KAHIHI

I was astounded by Hazare’s dexterity to unite the people of this country for a common cause – fight corruption. Anna did a splendid job in channelizing the anger of his countrymen. However, I am still skeptical about will it really eradicate corruption. I frankly still don’t know what Lokpal Bill is all about, how effective it will be, how exactly it will help eradicate corruption, and how will the corrupt be nailed – I chose to be ignorant about all this while enjoying my beer and penning few more poems.

 

Though I am for a corruption free nation, I wonder how it will actually be implemented. A lot of changes need to be made at higher levels, inclusion of bureaucrats, judiciary, et al. Perchance, a long way to go. However, I wish to ask the people how will they make it happen, will they really be a part of this entire movement, will they whole-heartedly strive that corruption/bribery ends. The same people who, a week ago, were shouting slogans, wearing “I am Anna” caps, organizing candle marches, and so on.

 

Well then people, will you be agreeable to:

And I have many more such questions, though lastly willing to offer your prayers to our cutest deity, Ganpati, without any expectations in heart, just thanking Him for what you are today and not murmuring – “Ganesha, mera yeh ek kaam bana do, 51 modaks ka prasad chadhaoonga” (Ganesha, make this thing possible for me and I shall offer you a prasad of 51 modaks).

In all good hope that veracity prevails in our nation.

P.S. Hey Ganpati Bappa, make my nation a honest and safer place, and I shall regularly continue to offer my prayers and services to you :-)

 

Anna Hazare is on fast at Jantar Mantar road. He is 73. Somewhere nearby Rahul Gandhi is behind a steel curtain. He is 37. He has an intention of gathering unequivocal support of youth. He came to Maharashtra for that. Befriended a few local youth labeled with parental fame and fortune, but unknown to Maharashtra. The faces don’t have state wide recognition. He went to Bihar on his mission with all the central support. He fell flat on his nose.

His shrewd, intentional brigade vociferates, he is a youth icon!

All this is going on as a prelude to promote him as a future Prime Minister.

The 73 year old Anna Hazare with the help of hardly three persons gathers an all India youth support. This definitely would dishearten Rahul Gandhi and his publicity strategists. The brigade maligning Anna Hazare is let loose. He doesn’t have courage or courtesy to go and meet AH openly.

What kind of leadership game is this?

Say, perchance RG meets AH. What a magic it will make, he can’t infer, nor his advisers, invisible behind curtain.

I bet half of the open supporters, pan India, of Anna Hazare would empathize with RG. In fact, the reverse. He should empathize with the youth in millions.

The publicity men behind curtain are repeating the game plan played at the time of his father Rajiv Gandhi’s promotion to the post.

In the process they are forgetting that they have gotten old though continually harping about youth.

There is not a sage visible among or around.

By making a chief minister wait for two hours under a tree and spend half of his own day wasting in camouflaging ShivSena, if he feels he has climbed a few steps of leadership ladder then he is living in his imaginary world.

There is a possibility that if the onslaught of the movement against corruption continues, the impending elections in the four states would make a penchant for failure in him, maybe, as he doesn’t express himself well.

Shouldn’t the would-be leader of the nation express himself openly at the time of crisis instead of hiding in a cave?

It is a lesson from a veteran of Ralegan Siddhi that half a million villages far from Janpath could be influenced by a simple and honest act. The attitude of shunning every thing even, hollow talks without substance or waving hands to cricket fans sitting among a select bunch of aam aadmi doesn’t. At least expressions exhibiting understanding cricket could have worked. Feigning in the cricket field or stadium is no easy game to play especially before cricket crazy billion Indians, future leaders have to note.

In Shataranj Ke Khiladi of Satyajit Ray, one of the Chess players, Mirza says to Mir at the end, we would play at home after nightfall. We need darkness to hide our faces.

The daytime sham Chess, deliberately prolonged, will go on though, pertaining to their old habit, forgetting the moves are being done in front of fasting Anna Hazare, as if to lose their king.

Bespectacled, a wrinkled face and a familiar nose - Anna Hazare, the Gandhi for today’s youth. At 71 years of age, his fast unto death campaign to eradicate corruption has made everyone from a young toddler to an old compatriot go berserk. Our deep slumber ended on 5th April. This man, with his party of handful followers, started an epic fast for getting the Jan Lokpal bill approved and it phenomenally turned out to be a voice that everyone needed, a leader that everyone was waiting for. Perhaps, people are now realizing that it was either now, with this Gandhi of ours, or never.

We have been hearing about corruption ever since, many of us have probably been victims of corruption. Everyone wanted corruption out of the system. We saw many scams that put our country to shame, we read well-written essays by few eminent personalities, we saw media having moron panel to discuss/debate and howl on TV sets, bloggers writing about corruption, children speaking about anti-corruption in school elocutions but never a step taken of such magnitude was seen.

Then why does it matter now?

After facing corruption, even getting involved in it at times, why does it matter now?

Why has the issue of Lokpal Bill being discussed now when nobody took it seriously for 42 years?

Why is every Indian irrespective of age, out on the street shouting “I am Anna Hazare”?

The answer lies in the simple fact that we never had a bold voice speaking so resolutely against corruption. Even if we had any, we never saw any action being taken and as an activist puts it “This old man here is ready to put his life on a struggle to have a better India ready for the youth” – India where politics could become a career option for the educated rather than hooligans and half witted people (like now) mobbing it and exploiting the nation for their vested interests. He is ably providing a voice to help us channelize our fight and build a better nation for ourselves.

Just before his campaign, the God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar and the Indian team bought whole of India together in celebration. Now this man has accomplished a historical feat, a mass drive across hundreds of cities, with thousands of people (majority of which is youth) – truly an iconic crusade worth emulating.

A mellow voice, a shy smile on his face but the sheer grit to get corruption out of India has overwhelmed me, and most certainly the entire nation. Seeing the teenagers (surprisingly) with posters pasted on their t-shirts displaying “Anna Hazare hum tumhare saath hai” sends frissons in me from head to toe.

The night India won the World Cup 2011, those on the streets would have swore that it looked like a revolution, like India having achieved independence yet again – with Indian flags fluttering on every car, people shouting “Bharatmata ki Jai” slogans, et al.

Hopefully we should revive the same emotion now to honour the efforts of that 71 year old man. This time we have a new Gandhi to lead, a vision set and the enemy lies within for whom you don’t need guns or swords or canons – our own government, comprising the same people we elected with lots of hope will now be responsible for every action they take, will now be answerable for every question we ask. They will now, after almost sixty years of independence and having the tag of “the world’s largest democracy” will understand what it will mean to be really governing a country. And as for us, we will see a dawn of new dimension of politics, understanding the fundamental rights of a citizen, a cleaner system to get our questions through, a right knowledge of whom to elect and why to elect, knowledge of our basic right of knowing and questioning all the decisions taken.

This will be a result of a revolution, not a fight like the one we had sixty years ago, a revolution in the real meaning of the word. Possibly, the whole governing system will be changed, it will evolve to be better place to dwell and the mindset of society will change towards politics and towards the people that govern us. Having “ruled” the country for years, hopefully they will now learn how to “govern” it and govern it to the benefit of the people.

This all being the efforts of one man – Bespectacled, the same thin frame round spectacles, a familiar nose and those deep sunken eyes so endearing and willful.

In all good hope that we don’t let that man lose, make him look weak & lonely there; let us pledge our support for him and the cause he has put up. Let us for once, keep oneself aside and think about our nation – a nation that has in its own way and to best of its capacity conferred some privileges on us.

For India, last year has been pitiful. While few countries were rocked with public uprisings and natural disasters, India witnessed corruption calamity. The dirt of scams and immoral practices among the politicians and bureaucrats were probably more tumultuous than the citizen uproars and the tsunami waves.

Last year our country (sadly) was full of news about the CWG scam, 2G scam, land scams, food prices manipulation, etc in which unthinkable amount of money was siphoned depriving our country (and its citizens) of basic needs.

The progress of a country lies in its development and empowerment of its citizens. However, none of that is seen in our country. The development projects that are undertaken go on for years due the bureaucracy and practices of bribery that are allowed in our system. Eventually, the prices of development go high, the budgets are then manipulated and either the quality is compromised or the citizen is burdened with excess taxes. The budgets allotted for upliftment of the downtrodden are deviated before they reach the actual audience – a very tactful means to exploit the people for want of votes – keep them illiterate and underprivileged so that they always remain at your mercy.

I do not intend to justify or falsify any of the claims made by either sides of the government or the general public. I am, however, confused, as I have always been trying to understand the psyche behind people doing such frauds, scams, and adopting to ill means to achieve what they want. To put it simply, I always wanted to understand, “how much should be enough”; the greed keeps increasing ever after. Even in my wildest dreams, I can never think about what I would do with Rs. 200 crores of assets, if I could ever make that kind of wealth (I did dream about that once, accumulating 200 crores of assets was in itself a gigantic task, and it was morning by the time I could reach that mark. I assumed that I already had that asset base and dream again, yet I failed to conceive of anything to do with that kind of wealth). And here there are people who guzzle down 10 times or even 100 times of that money with so much each and pretence like chewing a paan.

Corruption has plagued our nation. Or perchance, it is like a cancer for our country.

See the cases of Harshad Mehta, Ketan Parikh, Dinesh Dalmia, Telgi, Raju of Satyam, Kalmadi, Raja, and so on. They all reaped what they sowed. They all were big and powerful, yet had to confront the results of their unlawful activities. They had to face the heat.

However, the next step would be to make sure that men like those get punished. It is imperative that we have rules & laws that empower the people to take actions against the corrupt officials. The government alone cannot decide what it must do with those immoral people, there should be a people’s say deciding the appropriate actions for the wrongdoers – a law breaker cannot be a law maker, after all.

Many things like these (words I have wrote above this line) have been written in protest. However, little did it helped, as probably the efforts were not focussed and properly channelized.

Nevertheless, not anymore.

We finally have someone who has taken these men of dishonour head-on. There comes a time when the tolerance level is breached and it takes one person to pull things off. And that person is Anna Hazare – someone who has cared & dared to fight corruption and clean the dirt. How successful he will? Let’s leave it to time. In the meanwhile, let’s stand by him to strengthen his dream of having a righteous society around.

I salute the “man of honour” – Anna Hazare.