By
Randeep
Wadehra
When Anna Hazare called off the
fast on 02nd August and declared his intention to enter the arena of
electoral politics there were mixed reactions. While some politicians dismissed
it as a predictable gambit a section of the media looked upon the development
as a game-changer. Anna’s celebrity sympathizers like Anupam Kher asserted that
this development was not preplanned but an unintended stage in the ongoing
process involving Team Anna’s fight against corruption. Whatever the reasons or
intentions for this decision it should be welcome for several reasons.
If we look at the track records
of various governments since independence one cannot ignore the fact that there
has been all-round bad governance. There has hardly been a serious attempt at
divesting our laws, as well as the law enforcing agencies, of their colonial
character. Oppression and corruption comes easily to those in power.
For a long time now the Indian
polity was drifting into ennui caused by having to choose between the UPA
Tweedledum and the NDA Tweedledee. Both the political groupings have shed
whatever ideological pretensions they ever had. So, the Lohiaites don’t mind
joining hands with the Saffronites and BSP keeps its options open between the
two groups while SP and TMC use every trick – fair or foul – to extract all
sorts of developmental packages for their respective states, not to mention
unstated personal privileges, power and pelf for the party satraps. Whatever
one may say of ideology its one major advantage was its ability to lend a
distinct character to a political party. You knew where a party subscribing to
a specific ideology stood vis-à-vis other political parties as well as the
public at large. Now, ideology has been reduced to a mere partisan shibboleth
mouthed during election campaigns.
We are not aware of Team Anna’s
economic philosophy or social agenda except for its campaign against corruption
and passing of the Jana Lokpal Bill. August 3’s developments, however, make one
wonder whether the agitation was ever actually apolitical, let alone
altruistic. Not that any altruism survives in our polity where expediency
impels a leftist party to join hands with the right wingers merely to embarrass
its political friend turned foe. Nobody has forgotten the Yeddyurappa cantata
in Karnataka that must have given blushes to the leadership of the “party with
a difference”. Till yesterday, Bihar’s CM Nitish Kumar had no problem with BJP,
but today he finds the same party tainted with Narendra Modi – as if the latter
had joined the party only now. One doesn’t hold any brief for BJP whose
leadership had no compunction while admitting Kushwaha to its fold, only to
earn flak; the point is, our political parties have discarded all pretensions
to possessing and practicing fundamental morality. This has certainly created
space for a political party that genuinely cares for the country and its
people.
One may rightly argue that time
has come to formally bury deep all ideology and leave it in an unmarked tomb so
that it may never be resurrected again. Perhaps, a new set of political ethics
needs to be codified, which would be more in tune with the common man’s
aspirations. We do need good governance, a secure lifestyle with a high index
of happiness for all. The traditional political parties and their ideologies
have failed miserably to deliver the same. The 21st century India is
crying out for a new leadership endowed with avant-garde vision and the ability
and will to lead India to its rightful place among the top echelons of the
comity of nations. But, would it ever happen? Is Anna Hazare the answer?
However, it remains to be seen whether
Team Anna would be able to provide such leadership. Presently, we do not know
anything about its ideological underpinnings. The only thing we know is that it
wants to fight corruption by legislating the so-called Jan Lokpal Bill. In his
blog post Pritish Nandi, a former MP, had observed, “Today, out of 543 MPs in
Lok Sabha, 315 are Crorepatis…The assets of your average Lok Sabha MP have
grown from Rs 1.86 Crore in the last house to Rs 5.33 Crore. That's 200% more.
And, as we all know, not all our MPs are known to always declare all their
assets. Much of these exist in a colour not recognised by our tax laws… Being
an MP gives you certain immunities, not all of them meant to be discussed in a
public forum…If you think it pays to be in the ruling party, you are dead
right: 7 out of 10 MPs from the Congress are Crorepatis. The BJP have
5. MPs from some of the smaller parties like SAD, TRS and JD (Secular) are all
Crorepatis while the NCP, DMK, RLD, BSP, Shiv Sena, National Conference and
Samajwadi Party have more Crorepatis…Do MPs become richer in office? Sure
they do. Statistics show that the average assets of 304 MPs who contested in
2004 and then re-contested last year grew 300%. And, yes, we're only talking
about declared assets here.” Naturally, one cannot expect a strong Lokpal
legislation in the foreseeable future. Even if such legislation is passed its
implementation would remain doubtful given the manner in which our system
functions. We have seen how “stringent laws” have been neutralized by the system:
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, enacted in 1971, has been grossly
misused. It was aimed at providing relief to such girls and women as became
victims of rape or those unable to bear healthy babies, apart from preventing
the birth of severely handicapped babies. Moreover, unwanted pregnancies due to
contraceptive failure too can be aborted under this law. Towards this end
amniocentesis and ultrasound scanning were allowed to detect fetal
abnormalities. Unfortunately, these techniques are being used in sex
determination tests now, thus rendering a deadly blow to the birth, let alone
survival, of baby girls. Would legislating laws wipe out corruption? Obviously
not. Moreover, The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, makes it illegal to
allow or facilitate marriage of a boy under 21 and a girl under 18. But people
across the country flout the law with impunity: Rajasthan tops the list with
the average age of a girl at marriage being 16.6 years, closely followed by
Bihar (17.2 years) and Madhya Pradesh (17 years)! On an average there are about
90 attempted prosecutions annually across the country, most of which fail to
result in convictions! What we need, at present, are not new laws but new
social ethos, which would depend less on legislations and more on healthy social
conventions that imbue the citizens with respect for the law as well as a
constructive attitude towards the larger good of the country. It is not that we
do not have good people. Unfortunately, unlike the evil ones, the good ones do
not form powerful associations that would impact the functioning of a polity.
Even when the likes of Anna Hazare come forward to bell the cat there are
always Trojans that infiltrate the ranks of do-gooders and sabotage their
efforts.
We need leaders who will redeem
the politician’s image – so essential for the very existence of democracy. Although
the term “politics” is used, generally, to denote something unpalatable or
mendacious it actually stands for the art and science of government; the
management of a political party; political affairs and opinions; policy-making
and various civil aspects of government.
Anna Hazare has clarified that he
would not be a member of any political party and would stay out of quotidian
politics – shades of Gandhiji? But then Gandhiji was a man of vision. He never
clung to single agenda, viz., ousting the British from India. His was a
holistic vision wherein social and economic equality and justice were as much
the part of his thoughts and struggles as political emancipation. Anna Hazare,
on the other hand, has had more experience in taking up everyday issues. If
Gandhiji was a strategist with a vision Anna is a tactician with concern for
the here and now. Can he lead the country to its tryst with destiny?
Published in the Tehelks’s Financial World on 08 August,
2012
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