“The motive is what matters” –that’s what they say. In the deification of Anna Hazare, a certain ‘jobless’ or ‘fun-seeking’ part of our 1.21 billion population has decided to jam roads, buy ‘Anna topis’ and scream every time the camera turns towards them. They think this signifies their stand against corruption. They feel this is a way to be patriotic. They justify their behavior by citing examples of Bhagat Singh, Gandhi, Bose and others, and proclaim that they are the defenders of the India these leaders dreamed of. Wow! Ain’t that something? And yes, they also feel that God is watching, and some even believe that heaven is not too far if you are seen with team Anna or any other of the ‘condensed’ parade members.
Before you pick up a flag and cover your head with the most ‘in’ topi of the season, give a thought to the concept of corruption and its position in this country and especially inside you. Fighting corruption for us i.e. the present generation is like ripping one’s self into two and then making them fight. No matter who wins, you still lose. And who wants to lose? See, being good at heart and being big in thoughts is very essential in a society. You must talk good, pretend to think good and even urge others to do the same and appreciate the ones who do so. But in real life, it’s just completely different.
You will be bullshitting me if you tell me that you prefer to pay a challan of 1000 instead of bribing the traffic policeman and saving both time and money. You will be bullshitting me if you tell me that even though you know someone influential in the passport office, you still line up in the queue and follow the normal procedure for a citizen to obtain a passport. Again, you will be bullshitting me if you tell me that you don’t enjoy it when you get your things done faster than others. You love that smile on your face and you simply feast upon the idea of being ‘the one who got away with it’ or ‘the one who gets things done easily’. Nobody likes a hard cookie.
Now if you say that most of the above mentioned examples of how we as humans savor the flavor of being ‘served first or served with the best’ are mere favors, then let me enlighten you by telling you that corruption breeds on such acts. This is the very breeding ground for corruption. Insecurity and disgust caused by it. Deep down, somewhere, a few thousand or million cells in our body are corrupt and the faster you accept it, the better. We think corrupt and we act corrupt. Your house or his? Such ideas exist in everyone’s mind. No matter how fine your act of concealment is, someday and somehow- it shows.
Now the political parties of our time have their own stands. The AICC or the Congress , the BJP, the Left and other regional parties all believe that Lokpal is necessary and have pledged their commitment towards bringing a strong Lokpal. But none of them wants to actually see this story through. Nearly all the politicians have at least millions stacked in their bottoms. The only reason these creeps entered politics was to make money. But as of now, they have actually found a way to combat this new ‘threat’ of Lokpal. Now with the threat gone, it was important to use this issue for their own political purposes. The BJP has clearly stated that the ‘Congress’ wants corruption to go on. The BJP leaders in their speeches across the nation have laid emphasis on their version of the story , and have continuously tried to brainwash the general public and create a strong vote bank.
Meanwhile, the Congress hit the right notes when they brought up the issue of Lokayuktas. According to the Congress, the Lokayukta is a better program and hence BJP should accept Lokayukta in states governed by their party. For example, Gujarat government, under the leadership of Narendra Modi, is believed to be one of the most corrupt state governments in the country. But the outside picture shows development and progress to a layman’s eye. What goes on inside is still unknown as transparency in government affairs is nearly zero in such states. So, the Congress corners the BJP in this manner and tries to create a vote bank for itself.
The regional parties normally remain neutral, but it has been observed that certain leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav have rubbished the idea of bringing the Lokpal Bill in such haste. These leaders offer a safe passage and ask for the bill to be reconsidered by a special committee. But this is again a way to play out the issue and offer a neutral view which doesn’t appear to be neutral.
Thus we have the Lokpal issue hanging in mid-air except for a few pushes given by Anna anshans and public gatherings. The idea of Lokpal is very old. The concept, the mechanism …they all promise a lot. ‘Promises’- haven’t we heard the word before? Like a thousand times or more? India is not a land of opportunities as much as it is a land of promises. From time unmemorable, we have been feeding on promises made by rulers, colonial expansionists, national leaders, government and politicians. We need a bit of a fodder every now and then. But this does not speed up our process of transition. Time alone makes our country move. Only a few contribute towards grabbing this country by its neck and dragging it forward.
Corruption is such a vital part of our daily lives that letting it go is not something that can be achieved with anshans, topis and Annas. It depends more on self discipline rather than strict measures. We must remember that strict measures do not yield discipline always. At times they yield disgust, dissatisfaction and even a revolution. One cannot just walk in and order everyone to bring out their belongings because you feel it’s time we checked who carries how much. You can call it an effort if you want but blackmailing the government and threatening the democratic nature of a country is no means to try and fight corruption. I heard that about 1 lakh people signed up on the internet for a ’Jail’ thing. Let the time come, we’ll see how many actually turn up. And yes, 1 lakh out of 1.21 billion, wow…surely we all are ready to go to jail and bring change.
The ends are fine, but the means are just unacceptable. You cannot threaten to destabilize a nation. If we agree to Anna’s demands today, there are several other groups who have ridiculous demands. You have the Khalistan, Telangana, ULFA, naxalites and what not. Should we just agree to their demands in case any of them starts an ‘Anshan episode’? Should we divide the country? Give up democracy and move towards autocracy? Such Anna-rchy is simply unacceptable. We need to switch off our TVs, fold back our newspapers and open up our brains.
Team Anna talks of fighting corruption as though they are about to come out with an anti-corruption pill.
‘One pill a day, keeps corruption away’
I hope the pill comes in different flavors, seeing how diverse this country is and tastes and preferences vary from person to person and region to region. And besides that, I just love the idea of killing all the corruption inside me in one go, with absolutely no regrets or bad memories but just the taste of roasted hazelnut chocolate in my mouth. Mmmm!!...my appetite for corruption seems to be growing.
