Democracy : We vs They

I received a mail this morning urging everyone to wear black and come to office on 19th August, Friday. This gesture will show my solidarity to an octogenarian man fighting against corruption which is crippling this great nation. The whole nation is gripped with the wave of a second freedom movement. A movement to make India corruption free. Do I support this movement? Yes of course I do. Do I support the method of protest..well considering the method in which our politicians work I feel there is no other way out.

There is a strange irony in the whole scenario. We are up at arms against the people whom we have chosen two years ago with a landslide majority to govern the nation. So what happened in the past two years that we are ready to throw them away with a civil movement? Actually corruption was very much a part and parcel of politics but now more of these have been exposed and hence people have seen how much the politicians can stoop low.

It’s a cumulative frustration of people that have galvanized them to be a part of the movement led by Anna Hazare. People want accountability of government and want to know how their tax is utilized for nation building. Lokpal bill probably will give people the right to question their leader. But it’s difficult to pass this bill through parliament as no thug will dig his own grave. Not a single politician will support the bill tabled by Anna Hazare because it will bring an abrupt end to the business of politics where rags to riches is the most common path up the ladder.

Politicians have created another version of Lokpal bill which will safeguard their interest and yet bring about minor change in the system. This bill will probably be like our age old constitution which has everything but does nothing.

These two versions of the bill are now at loggerhead and this deadlock is not going to end soon. So it’s a war against elected representative of people and self nominated civil rights activists. The most important question now is that who represents the people’s mandate? If people don’t believe in the ruling government then that government has no right to continue in power. There are various views about the demands made by Anna Hazare or other civil society activists but one thing is for sure the political clan is very united to protect their bread butter and scams. So how does this deadlock end? There are various unanswered questions that have evolved around this crisis. The bottom line is clear corruption must be stopped at any cost but the process remains undefined.

The whole democratic process in this country and the constitution itself has been under question from changing socio-political scenario. There is a radical change required in the constitution itself and the first step to that may be this bill. When the elected representatives become arrogant and take their power for granted it’s the people who should remind them the source of their power. This is what Anna Hazare has done. It does not really matter if he is not a Mahatma or a Gandhi but what matter is the fact that he has captured the imagination of the youth and old and has fuelled an agitation which may change the face of nation.

Indian democracy is fighting its war of existence. The road it will choose from this chaos will determine the future of this nation.