Activism

What is good for Ram need not be good for Lakhan as well. As a corollary Ram was a good king but he was a bad husband. Lakhan was a good brother but he would have failed as an independent leader. An excellent foreman  is not automatically an efficient manager.

In any case, Anna as an individual is not the issue here. The issue is one of corruption in Governance. When there is a failure at one level how wise is it to build a hierarchy of supervisors above each level of failure (I recall a story of an ant, suggestive of the futility of supervisors, posted – by Kamal - in this forum a few weeks back). The supervisors come from the same flock as the ones in the rungs below. It is time the society owned up collective responsibility and redeems our self. We will never make progress as long as it is us and them because if we let that be it will always be them and us. ‘We’ will be absent in our Nation. You may argue that the divide already exists. Ok, if there is a divide the efforts should be to close the chasm rather than broaden it.

A revolution is never an option in a real democracy because it is like fighting the insurgents – in both cases one is fighting the self except that a militant being armed has to be handled differently initially. In both cases the solution is much beyond confrontation. The folly of invoking Gandhi in any andolan in a democratic Nation is a compounded mistake.  The Mahatma was fighting a war against an occupier. Anything is fair in war they say. So fasting was fine. In a free and independent Nation fasting as a means of protest is akin to blackmail. 

What you see is not what you get. The Government is fooling around and pulling the wool over the eyes of the public. Once again we are playing into the hands of powers that be by stretching this matter of Lokpal Bill a bit too far and giving the Government an opportunity to once again hide their incompetence behind an issue which will be non in the long run.

Yes, actions speak louder than words…actions are required in our everyday life…the society has to change…each individual has to discharge his / her duty towards Nation building. I was there in Freedom Park, Bangalore joining the Anna brigade last April and thought I had made my point.  I do not feel it is right and meaningful for me to do that again and again.

Do you really think that if Anna fasts unto death, India will be rid of corruption.? On the face of it this may seem like a defeatist question. But really do you think it will matter? Can you tell me which event in history has visibly galvanized the Nation for a cause? 

  Will Anna’s sacrifice then be greater than of Captain Vikram Batra’s or scores of other soldiers who laid down their lives and are now forgotten along with their cause? Else why should the media repeatedly highlight only the minor excesses of the Defense Forces and not sincerely and proudly recall its sacrifices now and then? Let us not fool ourselves. Let us find ways other than fasting to tackle our problems…and those ways have to start from the bottom and not from the top.

My friend Mahesh and many others have time and again harped on this matter of e governance. There have been no real takers for it from this forum…A strong call for e governance and early implementation of the same will serve the country better than a ‘Jokepal bill’ or for that matter even a Lokpal bill.