It all started with a call. I was on the way home in the wee hours of Saturday morning when a friend of mine called me to inform me that she was thinking of joining the Jail Bharo campaign of team Anna and there was this site where we could register for the same.
Now , said friend is a huge advocate of the IAC movement and I am neither a supporter of Anna's movement nor an Anna acolyte/fan. On a personal front ( Which means I'm not trying to force my opinion on others and I'm entitled to have an opinion as I live in a democratic country) I have respect for Anna , respect for the social work that earned him a padma bhushan , but I disagree with his methods and I think he is showing signs of megalomania.
On the other hand though, I agree that the we live in a society where corruption is inevitable and the system in itself along with its cogs and consumers are corrupt. There needs to be a change. A change towards the right path where we have a healthy system , with honest politicos and well oiled governance in place . Therefore I am a supporter of Anna's cause - the need for a New India , a Bright India. But if some one asks me if he is on the right path and if his methods are worthy enough to follow - I would answer with an emphatic 'No'.
Now coming back to JailBharo , I visited the registration site out of curiosity. The enrollments were listed by city and I found that there were 128 enrollments from my hometown and I am sure that the enrollments would swell before the D-Day which is the 30th of December. What has me concerned is that are these 128 aware of the consequences of courting arrest ? I don't think so. We Indians have a tendency to think with our hearts and more often than not , we make decisions spurred by emotions and live to regret it.
I shared my thoughts on a micro blogging site and apparently there were a couple of my fellow Indians who did not see eye to eye with me on the issue. We had a healthy debate and I must say they were polite enough - which took me by surprise. I have heard and seen stories of tweeps who are nasty enough to shred your online profile to pieces on disagreements over such little issues , like a favorite actor or show. These guys were very very polite and we ended the online conversation on an amicable note . During the course of a discussion , a person asked me why I thought that Jail Bharo was unlawful.
In my humble opinion, even though the constitution permits peaceful protest , one would have to break the law to get arrested which to me is a criminal act and blatant disrespect of the constitution. I was told that the protesters would be booked but would be let off by courts . To me it sounds contradicting.On one hand IAC calls the government and system corrupt and on the other hand reassurance is given that the protesters would be treated as per the law and in a just manner. considering the fact the government and its arms ( The Police force for instance) have been depicted as corrupt by the IAC , what is the guarantee that they won't slap a harder IPC section on you or convict you. What is the guarantee that there will be honest policemen who would treat you as you are entitled to . Even if there are a few of them , what is the guarantee that they would be given the freedom to act in a just manner by the corrupt Babus? I voiced the same thoughts to my dear friend over the phone and she chided me of harboring paranoia , of not giving due respect and credit to Anna who was a second Bapu. of course I credit Anna. But for him, Indians would largely be ignorant about lokpal. I also am not discouraging my fellow Indians who follow or want to follow Anna. I am merely expressing my concern towards what seems to me as a flawed method constructed on contradicting assumptions.Is his draft the strongest. I don't think so. I read a draft of Aruna Roy's and to me , it is the one that should be given serious thought and be debated upon.
Is Anna the second Bapu? I don't think so. Bapu might have thought of uplifting Dalits but he did not force vegetarianism on them. Was he stubborn ! hell yes but he did not advocate and stand by the "My way or the High Way policy" . Did he fight against consumption of alcohol? Yes! but he did not flog people who were fond of it. Anna might look benevolent like Bapu , but his methods lean towards extremism.
As of date Anna has stuck to his "My way or high way " policy. As far as I am aware he has not made an attempt to look into the other Lokpal drafts , not even Aruna's. However if Karamchand was alive , he'd have looked into the other drafts and advocated the best option or heck! he might have let the Government pass their bill and would have made observations on the flaws as his great grandson rightly said.
While I don't see Anna as a mentor and I don't agree to his methods, I want a new India too - Here's to new India in 2012 ! Cheers
Now , said friend is a huge advocate of the IAC movement and I am neither a supporter of Anna's movement nor an Anna acolyte/fan. On a personal front ( Which means I'm not trying to force my opinion on others and I'm entitled to have an opinion as I live in a democratic country) I have respect for Anna , respect for the social work that earned him a padma bhushan , but I disagree with his methods and I think he is showing signs of megalomania.
On the other hand though, I agree that the we live in a society where corruption is inevitable and the system in itself along with its cogs and consumers are corrupt. There needs to be a change. A change towards the right path where we have a healthy system , with honest politicos and well oiled governance in place . Therefore I am a supporter of Anna's cause - the need for a New India , a Bright India. But if some one asks me if he is on the right path and if his methods are worthy enough to follow - I would answer with an emphatic 'No'.
Now coming back to JailBharo , I visited the registration site out of curiosity. The enrollments were listed by city and I found that there were 128 enrollments from my hometown and I am sure that the enrollments would swell before the D-Day which is the 30th of December. What has me concerned is that are these 128 aware of the consequences of courting arrest ? I don't think so. We Indians have a tendency to think with our hearts and more often than not , we make decisions spurred by emotions and live to regret it.
I shared my thoughts on a micro blogging site and apparently there were a couple of my fellow Indians who did not see eye to eye with me on the issue. We had a healthy debate and I must say they were polite enough - which took me by surprise. I have heard and seen stories of tweeps who are nasty enough to shred your online profile to pieces on disagreements over such little issues , like a favorite actor or show. These guys were very very polite and we ended the online conversation on an amicable note . During the course of a discussion , a person asked me why I thought that Jail Bharo was unlawful.
In my humble opinion, even though the constitution permits peaceful protest , one would have to break the law to get arrested which to me is a criminal act and blatant disrespect of the constitution. I was told that the protesters would be booked but would be let off by courts . To me it sounds contradicting.On one hand IAC calls the government and system corrupt and on the other hand reassurance is given that the protesters would be treated as per the law and in a just manner. considering the fact the government and its arms ( The Police force for instance) have been depicted as corrupt by the IAC , what is the guarantee that they won't slap a harder IPC section on you or convict you. What is the guarantee that there will be honest policemen who would treat you as you are entitled to . Even if there are a few of them , what is the guarantee that they would be given the freedom to act in a just manner by the corrupt Babus? I voiced the same thoughts to my dear friend over the phone and she chided me of harboring paranoia , of not giving due respect and credit to Anna who was a second Bapu. of course I credit Anna. But for him, Indians would largely be ignorant about lokpal. I also am not discouraging my fellow Indians who follow or want to follow Anna. I am merely expressing my concern towards what seems to me as a flawed method constructed on contradicting assumptions.Is his draft the strongest. I don't think so. I read a draft of Aruna Roy's and to me , it is the one that should be given serious thought and be debated upon.
Is Anna the second Bapu? I don't think so. Bapu might have thought of uplifting Dalits but he did not force vegetarianism on them. Was he stubborn ! hell yes but he did not advocate and stand by the "My way or the High Way policy" . Did he fight against consumption of alcohol? Yes! but he did not flog people who were fond of it. Anna might look benevolent like Bapu , but his methods lean towards extremism.
As of date Anna has stuck to his "My way or high way " policy. As far as I am aware he has not made an attempt to look into the other Lokpal drafts , not even Aruna's. However if Karamchand was alive , he'd have looked into the other drafts and advocated the best option or heck! he might have let the Government pass their bill and would have made observations on the flaws as his great grandson rightly said.
While I don't see Anna as a mentor and I don't agree to his methods, I want a new India too - Here's to new India in 2012 ! Cheers
Many Valid points raised here. But if it was not 'my way or Highway' method, what are the other options available? Is the government sane enough or trustworthy enough? Will they even consider having a healthy debate if not put under so much pressure?
ReplyDeleteI believe the method Anna is using is just like bargaining if The government ask 500, We say 100 and dont move from the price till the government comes to atleast 200. But if we start by 300 itself. Trust me the govt will not even come close to 420 :)
I know its a stubborn way of getting things. But to get things done from the already spoilt govt, we need to be like a brat.
eg few months before the govt did not even think of looking at the reforms which anna has suggested, but due to these strong actions (which might even be non democratic to some extent) government have started to accept few. Agreed that these are the extremist ways of getting things done, but is there any choice left??
Even I think that other Lokpal drafts should have been reviewd and the best points of all the drafts should have been combined. But the question remains, who will do it :)
Indeed Anna's method are setting a bad example, But I am sure such steps would not be needed if the govt is responsive and trustworthy. But will the govt ever be??
The few worries I have are, even if Lokpal gets a go ahead, Will it just be a faux paus? Will we be creating another monster? Will it be capable enough to see the long good of the country (eg even the regulations for FDI would be srcutinized, debated , delayed) Will it push the reforms on backseat by questioning each and every move of PM and Govt? Will lokpal be accountable enough or will it end up being someone like a Team Lead, who might not know a few things but still pokes into ur system, ask questions, and says go or no go, after every line of code u write (just to make some techies smile, I havent interacted with any team lead before :P )
Will such protests be held for many trivial and controversial issues?
For Anna, I really feel , he needs some guy who can write for him , voice his opinion, offlate few of his comments are plain silly. To deal with politicians , we need to be politicians. A common man who flip flops or says things without thinking will loose the support quickly.
Even today I am suspicious,If a lot of unbiased thought has gone into Lokpal and all the issues are adressed. I hope it is just not sentiment driven. Time will tell.
For the people who are participating. I am sure many people would not be knowing what they are doing. India is sentiment driven for sure. But sometimes we have to be that way to get things done. and there are people like me, who keep on thinking and would do nothing of this sort, but who would only voice their opinion :) But quite frankly I cannot do such things until I am very much sure, may be not 100% but still a lot sure to go to such extent as jail bharo. But I think , It would be these people who would shape the country (how the shape would be , is questionable), the people who do, rather than people who speak. Opinions are many, Actions are few. so Actions would be always well noticed and debated and accepted when compared to million opinions.