Calling the government’s bluff, one by one

Let me confess at the outset that I am indeed an avid Anna follower. We have been fed vast quantities of innuendo and accusations against Anna by armchair commentators who prefer the comfort of their government sponsored air-conditioned houses and cars and would not like to rock the boat.

Their criticism of Anna stems mainly from some homegrown lies and untruths. Let me just refer to a few of them.

Parliament is Supreme: Parliament’s supremacy cannot merely be a technical matter, because the Constitution in its naïveté believes that the representatives of the people will deliver what they have been elected to deliver to the people of the country.

Yes, Parliament is supreme, as it has been for 65 years, when all it did was to fill in the pockets of some of its occupiers right from the days of Nehru to Sonia Gandhi. In the strictest sense though, Parliament is not supreme, it is the people who send 542 of all varieties of characters from criminals, to conmen to illiterate country bumpkins.

Yes, the people are guilty of sending them there, mainly because they have very little choice in the first place.

How can five so-called experts force the bill down Parliament’s throat? An average Lok Sabha constituency registers 40% voting in an election and out of this the elected representative secures a maximum of 30% of votes in the first past the post syndrome, ie effectively the winner gets a maximum of 12% votes from a constituency to reach Parliament.

Would you call this representative of the entire constituency of around five lakh people? In contrast, the Jan Lokpal bill has been surveyed in all state capitals and other metros in India and, most importantly, in hundreds of villages, by recognised market research firms and media organisations and an overwhelming majority has given the thumbs up.

Anna should not blackmail the government. Really? For the past two years, this country has been through its worst image crisis thanks to a government that not only did not want to, but actively connived with the corrupt within its corridors.

If only the spineless prime minister who opens his mouth only to eat, had the good of the country at heart, he would have put A Raja down in no time, yet he wanted to be kept ‘at arms length’ and advised the communications ministry in so many words. Want more?

Suresh Kalmadi’s appointment was made despite his own fellow ministers decrying his vandalising ways and our so called ‘honest’ head of the Cabinet chose to mimic the Sphinx instead. Blackmail, if it indeed is, is probably the only language this government understands.

Anna should stand for elections. This is technicalese to divert attention and obfuscate.

Quite frankly, even if Anna were to stand for election, given his fiercely honest ways, he would not stand a chance of saving his deposit, considering that every other candidate would be putting the might of his muscle power and stolen pelf to use. Gandhi was never an elected representative, nor was Jayaprakash Narayan and yet, they led by better example than our famed legislators who famously visit Parliament only to sign the attendance register when their allowances are under threat due to attendance or when their own salaries are proposed to be raised!

Why insist on an August 30 deadline? Because this country has waited for 42 years, and has been led up the garden path through eight so-called Lok pal bills which have never been allowed to see the light of day, by a corrupt and uncommitted Parliament.

Besides, the government had assured in writing to the India Against Corruption team while forming the joint draft panel to have the bill passed by Parliament by this date.

Delaying tactics, obfuscation, creating difficulties, manipulating people and events is second nature to this government. Hence the belief that it has to be now or never.

And lastly, the highly intellectual class should not underestimate the intelligence of the Indian citizen by implying that Anna is being motivated by the RSS or BJP or a foreign power or that some industry big-wig is paying for the millions who are out on the streets.

Armchair criticism comes from those who are fine with the status quo even if it means living like insects in your own land while the overlords in government keep plundering our resources.

Let us celebrate that an uneducated, nearly illiterate Indian soldier-farmer has finally lit the spark of protest and found the courage to bell the cat.