Kanan Dhru: Let’s not miss the Anna opportunity

Change is in order.

Anna Hazare and his team have shown a spark to Indians, which the country has been craving for for a long time, and that is - a hope to create a transparent, honest and clean political system in India. With thousands of people on the streets chanting the mantra of freeing India of corruption, one is left with the optimistic feeling that things may perhaps change in India. In Anna, people have found a voice, a leadership that will take their grievances to the government. With such a strong force behind the cause, even the government has been put in an embarrassing situation and it looks likely that it will have no choice left but to agree to the demands of Team Anna.

It all sounded extremely exciting and motivating until I saw some TV interviews where the interviewer was asking people about their opinions on the Jan lokpal Bill and they had nothing to say. They kept repeating that they were with Anna and that they needed change but when asked about the Bill, they had little or no knowledge.  It seemed that the frustration or anger that people had for all these years against bad governance in general and corruption in particular, was being vented on the issue of the Jan lokpal Bill, without enough awareness on the larger cause surrounding the same. I could not help but ask myself as to whether the passing of the Bill itself would change anything. Will the corruption in our country end by bringing people on the roads and chanting the slogans of ‘Let’s make India corruption free?’

Many say that our country already has far too many well-meaning legislations, which have been conveniently rendered toothless through interpretation or lack of implementation. The government has already tried to water down the Jan lokpal Bill by allotting it minimal powers under the Act and trying to prevent it from taking strong action against those in the highest positions of power.

However, we must question whether we want to create an authority, above the prime minister and the judiciary, which may also turn out to be corrupt and autocratic? Is a balance between all-power or no-power to Lokpal not possible?

The fast will be broken in some days and the demands of Anna may be met.  Perhaps the Jan lokpal Bill of Anna’s choice may also be passed in the Parliament. However, will things for a common man, who had marched all these days chanting slogans of removing corruption in India, change? Will he wake up every day to continue his struggles in the same India? If this happens, it could be very harmful. It would mean losing the spark which saw the potential for a change, but could not be converted into something more meaningful.

Assuming that the best possible Jan lokpal Bill comes into existence, it still would be a curative measure. What is required is a fundamental shift in the way people perceive governance - a preventive approach where there are no corrupt people to start with!

Let us utilise this historic opportunity and channelise this unprecedented energy for a larger cause, a larger agenda of nation-building. Let us make sure that the politicians or the civil society representatives engage more openly and transparently with people and understand our wants. Let us create a movement completely shaking the way our political institutions are governed. Let us create a better dialogue on all fronts concerning corruption, a wider agenda for reforms - which are so badly needed.