political group and I think others decided to wait and watch. This resulted in a clear divide in team Anna. One group became totally inactive and waited for Anna's announcement and another group started their work toward the formation of a political outfit. Finally, Anna announced that he wouldn't be a part of any political party, which is totally fine, it's his choice and it should be respected but he also forbade India against corruption or Arvind's group to use his name and image for their movement which is totally surprising. This created a lot of confusion. If it remains like this I am sure this will nullify any effect this movement might have on the next general elections, I don't know which candidates or party Anna and his group are planning to support? Even JP (Jay Prakash Narayan) stood with the Janata Party to bring the change in 1977, he didn't fight the election or accept any post but he clearly associated his name and image with a particular party to bring that change.

Without giving viable political alternatives what Anna expects voters to do? Right now it is very confusing and not a very good scenario for the anti-corruption movement. Either they should associate themselves with some political party that can endorse their ideas and views or form their own party and fight the elections. If they are not willing to do any of these things and just want to play a safe game then there is no point in doing all this because, for any policy change, they have to depend on other political parties which will act only as per their own requirements and benefits. It is difficult to say who is right here, Anna or Kejriwal, but it is also true that both of them should come together to make this battle successful. I hope that this issue between these two groups will be resolved soon and they come up with some common plan that can reignite this movement and initiate the change in the system which is badly required. I know that this is not going to be an easy battle, it will be very long and one can not expect positive results in one or two elections but it should start at least then only we can expect some positive outcome.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic. 

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing) 

2 comments:

  1. A very very smart move by Anna. If Kejriwal wins, then all credit goes to Anna, but if Kejriwal loses then, he will know his place. This will be end of Kejriwal. Chandni-Chowk area is of Business people - who just do cash dealings - Evade taxes, Encroachments, Hawala transaction etc etc. If a person like Kejriwal comes to power - then their biz is gone. Nobody from Chandni-Chowk area, will support Kejriwal. Referendum is a different thing - even A.Raja and Dawood Ibrahim will write that they want a corruption free country - but do they actually want that to happen.

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