supporting Anna Hazare A true Indian

Article on topic - India Against Corruption

India Against Corruption

Introduction

India Against Corruption (IAC) is an anti-corruption movement in India which was particularly prominent during the anti-corruption protests of 2011 and 2012, the central point of which was debate concerning the introduction of a Jan Lokpal bil. During that time it sought to mobilise the masses in support of their demands for a less corrupt society in India. Divisions amongst key members of the IAC's core committee eventually led to a split within the movemen Kejriwal
left to form Aam Admi Party, while Anna Hazare  left to form Jantantra Morcha.

Explanation of the topic

The IAC popular protest movement began in a year when there were also major protests about corruption in countries such as Russia sometimes called the (Snow Revolution). The official position of figureheads in the IAC movement was that it had no formal organisation beyond a 24-member core committee. In 2011, the mostly middle-class organisers of IAC determined to launch a campaign to mobilise the masses in support of a demand that they hoped would help to bring about a corruption-free India. The campaign gained strength through social media, with Facebook and Twitter becoming its prime tools for circulating messages and building a network of supporters. Their proposal was for the creation of a Lokpal who would have powers to arrest and charge government officials accused of corruption.^[ They approached Ramdev, a populist yogi with millions of supporters among the middle-classes of small-town India, to be the figurehead for this campaign. His connections to the right-wing Sangh Parivar threatened to damage the credibility of what was nominally an apolitical movement. He was soon replaced by Anna Hazare, a veteran social reformer with a history of undertaking fasts in support of his causes. Hazare, too, brought a large support base with him, described by Meera Nanda as being largely "from urban middle-classes and idealistic youth". The urban sophistication of Hazare, compared to Ramdev's rusticity, attracted high-profile support for the campaign from Bollywood stars, the internet-savvy, and mainstream English-language news media. He, too, struggled to disassociate himself from Hindutva symbolism: hence, support from non-Hindus was less forthcoming

Mahendra Prasad Singh, another professor of political science and a former Director of the Indian Council for Social Science Research, sees some similarity between the Hazare-led IAC campaign and campaigns of the 1970s for which Jayaprakash Narayan was the figurehead. The significant difference, he says, is that rather than using "conventional means of political mobilisation,[it has] mainly thrived on the private electronic and social media, supplemented by mass congregation in cities".

Historian and commentator Ramachandra Guha has questioned the image that has been presented of IAC and of Hazare. Acknowledging that Hazare had previously been successful in campaigns for infrastructure reforms at the local level in his native Maharashtra and that the IAC campaign of 2011 had an impact, Guha doubts the claims that the 2011 and 2012 protests overwhelmingly engaged the masses. He notes that liberals were concerned with a perceived anti-democratic rhetoric while socially oppressed communities, such as the dalits and Other Backward Classes, were worried that the "savarna" led movement would undermine the gains they have made through legislative reforms, such as those resulting from the Mandal Commission. He considers that the attention given to the protest by 24-hour news channels and internet resources has masked the realities, such as that popular participation at the Jantar Mantar and Ramlila Maidan protests in Delhi was a fraction of that evidenced in Kolkata in 1998 when 400,000 marched in an anti-nuclear movement. IAC and Hazare in particular piggy-backed on and gained from discontent surrounding some coincident corruption scandals involving the government. These scandals, such as the 2G spectrum scam, were high-profile examples of the corruption that is claimed to be endemic in Indian society at all levels but Guha believes the IAC solution — the Lokpal — was a "simplistic" reaction.

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Conclusion

In 2012, the IAC began to splinter. Hazare's followers became known as Team Anna. By late 2012, the split had deepened, caused by differences of opinion among the central figures regarding the IAC's lack of practical success and how much this might have been due to its unwillingness to be directly engaged in the political system. An IAC survey had suggested that direct involvement in politics was preferable, leading to Arvind Kejriwal and some others splitting to form the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in order to cause change from within the system. Hazare rejected the survey findings.

Hazare had announced that he was disbanding Team Anna in August 2012, around the time that the divisions were coming to a head. In November 2012, after the split, he said that he was forming a new Team Anna, that it would retain the label of India Against Corruption and that its members were discussing other societal issues that they might address.

The new Team Anna, sometimes referred to as Team Anna 2.0, was preparing to tour the country from 30 January 2013, coinciding with the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. When that day came, Hazare announced that he had formed Jantantra Morcha, a campaigning group that included the previously-named members of Team Anna 2.0 and which he considered to be a replacement for IAC but with a broader agenda.

Topic II- Shall I Support Anna Hazare

At the time I write this, millions of my countrymen are on the streets, fighting for a strong anti-corruption law. Many more are glued to their TV sets, watching developments as the initially defiant Indian government looks on track to eat humble pie.

This fight is led by Anna Hazare, a 74-year-old activist, who is on hunger strike until parliament considers the bill that would establish a Lokpal – ombudsman – with the power to investigate and punish corrupt politicians and civil servants.

Hazare had fasted in April and forced the government to agree to include his team in drafting the bill. His non-violent yet aggressive, Gandhi-like method of protest, together with his anti-corruption cause, struck a chord with Indians. Thousands of non-government organisations fight for social causes every day in India, but none has ever achieved this kind of support. From rickshaw drivers to software engineers, from businessmen to spiritual leaders, people from all walks of life back Anna. So do I.

This level of support is unusual here. The usual Indian response is phrases all of India's young are used to hearing from the older generation: "Nothing will ever change in this country", "nobody can touch the powerful", and "the common man is meant to suffer".

Cynics thrive in India, and they have ample evidence to support their attitude. After all, things have not changed much over the past five decades – governance is as incompetent and corrupt as ever, and the guilty are almost never punished.

Archaic laws, designed for autocratic, colonial rulers with no accountability (yes, blame the British for everything) have been retained and abused to the hilt by the current politicians. Power talks; truth and justice are often crushed. We remain a poor country, despite having world-class talent and ample natural resources.

And yet, something is different about India's class of 2011. Despite all the Uncle Cynics, people from all walks of life came forward to fight for the bill. From their parents' generation that said "nothing will ever change", they came forward to say: "I am the change."

I had spotted this desire and aggression in the young during my travels as a speaker in 50 Indian cities over the past two years. I could sense a disconnection between the aspirations of the young and the leaders. I never imagined a 74-year-old could tap into it so well.

Yet, even though the government agreed to engage with Anna in April, it backtracked and insulted, ignored and snubbed his team during the drafting of the new legislation.

The government made a lame, impotent bill of its own which covered only 0.5% of the government's officers, and disincentivised whistleblowers. The government hoped that with half of India illiterate, and most of the other half ignorant, nobody would know the difference.

Disillusioned, Anna threatened to start another fast on 16 August. The government played shady games, like not giving him a venue or not letting him set up a tent in the rainy weather. Support grew as people witnessed the government's hubris on television.

In a serious lapse of judgment, the government arrested Anna from his home on the morning of 16 August. News spread, and the nation exploded on to the streets. By evening, the government wanted to release him. In a masterstroke, Anna refused to come out of jail, and continued his fast there. The country is in a frenzy, and the government is in a fix.

The ruling class, most from three generations ago, are bewildered. They don't understand movements going viral, with social networks acting as catalysts. Seasoned politicians they may be, but they cannot fathom why students from the premier Indian institutes of technology and farmers from rural villages are backing this activist, who seems to have come from nowhere.

What's worse, the government cannot figure a way out. If it passes an anti-corruption law, many of its own lawmakers may end up in jail. If it does not, people will keep flooding on to the streets. The best outcome would be for the government to eat humble pie and bring Anna back to a real, equal negotiating table. Whether it will or not remains to be seen.

What has happened? How has a sleepy, defeatist India suddenly been galvanised into action? Why do our people, used to a feudal-colonial setup for centuries, suddenly want their politicians to be accountable, rather than treat them like kings? It is difficult to answer these questions at the moment, as we are still in the middle of the movement. However, a few things are clear: India seems to have suddenly woken up to an intense craving for the good and the honest.

With Anna's repeated success at shaking the government, it has also become cool to be righteous. The young generation, brought up to believe that power is everything, now sees a role model in Hazare, who is taking the mickey out of India's most powerful by goodness and virtue alone.

This mass infusion of morality in young Indians will be the biggest contribution of this movement, beyond the actual law. Truth has trounced power, and that does not happen very often in India.

On a flight from Delhi to Mumbai on 16 August, I teased a policeman at the airport security check. I asked him why the police arrested Anna in the morning. He kept a studied, official silence as he frisked me and stamped my boarding pass. As I left the checkpoint, he whispered in my ear: "Sir, my seniors may be with the government, but I am with Anna."