By Shahidur Rashid Talukdar for TwoCircles.net
It is true that India is home to the largest number of poor people in the world. It is true that India is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. It is also true that India has experienced some of the most extreme cases of sectarian and communal violence in human history. But still there is hope that India can get better, as there are common grounds that all Indians share. Occasions such as the Cricket World Cup 2011 and the Anti-Corruption Movement show that India can still be together despite its differences.
India’s victory in the recent world cup after hiatus of 28 years is indeed a phenomenal occasion. While many have viewed this victory as a timely achievement for a strong performance, boosted by the support of a billion strong Indians, others have viewed it as a reaffirmation of India as a rising star in Asia. Even though the victory in Cricket World Cup is a remarkable incident in India’s history, the successful culmination of the Anti-Corruption Movement leading to the government agreeing to the public demand is a titanic development which will always be written in golden letters in the history of the Indian democracy. It is the context and potential impact of the latter that makes it such an unforgettable event in history.
When the nascent Indian parliament, as an anti-corruption measure, introduced the Lokpal (ombudsman) Bill in 1969, it hardly knew what will be the fate of this bill. Since then the Bill has been introduced in the parliament a total of 10 times without any success. This shows the level collective resistance of the entire political system against any measure that attempts to curb corruption. In the course of last 42 years, the Indian parliament has welcomed many political parties and coalitions, but none of the governments could gather the political will or the moral confidence to get the Lokpal Bill passed. In the absence of an effective anticorruption law, corruption has seeped into every strata of the political, economic, administrative and bureaucratic structure of India.
India’s corruption has gone wild, rampant and sprightly. The situation has been growing from bad to worse. Nearly everything from education to the health-care, telecommunication to petroleum ministries, from the judiciary to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), from the Police administration to the Armed forces, and of course, the political system, has relished the taste of corruption in broad daylight.
The UNESCO’s International Institute of Educational Planning study on corruption in education finds that teacher absenteeism in India is among the highest in the world, second only after Uganda. Some of the glaring cases of corruption relates to heinous communal and criminal activities. While the Delhi Police staged the fake Batla House encounter killing innocent Muslim youths, the Gujarat Police conducted the infamous Sohrabuddin Murder (encounter) case. The state of Gujarat, including its judiciary and the police administration has been found to be covertly involved in a planned genocide of nearly 1000 Muslims and displacing tens of thousands rendering them houseless. The involvement of on-duty Army personnel in plotting terrorist activities has depicted the worst face of corruption and communalism in India.
Although corruption is deeply rooted in India, some of the recent high profile cases have exceeded even the Indian standards of corruption. The latest 2G spectrum scam which has cost the nation approximately $39 billion, an amount that could have fed for one day all the people living below poverty line. The Wikileaks disclosure has brought to the light the fact that the parliamentarians have been bought and sold for a certain price while signing the nuclear deal with the US. Buying votes in election is widespread practice in India. The trend of corruption has not left the private corporate sector untouched either. Ramalinga Raju, the former head of Satyam Computers, illegally racked up a billion-dollar right under the investors’ noses. In general, an MDRA survey finds that, on an average 86% of the respondents believe that corruption is a common phenomenon in corporate India. The acceptance towards corruption increases from lower management (83.4%) to middle management (88.1%) to senior management (90.2%). Some sources claim that Indian’s have amassed a wealth of about $1.4 trillion in the Swiss Bank to evade taxes. These provide only glimpses to the scale of Indian corruption.
Amidst these never ending tales of corruption, Indians in general have been feeling the dire need for an immediate redress of this issue. People, in January 2011, took out a march against corruption in over 60 cities to demand an effective anti-graft Lokpal bill. Activists including Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Swami Agnivesh and lawyer Prashant Bhushan were the key participants in the rally in Delhi. On February 26, the veteran Gandhian leader Anna Hazare called a press conference and in a dramatic overtone announced that he would go on fast unto death from April 5 if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not take a decision on including civil society in drafting the Lokpal Bill.
The inevitable happened. What the governments had not done in last 42 years did not do in a week either. So, on April 5, the 72 year old frail Maharashtrian activist finally resorted to “fast unto death” near Jantar Mantar, a place known for such activities, in New Delhi – the country’s capital. Although Mr Hazare was not alone ever, but initially many people could not realize the potential impact of it. However, the stakeholders were quite alert. The BJP lent its full support to Mr Hazare. Many other politicians tried to persuade Anna to withdraw from his pledge but he was quite adamant: either accept the Jan Lokpal Bill (People’s Ombudsman Bill) or face the consequences. The Prime Minister was highly disappointed at the obstinacy of Mr Hazare for the latter’s no compromise attitude. But Mr Hazare stood firm in his position with some of his strongest proponents by his side.
Although the entire development was highly inspiring, some opinions about this anti-corruption movement, as it deserves to be called so, were rather cynical and quite pessimistic. When entire India was beginning to stand alongside the movement, some of the responses to my blog entry Let’s March Towards Jantar Mantar! were as follows: Mr Hazare is fighting for a lost cause, Chances are (there) that we will indeed stand by and watch while this great man quietly passes away from our midst, Venality is so deeply ingrained in our society and heavily more so in the population of our politicians that even the most apocalyptic events will not change things, Call it my miserabilism, cynicism, skepticism or pyrrhonism…Nothing will change. Some others had the arrogance of calling this great initiative “The Anna Hazare Show: The comic revolution of an obsolete man”.
I agree that there can be diversity of opinions but possessing such a low opinion about such a great initiative which deserves all applaud and support is rather uncalled for. This means we have given in to the corruption. We have succumbed to one of the deadliest of diseases the humanity could be inflicted with.
However, fasting is the quickest and perhaps the most effective means to convey one’s protest. Given the Indian tradition of non-violence and non-cooperation, this is probably the single most powerful tool for bringing a meaningful change in the society.
Fortunately, setting aside a few cynics, there was a widespread support from all corners of the society. Villagers did their bit by fasting along with their Anna, and celebrities did their part. Bollywood personalities gave him full support and lent their voice. The most prominent appreciation came from actor Amir Khan who said “Anna needs India’s support more than Indian Cricket Team did”. He could not be more correct in saying this! Corporate giants voiced their support. Students and the youth launched FaceBook revolution and joined in candlelight vigils. Common people wished their best and clerics prayed for both Anna’s health as well as his mission to succeed. Within a short period, the movement gathered support of 5.5 million people and received a staggering 60 million messages of support. The electronic media lent their support by cover the events as they unfolded. With a huge support, a quiet movement turned into revolution within a week.
Although it took 4 days of fasting and a slight deterioration of Anna’s health to move the lawmakers, by the night of 4th day of fasting, the Prime Minister agreed to meet all the demands of the protestors. Democracy paved the way, and the crusaders of justice and fairness won the battle. Having declared to accept the demand of Mr Anna Hazare and his colleagues, the Government agreed to work on drafting a joint Lokpal Bill that will be in agreement with the Jan Lokpal Bill, originally drafted by the civil society.
Drafted by Justice Santosh Hegde (former Supreme Court Judge and present Lokayukta of Karnataka), Prashant Bhushan (Supreme Court Lawyer) and Arvind Kejriwal (RTI activist), the draft Bill envisages a system where a corrupt person found guilty would go to jail within two years of the complaint being made and his ill-gotten wealth being confiscated. It also seeks power to the Jan Lokpal to prosecute politicians and bureaucrats without government permission. More information on the Lokpal Bill can be accessed from here: http://indiaagainstcorruption.org/
So to sum up, it can be said that under popular demand and immense political pressure, the Government of India has decided to accept a law that could potentially harm majority of the law makers. Their own initiative can very well turn against them. But this is for reducing corruption and bringing a greater transparency in the country. So the government has done a courageous job by accepting this demand against corruption. This was a test for the Government and challenge for the power of democracy. And as we can clearly see that democracy and sanity came out victorious. Otherwise, it could have been a dirty mess costing many a lives! Surely, one battle has been won, but it remains to be seen, how readily and effectively the Government is going to implement this Bill.
Although a lot remains to be done yet, but for the time being, is not it enough of a reason to feel good about being an Indian?