It was possibly
the biggest movement to rock India
after Independence.
With unprecedented support for the cause the anti-corruption fight started by
social activist Anna Hazare in April, 2011 transformed into a mass movement.
But the huge success of the movement signaled its downfall too. Thanks to a
variety of reasons including contradictions, counter charges and friction
within Team Anna and core members’ political ambitions mass support for the
movement has been dwindling all the time. Seemingly running out options the
movement finally became political.
Falling back on
its oft-repeated ‘fast’ weapon Team Anna started yet another indefinite fast in
New Delhi from
July 25, 2012. For a change this time, the core members of the team sat into the
fast first with Anna Hazare threatening to join by Sunday, the 29th
of July, if the government did not respond till then. Eventually Anna had to
join in.
Support for the
fast was not even in hundreds in the early days. Sensing trouble, Baba Ramdev with
whom Anna formed an alliance to carry forward the fight for a larger cause only
recently, descended on the ground with around three thousand of his supporters.
Finally crowds were visible, but many criticized the Baba for hijacking the
movement. And, most importantly, the discordant notes were only too
perceptible.
Just before
launching the fast core Team Anna members raised the pitch for their demand to
investigate 15 ministers of the government of India including the Prime Minister
and even the newly elected President Pranab Mukherjee for charges of corruption
that they said could be proved with the evidence they had. Anna Hazare did not corroborate
this particular demand and stuck to his traditional demand for a strong
anti-corruption Bill. He even congratulated the new President, and Baba Ramdev
created more friction by saying that names of supreme personalities like the
President should not be taken during protests.
Total disarray
and non-existent support naturally did not inspire the government to respond in
a positive way. The local police only warned Team Anna to end the fast or
hospitalize the members whose health had deteriorated. Arvind Kejriwal, a core
member whose condition became worrisome due to diabetes, chose to oppose
vehemently any attempt by the police to evict them forcibly to hospitals and
announced the Team’s decision to continue the fast. The stalemate continued.
On the ninth day
that is the 2nd of August, 2012, Anna Hazare addressing a crowd of
about five thousand suddenly announced that preparing for a political
alternative was not wrong since nothing could possibly be achieved on the Bill
with a totally non-responsive government. While expressing his determination
not to join any political party he said good people with integrity should be
selected as political candidates and they must try to change the
corruption-ridden system from within. He asked for a referendum from his
supporters whether Team Anna should go ahead forming a political party or a
front to fight the elections or not. Other core members elaborated on the issue
and there seemed to be absolute agreement with many stalwarts all over the
country sending letters of consent and encouragement. Team Anna announced its
decision then to end the fast on the next day.
The most heated
debate of the nation started unfolding and was set to rage on indefinitely.
Questions and many more questions came to the fore. How would Team Anna do it?
How would it get a referendum since its mass support has been falling? What
would be its method to garner the votes since voter apathy is very common in
its major support base of the middle classes and to get votes from the larger
citizens it must have strong organizational infrastructure and huge funds? How
should it react to the support shown by several Bollywood superstars? How to
guarantee that the Anna front’s elected candidates would always vie away from
corruption of any form? Answers would always be difficult to get.
Meanwhile Baba
Ramdev was set to go on with his movement against black money from 9th
August, 2012 in Delhi
and his movement assumed added significance in the perspective of Team Anna
going political. The immensely rich yoga-guru announced in Team Anna’s
gathering that he would bring in 900,000 people for his protest, but the Baba
conceded magnanimously that you needed at least 10 million people for the
success of any movement!
While the effort
to join the system to change it from within is laudable the numerous facts and
events of the recent past only seem to signify the ultimate death of a most significant movement in Indian history.
Has the
anti-corruption movement in India
gone into a self-destructive mode? Or was it long overdue and inevitable?
Today in New
Delhi Team Anna’s fast was formally broken by retired Army General VK Singh.
Anna Hazare confirmed his team’s political resolve by announcing the formation
of a political party though he would not contest as a candidate. The political
party will be without any high command and will be a symbol of another movement
under which the people will select the candidates and the candidates will fight
the 2014 general elections to enter Parliament and to decentralize power.
A political
Utopia for Anna Hazare?
