Who benefited the most from Anna Hazare's fast

Anna Hazare's campaign for a stronger Lokpal Bill and his 12-day battle against corruption has given the Opposition, mainly the BJP, to present themselves as a party which can replace the ruling coalition at the Centre.A STAR News-Nielsen survey conducted across 28 cities with close to 9000 respondents after Anna ended his 12-day long fast – has revealed that the BJP will garner 32 % of the votes across India if Lok Sabha polls were held in the near future, while the Congress will manage to win just 20 % of votes.

According to the survey, the BJP has turned out to be the most favoured party across all regions – 40:27 in the north; 20:15 in the east, and 46:15 in the west – barring the south, where 20 % respondents still prefer the Congress, while 16 % prefer the BJP.

The numbers mentioned above is in stark contrast to the ones that came out in a similar survey conducted by STAR News-Nielsen in May 2011 – before the Anna movement gripped the country’s imagination. Barely four months ago, was the Congress leading the pack with 30 % of the vote share while BJP had only 23 %. Also, except the west, the Congress was leading in all zones.In the current Lok Sabha, Congress has 207 seats and BJP has 115 seats.

Anna’s movement, and the way the UPA government handled the situation, seems to have swayed a number of people who voted for Congress during last General election – around 11 % of the respondents who voted for the Congress last time now intend to vote for the BJP, while only 5 % are switching away from the BJP.

Throughout Anna Hazare’s campaign, several UPA leaders, most vocally Kapil Sibal, had said that a few thousand people supporting Anna, do not represent a country of 1.2 billion. They even challenged his team members to prove its legitimacy in the elections. But if they were to contest elections against Team Anna members tomorrow, the politicians would be in for a surprise.

In a Kiran Bedi vs Kapil Sibal contest, 74 % of respondents in the STAR News-Nielsen survey would vote for the iconic former IPS officer, while Sibal would manage just 14 %. Similarly, a contest between Arvind Kejriwal and P Chidambaram would end up in a defeat for the home minister — 58 % of the respondents claim they will vote for the RTI activist while 24 % would choose Chidambaram. Interestingly, the Anna campaign has given the country a brand new youth icon. Around 62 % of the respondents feel that
Arvind Kejriwal, the most vocal member has as the new role model for young India. He has significantly higher approval ratings in north (75 %).

Respondents however do not lay the blame for corruption on the doors of any particular political party — a third of respondents (75 %) believe that all parties are equally responsible for corruption. Another 49 % of the respondents believe that feels that giving or accepting bribe is in the fabric of the country and it cannot be stopped by people in India. A similar number — 46 % — believe that corruption can be stopped if people unite against it.

What the Anna Hazare movement says about our patriotism

Time was when not everyone could get to brandish the national flag. Today, anyone can. On select occasions, like Independence Day, they erupt all over the place like multicolored mushrooms. And at Ramlila Maidan last week, everyone was armed with a flag. Or so it appeared on TV. Not a good sign.

Why would you need the national flag for an anti-corruption campaign? Is corruption an external enemy, against whom the Indian state is waging war? One answer trotted out is that flag-waving is an expression of one’s pride in being Indian. But what does it mean to be Indian? When there is no war going on, and no external coloniser (like the British were), where are we going with this overflow of patriotism?

Patriotism of the kind that drives you to follow a messiah or to die for a cause is a tool meant to fortify a person against her own humanity. So that she can better serve a larger, non-human, entity — such as a country. In fact, whenever you’re told you’re serving the country, rest assured you’re only serving the interests of those who control the country, which is always an elite, unrepresentative minority. (If you want to know how ‘representative’ our democracy is, compare the percentage of our MPs who are crorepatis with the percentage of our electorate who are crorepatis.)

Patriotism deflects the anger of the deprived toward an external enemy. For example, the US defence budget, which should have shrunk after the end of the Cold War, actually shot up. The rationale given for the increase? War against Terror. Given the increasing — and increasingly untenable — disparity between rich and poor, states that abandon their welfare role were in danger of losing their moral authority to govern. They hence need terrorism to justify their existence.The aforesaid ‘development’ being best piloted by an elite band of technocratic, entrepreneurial Indians who have a monopoly on merit, efficiency, and expertise and are thereby the privileged custodians of the answer to the question, “What is good for the country?’

It is this technocratic class that is driving the Lokpal bill movement. They tapped into the legitimate anger felt by a people fed up with the oppressive power wielded by a corrupt state and an unresponsive polity. Anna was merely the poster boy, acting on instructions, and content to do so. And their destination is not so much an equitable society, but a future where there won’t be messy potholes of democracy on the country’s highways of commerce, and no political bottlenecks will slow down the swift transfer of public/communal resources into the clean hands of private capital.

This technocratic authoritarianism — proposed as an antidote to a corrupted democratic process that has failed to deliver — is a classic case of the cure being worse than the disease. Yes, corruption is bad. And we all want change. But not all change is necessarily for the better. When it involves a lot of flag-waving, it is usually for the worse. It’s not for nothing that Samuel Johnson called patriotism “the last refuge of a scoundrel.”

Shashi Tharoor-Anna Hazare not voice of the people

Member of the Indian Parliament, previously served as the UN Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information and as the Minister of State for the Ministry of External Affairs.Firing a salvo at Anna Hazare, former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor has said how can a person "who never stood for elections" claim to be the voice of the people. Asserting that laws can be made only by Parliament, Tharoor, who is a first time MP from Kerala, said, "We cannot have a small group of unelected people imposing their will on Parliament because in the long term the danger will be to you the people.

"I do not believe that we can conduct democracy either from the Ramlila Ground or from television studio. Democracy must be conducted through both Houses of Parliament." The Congress MP said there are more than 500 MPs and thousands of people's representatives in state assemblies who have gone out to seek votes of people and have to preserve the support they have got.

"If such people cannot claim to represent the people of India, but somebody else, who never stood for elections but has lot of television cameras around him and a few thousand people in a Maidan.... Will he be the voice of the people? Is that democracy?" he said addressing a gathering at Jawaharlal Nehru University here last night.While stating that arresting Hazare was a "mistake" and that no government can disagree with the cause of the anti-corruption crusader, Tharoor stressed that the "question is the means".

"Saying that I will starve to death thereby potentially unleashing disruption violence and anarchy in the country unless you pass a bill which says exactly what I see it should say. Is that democracy? That is the question we have to ask," Tharoor said during a question-answer session with students there.Noting that the country has a constitutional system that has kept it together for 64 years and in which people can tell their representatives about the issues, Tharoor said, "If these representatives do not pass the laws you want or pass the law you
do not want, vote them out an get other representatives." At the outset, he said that nobody can be opposed to one's right to protest or fast or the idea of the Lokpal for which Hazare stood. "I think it was a mistake to arrest Anna Hazare," he said.

The lawmaker, however, wondered what is the guarantee that the Lokpal will "magically" be something different from other agencies, which were created to fight corruption. He at the same time made it clear he admired Hazare, who has "lot of good qualities" and an "exemplary record of service to the country". "I am certainly not one of those to suggest that he is anything but a man of great integrity," Tharoor said.

Square Four or Square one - Lokpal

The huge national performance of the largest running theatrical show is nearing its finish. But then as usual there is always the final twist right towards the end. And before the twist, are the set of scenes that are most predictable. But what I am referring to with the theatrical show is the Anna fasting. It has been 11 days since the old man has been fasting, presumptuously for the sake of this nation. He has been doing so, for he firmly believes that the ‘absolute’ solution to corruption is already with him. In trying to forward this Jan Lokpal bill, a lot of politics has been participated in. Blames have been put on one another. Logical, emotional and psychological arguments have been provided from both sides, some brilliant some naïve. The current situation after a lot of intricate balancing acts rests at a juncture, from where either the solution will be brought under focus, or else the entire problem will be surgically operated from a new angle. The problem, as must be obvious to the keen reader by now is that angles to a problem are always uncountable; the trick is in
picking the one from where the solution is the closest.

The decision to move forward or to repeat the whole stalemate again rests in a few hands. Of the major players one is Mr. Hazare himself. We can only hope he agrees to open discussions and logical argument. The other player being the PM, who I think has been a gentleman, right from the beginning of this embarrassing situation for our country. It would not be an exaggeration to say, he has been the only saving grace during this chaotic time. It was sad to read his defensive statement today morning in the newspaper, wherein he has openly conveyed feeling hurt to have been raised fingers at, especially considering he has given this nation 41 years of service out of his lifetime. The rest of the participants in the unfolding of the scenario are the Anna team members’, the cabinet members, the standing committee members and the members of the parliament. As for the masses, I would not include them in this elite list consciously. Because over the past four weeks I have concluded that we the citizens of this country are ridiculous, trivial and class one bandwagon jumpers. So let us just enjoy the show as we have continued to so far, without any real stand or sound judgment.

Of the two rallies in New Delhi yesterday, one at the Ramlila Ground, and the other at India Gate. The former was full of protestors for Anna, the latter full of protestors against Anna. I must mention though, the strength of the one against Anna was lesser, because there are lesser rational people in the world, for those who can read between the lines. Moving on, the ground reality as of today stands at a delicate juncture. Can the parliament and the Anna team stop the commotion, let people return to their jobs and homes, and move forward with drafting the solution rather than trying to draft a bill with no problems, because problems are always more visible than their solution. I only hope that this wastage of time that has occurred over the past month is not repeated. Because I firmly believe that the way we handled the situation as a nation has been grossly incorrect. We have done nothing but talked about the problem, wasted many working hours and brought international pity upon ourselves. But nevertheless the way to live is to look forward. So we must look forward with keenness, towards an end to the commotion, stalemate and corruption. We must not look forward to the festive feeling of a revolution, protest or freedom struggle as they were often considered and believed to be. Lets us not fall back on square one. Let us move to square four, where a holistic and permanent output is achieved out of all that has been going on.

Anna Hazare - The Dilemma this Nation is Facing

Anna Hazare

It was on Tuesday that Mr. Hazare was arrested for having violated the conditions put forward by the Delhi police for the fasting at Jai Prakash Narain Park. In the past 48 hours the entire country has been engulfed in the hype, behind the new self proclaimed Gandhian’s fight against corruption. 20,000 people protested on the streets of Delhi alone, about the same number protested in other major metropolitan cities all over the country, including Bengaluru, Mumbai and others. In the backdrop of the uninformed support being provided by the masses, the situation in the country is swindling between festive joy (for the new found cause) and historical doom supported by the very masses. Let us expand these emotions a bit and see what is feeding them, and what they are leading to.

 The pride and the euphoria of a united nation have been revived after long. It would be incorrect to say it is a national struggle; I disagree out of my respect for the struggle, methods and objectives of the Independence struggle. The revolutionaries, who brought us to our freedom back in 1947, were facing bigger dangers, with more constitutional methods. The result of which is visible today, we are a free nation, although with our own set of intricacies, but which nation state has ever existed without any. Moving on, the state of the masses in the country can at best be compared to the world cup, which was the last pivotal incident of a united nation emoting, praying and supporting a common cause for a positive output (the world cup victory). What is happening today is something closer to the world cup euphoria, but far from the aspects of a national struggle or revolution, as some are fondly and dangerously articulating it as.

 At the crux of the current situation is a divide within. The whole situation originated out of a divide, between a man with a noble cause and the government that dutifully and rightfully must preserve the prerogatives of the constitution and of its own self. The masses on the other hand, have assumed the role of the supporters, but are inevitably and unconsciously also the feeders to this stalemate in the country. No matter how much support is provided to the cause, the method does not become correct. It only facilitates a greater dilemma for those in power, along with a stronger encouragement for self proclaimed spokespersons of the civil society. It only sensitizes the already sensitive situation.

 Let me ask the reader, “Do you actually believe that Anna Hazare’s draft is the only and the best solution to fight corruption?” “Are you aware that this precedence will be used by numerous factions of the society for numerous demands in the future? (Not all will be for a righteous cause, but with the same incorrect method)” “Does your neighbor or fellow bystander in the protest rally understand the conflicts between the two drafts, and the reasons behind them. Or is he/she merely there to fight corruption under societal momentum?” And lastly, “do all of us realize that the time and effort put behind this, if channeled towards equally important issues persisting within our boundaries, would solve more problems for all of us? (Inflation, oncoming recession, poverty, murder of RTI activists, grain storage shortage, crime against women, healthcare, education e.t.c)” I cannot answer all these for you, because that would make me a self proclaimed civil society voice too, minus the support and cameras behind me. What I can do though is convey a framework, within which contemplation and exploration needs to furthered by every single person who is interested in this fight for corruption. Let us first understand the constitutional aspects of it, then the implementation and lastly the consequential ones.

 When Anna began this fight about two months back with ‘version 1.8 of the Jan Lokpal Bill’, his demands were preset. They were unconditional acceptance of his draft and its conversion into the law of the land. It should not take much rationale for a person to understand the inappropriateness of this request, (it was far from a request, but let us assume it was). This adamant demand obviously had to be rejected, for in a nation of 1.4 billion people, the mathematical probability of a better or revised solution with more brain storming and discussions for higher implementable possibility is really high. The adamant demand also needed to be rejected, for no matter whom with however noble a cause, cannot be permitted to create laws outside the constitutional machinery. It not only means conveying to the world that all that we have done so far has been on a failed system, but it also implies permitting individual voices to overpower the entire democratic setup.

 Now let us come to the implementation ambit of these bills (government’s vs Anna’s). The method of the Anna team has been grossly incorrect. When we elect an executive head for the nation (PM), we not only offer him power for betterment, but respect for encouragement and strength. The need for a singular authority to do the needful against all odds is imbedded in the political evolution from the Athenian democracy to the Indian. So when the PM of this nation properly conveys to the masses, the reason and logic behind the reason for not permitting a free flow of decision making authority beyond the parliament, it is a shame to see that he is paid no attention. And most of it is termed a usual political quarrel, and thereby negated. It is this same position and not the person, which Anna’s draft wants under the purview of the bill. Reasons for such an obnoxious suggestion (it is a demand; I am consciously sobering his tone for his good), ‘there must be no office outside scrutiny’. With the same logic, let me question, then why must we support the Jan Lokpal bill in the first place, for it not only plans to supersede the necessary and free power pillars, but at the same time replicates in itself what it wishes to eradicate.

The Jan Lokpal committee if brought under effect will be the new PM in the context of absence of scrutiny. Today there is only one office that stays outside this ambit, tomorrow there will be a committee with numerous members outside the ambit of scrutiny. So why does Mr. Hazare and team wish to bring the PM under scrutiny? It is for check and balance. Then who provides the check and balance to the committee, does it not have an equal probability of going haywire if not more, considering the PM is one person and the committee will include many. It does not end here, although I feel the need to change the paragraph, but I must continue to highlight a few other logic blocks, of which the people are not aware, and hence are ending up supporting the expansion of a dyslexic movement. The Jan Lokpal bill which is the Anna’s version of fighting corruption, wants the MPs in the parliament (the discussion and formulation forum of the country) to be under scrutiny of a distinct kind. They demand that the powers of these MPs in lieu of speaking, voting and behaving must also be under the committee. Don’t they realize this hampers the whole point of having a functional democracy, where solutions are found while catering to the versatility that we have as a nation. It is not an old saying, yet forgotten, “India is a nation with unity in diversity.” The committee also requires the inclusion of judiciary in this ambit, which again implies formulation of a parallel judiciary, and if there are problems with the existing one, then who guarantee the everlasting stability and serenity of the parallel one. There are numerous such differences between the Jan Lokpal and the Lokpal. The point to be discussed here is this, the government version of the Lokpal bill is far more implementable and stable compared to Anna’s Jan Lokpal version. It should have been obvious to the masses much earlier, for the Lokpal was formed by member of the parliament, who for two consecutive terms have been formulating policies and drafts for this nation. And I dare not say that we have gone downhill ever since the current government came to power in 2004. Whether we could have climber higher is question of hypothesis, the reality stands as it does, because we got through the recession, our food inflation rates have dropped today, our markets and masses are being empowered even if on a gradual scale. These are things to be considered, before we support a movement that is obscuring our government from functioning.

 Let us move on to the final ambit of consequentiality. As of today there are people protesting for the cause and people profiting from it. At the top of the list are the media houses with record breaking TRPs, there are also trivial profiteers like the flag sellers at Sadar Bazaar Delhi, who are selling a 50 Rs flag at 150 Rs and 250 Rs ones at 500 Rs. In the backdrop are also people like, Shailesh Saraf of Morgan Stanley, who has taken a fasting leave from his company which is based in Hong Kong to be here for the protests. Although he is gaining the moral satisfaction of participating in a movement for the betterment of his country, the question remains, is any of this relevant if the final end is unachievable, which is to eradicate corruption from our country. How will the TRPs of the media houses, or the profit of the flag seller or the conscience satisfaction of Shailesh going to help us? This is precisely why the participating masses must ponder over what they are doing, and where this whole situation is heading. It is but obvious that the constitution must not be overridden, and it is also but obvious that Mr. Anna will not co operate or compromise because now his incorrect methods have public backing. Hence deducing our destination from the current situation is not difficult.  We are heading towards a prolonged deadlock, where the government will hold its stand for it is correctly viewing the situation with a holistic eye. And Mr. Hazare and the protestors will continue to stand their ground, because Anna believes he has the final and best solution already, and the people who are incomplete in their view are going ballistic in terms of their support. This deadlock will only lead to more parliament adjournments at the cost of 10 Crore a day, it will lead to more policing requirements when the police to citizen ration is already skewed and it will also lead to a historically and internationally negative image, of the masses of a country against their own democratic institutions under the garb of so called revolution.

 The change, the real transformation for the change we desire needs to be initiated by us, the public. We need to ponder over the arguments and facts, the likes of which I have mentioned above. And we need to decide our stand. Anna claims to be doing everything for the people, and the government is claiming the same. So what exactly are the people doing for themselves besides jumping on one bandwagon or the other, nothing! The people of this country are the only entities that can truly bring about betterment for themselves. All we need is a decisive direction to move forward towards. It can either be the overpowering of our constitution, with the idea of one man, yet without the guarantee of this man towards its functional and lasting possibility. Or else we can move towards the democratic direction, where the government and the Anna team is forced to discuss and debate there differences for a true democratic solution. It is nation where good must be done for everyone without bias, and this good must be done after keeping everyone’s good in mind.

Hence for Mr. Hazare to hold an individual view and desire its acceptance is unacceptable to all those who truly believe that our country and institutions have not failed us, but only need refining for a better tomorrow. And to refine something, one needs two expertise, to identify the impurity and to isolate the purity. To hold a singular stand will only bring us joy and feelings of a revolution, it will not bring us an end result. I urge all readers to not be lost or blinded by the plethora of information and tantrums being launched from all sides. I urge you to decide righteously, with our future, with our practicality and ourselves in semblance.