As he sat down on his Satyagraha mission, announcing a fast unto death if the government didn't relent, the common Indian came out of doors to show his support for Anna in an unprecedented, and more significantly in an unexpected way which caught India's political class on the wrong foot. Anna Hazare, armed with the power of solidarity that India showed with unprecedented spontaneity, literally armtwisted the government into making long-awaited constitutional provisions which would empower the common man to seek transparency in and thus hold accountable, any action of the politico-bureaucratic system which might reflect doubts of corruption and nepotism.
Apart from surprising the government, the way Anna Hazare took up the crusade on behalf of the common man surprised
the common man himself too, and in a big, big way. At the moment Anna's movement has taken a back-seat, not so in a negative way, because the government has conceded some time-bound, conditional policies which will take a definite shape in reality soon. There is no point now in dissecting Anna Hazare's movement because it has served its purpose, and a panel which would facilitate the passage of the remodelled Lokpal Bill in parliament has been formed with a specifically concrete agenda. And nor there is any point in discussing the modalities of the panel that has been created because we all are eagerly waiting to observe its effectiveness on specific dates in the future.
The way Indians came out of the confines of their homes in support of Anna, seemed to have shaken the common man awake from his decades-long slumber of apathy towards the decadent insensitivity of Indian politics. I know that my statement can stimulate vehement protests from the Indian public which is seemingly so sensitive where its holy 'middle-class self - respect' is rebelliously questioned by a conscientious voice(or one of eccentricity bordering on lunacy).
I might continue to live in a mode of self denial but if I do some impartial and honest introspection, I will agree with my conscience that this inaction has almost proceeded to define my moral character so specifically over the years, that it has only encouraged the politicians to go on unabashed with their nefarious activities.
The result of the movement led by Anna should have been immortalised as glorified history by now. Yet one finds questions which disturb the newly found strength in the wake of the social uprising. The 'glory' of victory of the mass movement seems to have eroded away fast in the days that have followed -- a big disappointment for all of us who shed moral cowardice for once and dared to dream. And that is the issue which any responsible citizen should be debating upon, and try to find answers if he really wishes to see a better future in reality.
Cynics have already started to tear down Anna Hazare's persona and the voice of protest he personifies. And one feels the presence of a dangerous malady in the common Indian psyche, something we have always mocked to abuse with a smirk over cups of tea, when we have gone on about our exercises of self-criticism following times of defeat and frustration -- when we have felt cheated (and betrayed, and defeated) looking at results of elections, or, diplomatic exercises that couldn't earn brownie points in the international arena, or even cricket matches and Olympic events (..Even when we tended shout an out-of-form Sachin Tendulkar to retirement a few years back, the 'God' we flaunt now with all records broken)
It is a cynicism that is so typical of Indians who would never accept an event in concrete reality hands down whether it is good or bad, a vain act of 'conscience' which we seem to display with fanfare, giving it a tag of 'Democracy' that promises us freedoms of thoughts, speech and rights. But there is no denying the fact that we have been irresponsible as citizens, we have been selfishly apathetic towards our political system as long as its actions did not affect the brittle security of our own individual families, another tool of self-denial in which we seem be basking in a spirit guided by nothing but glorified escapism, when we lose our way out-of-doors in the darkness of a crude reality that our political system has been forcing upon us over the decades since India went republic, increasingly so and without any scrupules.
It would have helped my dear compatriot -- all this collective cynicism of the conscientious middle-- class, when we were being cheated by the ruling politicians. We were quiet all the while, effectively speaking. We were never unanimously vociferous in directing our vent and Holy Cynicism, or came out together in the streets when the corrupt faces, one after another, were exposed at a ridiculous rate of one scam per week, did we?
Let's face some crudely basic questions, sans theories of economics and the concepts behind bulls and bears in financial highways,
sans the statistics of inflation and GDPs.
Did you shout asking for Kalmadi's head or baying for Tainted Thomas's blood, in a united voice as a nation disgraced? NO. Because you didn't get a reduced salary on a couple of months when you read in the papers and heard in a TV channel that the Commonwealth Games Organising Company headed by a criminal named Kalmadi had
cheated India of an astronomical amount of taxpayers money, did you? Because your business didn't do drastically bad when it was found that the nation has been cheated of Rs, 1700 crores due to a graft in the allocation of the 2G spectrum, did it?
Because you didn't have the feeling that it might have been your money that some shameless MPs flashed on a disgraced day in our parliament, did you? And since you didn't 'feel' the loss, you didn't react. So this is the quality of your spirit of nationalism, your fiercely proud patriotism, with which you question not only the honesty but the spontaneity too of last week's social stir.
In the backdrop of Anna Hazare's movement one can now see an astonishing picture comprising of three different facets of India. 1)The spirit of India personified by a 72 year old man taking on a system singlehandedly by its horns,
2)the young face of India coming out in his support with uncorrupted belief, and
3)a cynical middle-class questioning the rebel ensemble with its archetypal smirk, that's you and me.
Think over the picture of ours that we are putting up for the old crusader, and for those restless dynamic hearts who still dream of a shining India, and for which they can make a non-violent mass protest that shakes the entire country.
What does your conscience tell you? Or is it that you too have been guilty of the moral cowardice that I have displayed over the years? You don't have to answer anybody. Just ask yourself in your own privacy, and Think over the answer you get. Then act accordingly. I,for myself, am still hopeful of our conscience meeting on a common ground sometime in the near future. It all depends on us -- you and me. Or is it too good to be true?
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Sent from my BlackBerry®
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Dr.Anirban Chaudhuri, M.B.B.S
Consultant Physician [special interest
in Cardiology &Critical Care]
Mumbai, India
(+91)9870611252
http://jogyou963.blogspot.com
http://anirbanspeak.blogspot.com
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"There is a Purpose behind us all. The
Whole intends to do Something through
us." -- Swami Vivekananda
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