So, is the fight against corruption history? The calendar may have moved forward, but the clock certainly looks to have been put back on that count. In fact, things look way behind where it all actually began.
And are the politicians the only villains? A natural conclusion indeed if one were to go by the cooked up midnight masala. As the ruling regime the UPA without a doubt was the key conspirator, dilly-dallying throughout the day, propping up pliable allies to put up a mock show of dissent and then bringing down the curtains abruptly with the hurtful airs of someone who tried utmost but was sadly thwarted. The shock and surprise displayed by the opposition seemed most suspicious too. If indeed they were so naive to the shady schemes of the rulers they surely deserve to sit only in the opposition. In all, the RS proceedings seemed like a screen saver on the national monitors even as the real Operation Scuttle was being carried on behind the facade. All the warring players were comrades in arms there. The writing on the Parliament walls is crystal clear: The political class has absolutely no intention of ceding even an inch of ground to any non-political super body that they cannot control! It looks the only way an anti-sleaze law can be passed is by bribing the politicos — adequately, of course!
That ‘no outside nonsense’ was the sense of the House was obvious in August itself. The official assurances made then were not spontaneous but only extracted and that too riddled with holes. It was Anna and Co’s eagerness to end the fast that covered those vague promises with some credulity. In short, trust was in the eye of those willing believers, not in the intent of those who made the promises. To me and many such sceptics who have no stomach for fasts, this is no surprise. Hunger strikes shift the focus from the problem to the strikers. And since fasts, particularly mass fasts, cannot go on for ever, the war of nerves gradually tilts in favour of the steadfast tormentor. In time, after some behind-the-platform negotiations, similar to the backroom Parli parleys, the offender slips in some dubious concessions and the hungering activist sips the customary juice. Indeed, it would be sad if fasts were to succeed for it could be everybody’s weapon. For the have-nots it is a natural vestment while for the haves fasts are another fad. For middle India, they are semi-serious distractions at best and passing pastimes at worst. It is our fond hope that the year-end fiasco also signals the end of these farcical, fruitless fasts.
While the nation, under the constant prodding of Anna and Co have rightly zeroed in on corruption, its magnitude and its pervasiveness, all have grossly underestimated the fight against it. The battle is long term and the battlefield is very wide and varied: Corruption spans all strata, from the spectrum above to the mines underneath; it is apolitical in the sense it is the common denominator of all parties; it is the unofficial link within officialdom with all arms of the Constitution – executive, legislature and judiciary- irrevocably entangled in a symbiotic, self-serving commitment to protect one another; sleaze is secular, above caste or colour and perfectly gender neutral. It is quite federal and knows no borders. But by far, the worst facet of this monster is that it is deep-rooted in the individual psyches and society itself and this is where the anti-corruption crusade is likely to meet its nemesis.
Despite all his idiosyncrasies, Anna is no doubt the best thing that happened to the fight against corruption for the simple reason that he succeeded where the opposition failed: Putting the most corrupt regime in India’s corruption history on the backfoot. That the Honest-than-thou PM and his United Plunderer’s Association may still survive is not because of Anna’s undoing but the inherent infallibility of the Corruption genome. A committed, though often misguided, group’s honourable intentions have been put to nought not just by unscrupulous rulers and sundry other politicos but also from the inside by an undeserving and equally or rather, potentially more corrupt, populace. And as awareness rises, more and more people are less and less certain that they can check themselves. Anna is an embarrassment to most in his own charmed circles too. Reason why a popular parade turned into a cheerless charade in just a few months. These four fingers pointing inwards is the unscrupulous politicos’ vindication. Of course, I would still make a difference between the corruption of a person vested with power and public funds and a common man’s greasy palm. But a movement of Anna’s magnitude that talks of uprooting grassroots graft will necessarily have to be devoid of individual itchy fingers that plant the seeds of corruption in the first place. That’s a tall order.
There are other chinks in the anti-corruption armoury. The media as usual is an unreliable boomerang in the arsenal. Anna was a darling as long as he ensured the TRPs. He became a new year’s eve distraction the moment his fast fizzled out. Chart-popper or no-show, either way, Anna’s campaign was just another series of ephemeral visuals and pointless chatter for them. Also, the intelligentsia’s simplistic suggestion of ‘give and take’ was another needle that punctured the credibility of the activists. The latter were dubbed as rigid but how else can things be? Inclusion of PM, lower bureaucracy and CBI are three different issues, independent of each other and meriting separate discussion and consideration. How can they be bartered in the name of give and take? Still there were quite a few primetime pundits putting forth such ‘amiable’ schemes for an ‘amicable’ settlement, as if they were negotiating a business deal or a family feud.
The corrupt political class has won all the rounds in the ring so far. Despite some hiccups they were truly on a high. 2011 clearly belonged to them. With the BJP grafting the corrupt discards from BSP into its own fields right at the start of 2012 and UP plus polls in the offing, the political arena will witness the same shadow fight between the same soiled fighters. A sham Lokpal Bill may also be passed. Let’s cede the ominous ‘13 too to them voluntarily. A fresh start, shorn of the familiar follies, need to be made now, with every individual and not just a handful of activists, at the vanguard. We can begin by cleaning our own fingers first. That will take care of the corrupt Hand first and the other assorted sleazy specimens, come 2014!
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