Anna Hazare: Hero but not flawless
Well in continuity of my blogs, today our PM finally made the grand gesture and the appeal to a great citizen called by a simple name Anna which means brother to call of his fast. If we go back to the beginning, Anna Hazare was an army man who survived a near death experience. The subsequent introspection led him to a path of rural development and uplift. One thing led to another and he started developing the habit of fearlessly taking on the establishment on issues of corruption at the state level. Destiny led him on to greater achievement, and today he stands on the threshold of a revolutionary change in Indian democracy.
While his critics, including myself feel that he has exceeded his brief, by insisting on holding the Government and Parliamentary system to ransom by taking maximalistic positions, even his worst critics will acknowledge, that but for his fast and agitation, the political class would certainly not have acted. Even today there is still a feeling amongst his team and the people at large that the political class is not sincere. However, more than Anna, the people of this nation have through Anna and his movement, scared both the establishment and all parliamentarians, to such an extent that many feel that if they fail to give us a Lokpal with powers and jurisdiction as envisaged by both Jan Lokpal or Aruna Roy's draft bills, they risk losing power and their seats in Parliament. This to my mind is the greatest gain of this agitation. The establishment and many of us, failed to gauge the public anger and disgust at the scale and shamelessness of corruption. The overwhelming public support, enabled Anna to become a hero, who was saluted in Parliament, by our PM just 10 days after ordering his arrest.
To his credit, Anna did write letters to the PM about his intentions and plans and used every democratic forum to appeal to the establishment, they just did not care or bother about him or actually intentionally wanted to wear him out and his movement. However, the main problem with Anna Hazare is that he is unable to realize that the ends and means cannot be divorced. His choice of associates and inability to intellectually grasp the deeper implications of his actions will end up weakening his movement. Anna has done his job of awakening and mobilizing the nation, now he must allow the politicians under sustained public pressure to formulate a strong and effective law.
I hope that saner elements will help Anna Hazare take the correct decisions, leading to a peaceful and amicable solution to this unfortunate impasse.
Sincerely,
Vispi Jokhi
While his critics, including myself feel that he has exceeded his brief, by insisting on holding the Government and Parliamentary system to ransom by taking maximalistic positions, even his worst critics will acknowledge, that but for his fast and agitation, the political class would certainly not have acted. Even today there is still a feeling amongst his team and the people at large that the political class is not sincere. However, more than Anna, the people of this nation have through Anna and his movement, scared both the establishment and all parliamentarians, to such an extent that many feel that if they fail to give us a Lokpal with powers and jurisdiction as envisaged by both Jan Lokpal or Aruna Roy's draft bills, they risk losing power and their seats in Parliament. This to my mind is the greatest gain of this agitation. The establishment and many of us, failed to gauge the public anger and disgust at the scale and shamelessness of corruption. The overwhelming public support, enabled Anna to become a hero, who was saluted in Parliament, by our PM just 10 days after ordering his arrest.
To his credit, Anna did write letters to the PM about his intentions and plans and used every democratic forum to appeal to the establishment, they just did not care or bother about him or actually intentionally wanted to wear him out and his movement. However, the main problem with Anna Hazare is that he is unable to realize that the ends and means cannot be divorced. His choice of associates and inability to intellectually grasp the deeper implications of his actions will end up weakening his movement. Anna has done his job of awakening and mobilizing the nation, now he must allow the politicians under sustained public pressure to formulate a strong and effective law.
I hope that saner elements will help Anna Hazare take the correct decisions, leading to a peaceful and amicable solution to this unfortunate impasse.
Sincerely,
Vispi Jokhi
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