Winning A Battle But Loosing The WAR
Winning A Battle But Loosing The WAR
Winning A Battle But Loosing The WAR
Today, Indian Government agreed to the demands of Anna Hazare and his team to jointly formulate the Lokpal Bill. This bill will have stringent clauses and laws which can help the country to fight against prevailing corruption. This symbolizes and emphasizes the victory of democracy and the people of India. But seeing a little deeper and putting together various chronological events reveal the hidden truth of Politics. The early success of this movement brings Long term heavy losses to the Country.
Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Sri Sri RaviShankar and many other dignified Indians started a joint movement/organization named "India Against Corruption" (IAC) back in mid 2010. They started with drafting a "Jan Lokpal Bill", a very sharp and accurate weapon against corruption. Very few Indians cared about this as they all were busy with their daily lives, jobs, movies, cricket and kids.
During this time only, the country was swept with many corruption scams which got reveled into public domain via Print and News Media. Most of them were committed by ruling Congress Government's Politicians. Here are a few notorious big ones among many :- IPL Scam (2010), 2G Scam (2010-2011) , Common Wealth Games (2010), Adarsh Society Scam (2010), Appointment of P.J Thomas as a CVC Officer(Chief Vigilance Officer) for stopping corruption (2010).
The congress government started looking weak as it was inapt and unable to take any strong action against its own leaders involved in heavy corruption cases. The pressure from the Opposition and General Public started mounting. This could lead to a total disaster in the next upcoming elections. To avoid this Congress Government started working on a Lokpal bill (a bill to fight against corruption). This was done just for namesake so that it can use this as a tool against other parties in the Upcoming General elections. The draft copy of Lokpal bill got ready by around December 2010. The bill drafted by the Congress government was having many loop holes and was giving only advisory power to the new Lokpal committee. (Check various sites for more details)
The drafted Lokpal Bill from the government was disappointing. Anna Hazare and other IAC, anti corruption activists started writing letters to Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to raise their concerns. But congress politicians did not give any heed to their requests or voices. They also knew that Indian people are not listening to Anna Hazare as they are very busy with their own lives.
To get some attention from the government Anna Hazare started giving threats for Indefinite Hunger Strike. Just to avoid this, PMO office asked Anna to meet Prime Minister on March 7th 2011. Anna and his team met Prime Minister and discussed all the various problems and their concerns. Prime Minister gave empty assurances and promises to the IAC team. Anna was still not satisfied with the response and decided to start his hunger strike from 5th April.
Between 11th March and 5th April, country saw two major sporting events in which almost entire nation participated with pride and honor. The first event was India beating Pakistan in semi-final of Cricket world cup on 30th March 2011. All Indians just could not stop the happiness and the joy of beating Pakistan after a very long time. Believe it or not but it's always special to beat Pakistan in the World Cup. They all came out on the streets with band baja. The hangover was yet to be over when India won the world cup Final on 2nd April 2011 and again almost every Indian came out on the streets to express their happiness, joy and support to the country. This opportunity came after a very long time for every Indian. No Two opinions, No Casteism, No Stateism, No Classism. All were one, united, enthusiastic and ecstatic.
The media was still busy with Cricket News, Ads, Cricketers, Fans, Party when Anna Hazare started his hunger strike on 5th April 2011. This time, the big demand from Anna Hazare and team was that they wanted to formulate the Lokpal bill with the Government. They wanted to be the part of the committee which will draft the bill and it should be headed by Anna Hazare. Government blatantly rejected this demand with the response that Annna Harazre and his team are not ministers nor they are the members of any government office. So they don't have any rights to participate in government matter. They can advise but can never join the committee for drafting the bill. Also, government knew that only few hundred people cannot bend their ways.
Media suddenly got a new story to look at. They started picking up with Anna Hazare. In the beginning there was very little support as people took time to come out of Cricket Fever and their daily lives. But soon they understood that this man is fighting for them only. He wants to fight against corruption which is hitting every common Indian. Just few days ago every Indian was out on street when India won the world cup. So it took no time to come out again and show the strength and power. The movement started picking up. Media started giving more oil to the fire, bringing more elite people into this movement by hosting meetings, talk shows, live discussions etc. More people started showing their support to Anna Hazare. As each day was passing the movement was becoming stronger and stronger.
Millions of people came on street and showed that they are with Anna Hazare and want to act against corruption. Indians abroad also started sending their images, messages, videos to show their support to Anna. The entire country swept away with only one voice "We support Anna Hazare's struggle and we want to fight against corruption."
The congress government understood that now it's time to act else the movement can really kill the government and their party. They decided together and accepted all the demands of Anna Hazare without any condition. This is the smartest, cunning Political move by Congress Party. Since the whole country was with Anna, there was no chance to now reject his demand. As at the end of the day government is also elected by people, so why can't the people's representative be part of making the law. The logic started making sense to Congress only when voice of millions roared together.
People across the country are now celebrating the success of Anna Hazare, where few are disappointed seeing the long term loss. The failure of this event could have been much better for India. How?
Since every Indian was coming together and was supporting Anna, it was on the verge of becoming a very huge movement. These big movements can bring big changes in everyone's lives. We have witnessed this in history from time to time. These movements have stronger power than Tsunami and can swipe entire nations. 60 years back India got freedom, Just 4-months back Egypt and Libya on the way.
Continued stubbornness of Congress could have become a big reason for their loss in the next general elections. At that time People of India would have had no other option but to choose the next most corrupt party. Also, the main reason Congress projected for rejecting Anna Hazare's demand was that he or his teammates were not part of the government i.e. they were not ministers. This could have paved ways for the birth of a new Political Party. Anna Hazare could have become a modern Mahatma Gandhi and who knows we could have been thriving under the leadership of Kiran Bedi as Prime Minister.
If Congress would have been stubborn on this point for a little longer we could have stuck a gold mine. We could have seen a bigger success but we lost against the real cunning political move.
Just think again, how much power it brings to be part of the committee which formulates the Lokpal bill. Let's assume that the bill is drafted with all the demands of Anna Hazare incorporated into it. To form a law, the bill has to be passed by both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. This means 1000 parliamentarian shrewd brains working together thinking of all the possible reasons to avoid passing of the bill. The parliamentary drama would have continued endlessly postponing the bill again and again.
Let's be little more positive and even take a best case scenario that all the demands of Anna Hazare are converted into real laws. Then also do you think people will dare to open their mouth against politicians? We already know the story of Right for Information. We have lost many lives in this country because they demanded information. The law should be re-named to "Right for Information to Death."
So, the time has come to think deep and act big. In today's scenario when India and Indians are still salves in hands of corrupt politicians, playing the Rakta Charitra, executing with no thought for nation and apathy towards the People, it is the need of time that the IITans, the IIMs, the activists, the rationalists, the young and the elderly, all come together to do their bit. To form a new government, to donate, to sacrifice and to work for the one we have in our heart and mind, our India. This movement should not end here. The momentum should stay alive and let's call upon Anna and Kiran Bedi to create a leadership and start a new Political party. A party based on trust and honor. Yes, the destination is far, the road is bumpy and full of potholes but we need to begin this journey.
If we fail to do so then it will always feel like Winning a Battle But Loosing the WAR.
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