Hazardous Hazare

As it is said, in India everything gathers some melodrama the running anti corruption tamasha for some would call it indeed is an intriguing drama.

Hazardous Hazare, as the UPA must have been racking nerves, is surely a man of substance, not for his metabolic might to fast unto death but for egging on a country of people who generally after having spilt their curry remain complacent with a ‘koi baat nai.’ Oh! And after having a basket of eggs on its face the GoI could have been a little watchful with the case.

The sonorous sordid stories of corruption should be given no time for an explanation or description. Nor should any time be wasted in settling scores of the colourful politicians debating, ‘your corruption being larger than mine’, on as many news channels. Then leave aside the petulant remarks of the spokesperson digging out corruption cases against the Anti corruption team. As it is long decades have gone by without making any apparent movement on the Lokpal Bill. The debate over the draft might be a different issue all together. Whether the government’s version is an umbrella with a hole or Anna’s draft a heavy institution for our already humungous establishment needs a debate not a drama.

With the amicable yoga baba’s stint on fast, matters worsened. Trivialization of satyagrah and ann-shan and a sad comparison of equating the revolution with that of the freedom struggle. We probably forget the intense years of the mid 20^th century, or were seeing this just after the million march of Egypt. Further the events took an ugly turn - UPA bungling up with the situation with a lathi charge, and our baba - a man of honour in a garb of a woman?

However heavy or overwhelming the Jan Lokpal draft bill might be, for our system with such despair, it might be a shot for the better. If nothing else a nation in slumber has been woken up. It has started talking of being anti corrupt, change hopefully would take its time and it would practice restraint and start being anti corrupt soon. After a chapter of embarrassments for the Congress government this was the magic wand, our reticent Prime Minister spoke of whenever he spoke, sparingly though. Sadly again, it came down on Anna and his team that now comprised a visible chunk of the nation counting in many thousands and turning them up in its much-loved Tihar.
 

God bless this courageous frail old man. He indeed is a matter of substance. And for the melodrama of this tamasha, we have always had it. And this time it’s ‘I am Anna’!!  

Jan support but not Jasmine!

An interesting balance sets on the stats when one juxtaposes the figures 1.67 lakh crores and 1.21 billion! One, an estimate of an instance of loss and the other, well our strength. That’s what our worrisome population is known as when a Gandhi sits on a Satyagrah. Within hours of Anna starting his fast unto death, for bringing accountability in the governance, an unprecedented response mushroomed across the country. Saffron scarves and in skull caps, cotton sari clad and in candid denims, silver haired and the seventeen year old, all turned out from the multi strata complex society. Oh! Well that makes us 1.2 billion.

A historic revolution and naming it the second freedom struggle, the internet beings have added quite admirable fuel to the fire, fanned by the media. A rotten country, ranking 87^th on the corruption list could merely dream of flying. Only a fire in the house could have broken our slumber. The overwhelming response on the call of Hazare, roaring Anna nahi yeh aandhi hai,Desh ka doosra Gandhi hai, would bring down the lumbering government to finally pass the much coveted, 42 year grand old bill, a precaution then, but surely a cure now.

Street plays, speeches and slogans, all have been screaming of corruption and decay. Perhaps taking cue of the global trends, we’ve started smelling Jasmine in India. But, here lies a sad note. India, however mucky it may be, is a thriving and well so, democracy. Rechristening Jantar Mantar, Tahrir Square, would be disrespecting ourselves, our faith and that of Anna Hazare’s campaign. Let’s leave it to Egypt and the ilk to liberate from their non democratic regimes at Tahrir.

Although a section of the society suspects Anna’s version of the bill, and quite reasons it. Establishing an institution as super cop – super judge, might in some stray possibilities give birth to a monstrous head with no counter. Yet, it’s quite desirable to have such a Lokpal even if it questions every move of the government. Its time we get it done.

As crores gather in the width and span of the country in support of Anna, many are oblivious to the motive of their congregating, even if they do shout for the Jan Lokpal Bill, plenty don’t understand its intricacies. But what they do know is that they have assembled to question the political class of the callous corrupt governance they have been inflicted upon. And that is reason enough to join the ‘historic’ movement.

True liberation though, would only be achieved if this mass support translates into a mass will of acting against basic corruption, the aam aadmi corruption. It doesn’t lie with the government alone; it breeds in every child here. We can’t sing songs that are crooned in Arabia. Along with the check on politicos, we need to keep a tab on selves. A no to the next cop on the road for the ghoos, stands must for a Lokpal Law to be implemented well.