Lokpal - An end?

After raising high hopes, the great Indian middle class disappointed again in ensuring that the agitation of the Lokpal becomes a punctured balloon.

True, Anna Hazare and his team stands diminished. Diminished because the people, who they claimed to represent, foresook them and diminished because they did not have grace to accept that the absence of the common supporter did indicate that they had faltered somewhere. If crowds were indicator of their support than it goes that absence of crowd means absent or weak support.

Amazing is the level of glee which is seen on the face of many who had supported Anna. Amazing because while this glee was much expected from the media moguls and the chattering classes, one wonders what makes his erstwhile supporters feel happy that Anna was defeated by those who made him lead them.

Today, it is fashionable to criticize him as per one's own proclivity, but lest one forget, there was hardly any occasion, where the Mahatma himself escaped criticism, many a times from his own closest supporters. While one can fault Anna on numerous things, even on how his movement appropriated a more critical movement against Black Money, but still, his defeat is the defeat of us all, who wanted a clean Government for us and our generations to come.

What was his fault? That he wanted a simple, powerful law to nail the corrupt? Guess, reason enough for him to have been virtually killed by his followers.

Gandhi and Anna

Funnily enough, the same set of people who had accused of Anna Hazare’s team being mulishly unreasonable in their negotiations with the Central Government have rubbed their hands in glee when the fast ended, without any tangible goals being achieved. So, damned if I am unreasonable and more damned if I am reasonable!

While such comments are very well expected from the status quoists and blind supporters of the UPA Government, what is disappointing is the inability and more importantly, indifference of Team Anna to counter the allegations that Anna’s Satyagraha was non-Gandhian and went against basic tenets of Satyagraha.

Before we move to Gandhian Satyagraha, let us pause for a moment on the very Dharmic sounding term Satyagraha, or Truth Force. It is a tribute to the Gandhian genius that a concept which had no roots in any of the Dharmic traditions, being a gift of early Christianity in general and Celtic monks in particular, is recognized as Indian. Gandhi picked what he thought was doable in Indian context and gave truth-force an Indian imagery. While Gandhi did popularize Satyagraha, the concept is not his own and so the talk of x Satyagraha not being a copybook Satyagraha is at best mirthful. Satyagraha flows from one’s conviction on correctness of one’s belief. Hence the Satyagrahi is right in his/her own limited universe. But since few truths are absolute, any Satyagraha may indeed by countered by a contrary but equally valid Satyagraha. In this probable clash of Satyagrahis, it will be the strength of conviction of the individual that may triumph – not necessary the degree of ‘righteousness’ of the cause. Anyways, since Truth itself is not absolute, we don’t have any right to point fingers at Anna’s fast by way of calling it autocratic and the one stifling voices of dissent.  Anna fasted for his own convictions not for beliefs of an Arundhati or an Aruna Roy.

Yet again, we have been told that how Gandhi’s fasts were against the foreign occupier and never against Indian authority. Since Anna was fasting against a democratically elected Government, he was seen as going against the very grain of Satyagraha. However, a perusal of Gandhi’s numerous fasts would indicate that Gandhi fasted against his countrymen too and fasted even after independence. In fact, it was his fast to force the Central Government to pay Rs 55 Crores to Pakistan, that became the proverbial last straw, in Nathuram Godse’s words, and triggered his assassination. Truth force is directed against some act or some person who is believed to be morally in the wrong. So, Anna had every right to force an immoral and corrupt Government to listen to his diktat, by the way of his choosing.

Further, a careful study of Gandhi’s Satyagraha and in fact, all civil disobedience movements across the world, will indicate that such movements are successful more against one’s own, rather than the oppressors / colonial masters. None of Gandhi’s fasts / movements against the British were successful in the sense of achieving their stated goals. At the same time, his fasts against the Indians, be it Ahmedabad Mill Owners, the King of Rajkot, for security of Muslims in Kolkata in 1947 and the Pay Pakistan fast were all successful – not because Gandhi had a more valid or stronger moral case, they succeeded because people who were the target of those fasts cared for loved him, their Mahatma. 

People aware of the Gandhian struggle would be stuck by parallels in between the world famous Salt Satyagraha and the Anna fast at Ramleela Maidan. Testing them against a few parameters:

Seemingly Trivial Cause: Abolition of the Salt Tax and not some other larger cause of independence. Likewise, Anna took up Jan Lokpal, not the behemoth of corruption all together.

Apolitical: Except for Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, who led a now forgotten, parallel march on the East Coast, all other leading Congressmen, Patel and Nehru included, had reservations on the efficacy cause and had kept their distance from the Dandi March. It was only when the march captured the imagination of the world that it became a Congress movement. Similarly, political parties tried to clamber on to the anti-corruption bandwagon only when they realized the potency of the collective emotional upsurge Anna had created.

Media Role: The world press reported Gandhi’s march on a daily basis and was instrumental in making the world aware of India’s struggle for freedom from the foreign rule. Is it any wonder that the media, magnified in its presence on account of technology, played such a powerful role in spreading Anna’s message?

Elite snobbery and mass participation: The British Government was hardly unnerved by the prospect of salt tax law being broken. Same way, UPA was hardly bothered with the prospect of the fast of a 74 year old. Court scribes were asking aloud if this fast would generate the spectator interest equal to early April’s spectacle. Well, events certainly spun out of control in both instances. Salt Satygraha was a watershed in the term that it saw huge participation from the womenfolk, hitherto untouched by the Nationalist struggle. Anna’s fast, for all the contrary noises struck a chord with the Youth, who had been away from the political discourse since the Ayodhya and Mandal heydays. 

Violence: Contrary to popular perception, Satyagrahas were not always completely non-violent affairs. In course of the Salt Satyagraha, violence broke out in numerous places in Bengal and Bihar and even Gandhi, wiser after the flak received after withdrawing his movement over Chauri Chaura, declined to even condemn mob violence. Of course, since there weren’t mass incarcerations, chances of violence on those scales in Anna’s campaign were lower. Yet, the only instance of violence where some drunk youth clashed with police was shrilly denounced by the likes of shallow-as-usual Sagarika Ghose as the proof of fascists in Anna’s campaign!

Quasi Religious nature: Seculars may beat their hearts out but like Anna’s Satyagraha, the Salt Satyagraha too was heavy on Hindu imagery with Bhajans, havans, pujas and of course, cries of Vande Ma Taram!

Muslim participation: Get it straight- Muslims as a group, did not participate in the Salt Satyagraha. Muslim League opposed it and major imams / pirs (including the powerful pir of Manki Sharif) declared that they had nothing to do with it. While I would like to believe that the rants of Imam Bukhari comes from his being a pro-establishment person, even if his assertion was correct, level of Muslim participation in Anna’s Satyagraha would be no different from their indifference to the Salt Satyagraha. Regarding allegations of lack of Dalit and backward class participation, they are a little tough to swallow when you consider that these allegers - Udit Raj had little support outside the Akbar Road, while the likes of Kancha Illaiah are not even known to anyone outside the circle of habitual Hindu bashers. More critically, the middle class and the rural class are not upper castes alone but are predominantly OBCs with a good sprinkling of the lower classes (particularly in rural areas). And one had to move around Ramleela Maidan and Indian heartland to see for oneself the chord Anna had stuck.

Success: If success means achievement of the stated goals – both movements are unsuccessful. The salt law was not repealed nor do we have a Jan Lokpal. However, the Salt Satyagraha was epoch making in the sense that the scale of mass awareness and anger at the now seen as unjust British rule was instrumental in building a National consciousness. We may never have a Jan Lokpal the way Anna wants. It is however, beyond doubt that the energy unleashed by his fast can only do good to our quest for a clean polity.

Marxist Pop Historians like Ramchandra Guha have claimed that the relatively low public attendance at Ramleela Maidan indicated that people did not really support Anna and what we saw were magnified images of a small minority. As per the most liberal estimates quoted by Late Morarji Desai, not more than 5% of the Indian population actively participated in the National Independence Movement in their lifetime. Does that mean that 95% of people in India were against the independence movement or does support only mean coming to the streets and getting arrested? For that matter, none of the Central Governments in India have been elected on account of ever having won more than 50% of the popular vote and no General Election has seen a turnout higher than the range of mid-sixties. So, even if we take the upper extremes of both the popular vote (incidentally 48% by Congress (I) in 1984) and the voting percentage, we will still be left with a 33% overall mandate for the winning party. Does that mean that people oppose those Governments?

Professional dissenters and habitual attention seekers have tried to denounce Anna’s campaign for a better India in all possible ways. Rather than being stuck with questions on whether Anna supports Kashmiri Separatists or wants a ban on Cow Slaughter or whether he is an admirer or a sworn opponent of Narendra Modi, let us try to remember than he is fighting for his own conviction. There are a thousand causes and he cannot support all of them, however fashionable or desirable they might be. Till the time Anna or anyone for that matter displays sincerity in addressing a cause which is the same as or even identical to mine, even if our paths diverge otherwise, let us all say – ‘I am Anna’

In Defence of Baba Ramdev

The ‘success’ of Anna’s fast has had an interesting collateral damage – the near complete decimation of Baba Ramdev’s credibility as a crusader against corruption. While Anna has certainly been hugely successful in mobilizing public opinion against one of the most effete and corrupt Governments India has seen (that sadly, is not saying much), it will be too much for even the most optimistic of souls to proclaim that the struggle for Jan Lokpal succeeded. While we will analyze and certainly defend Anna’s struggle separately, it will be more worthwhile to dwell a little on Baba Ramdev’s struggle and failure.

Compared to the campaign run for Jan Lokpal, which was more of an instant cause, Baba Ramdev’s campaign against Black Money had been on for the last two years with the Baba using his country wide yoga camps and televised shows to disseminate his message. It was Baba Ramdev who had been the moving force behind India Against Corruption and it was in the Baba’s Ramlila Maidan Rally earlier this year, that overwhelmed by the large gathering, Anna had touched Baba’s feet, proclaimed that he now believes that corruption would be eliminated in India and had declared his support for the fast. Baba Ramdev was among the prime financers of the April fast by Anna and had a significant role in crowd mobilization and in all probability being the force behind the ‘communal’ Bharat Mata portrait on the stage.

Yet, while Anna moved from relative obscurity to becoming a National icon in course of his four days April fast, a more organized and powerful Baba Ramdev found himself pushed to the corner in spite of mobilizing a huge crowd, right on day one of his fast unto death. While the build up to Baba Ramdev’s fast had seen Team Anna extend its support to him and the brutal crackdown did elicit strong reaction from them, very soon, it became clear that with the Baba tying himself in knots, he was to be more of a liability than an asset to Team Anna. Hence, from being its patron financier mobilizer, he was reduced to a mere by stander, not allowed to even meet Anna, when the latter was incarcerated at Tihar Jail.

The countdown to Ramdev’s political oblivion begun, ironically, with his meetings with Kapil Sibal. Having given a routine undertaking, the Baba found little maneuvering space once the Government declared that he had reneged on his promises. While the brutal and unwarranted crackdown of police temporarily did give the halo of a martyr to Ramdev, his call for a trained army of volunteers and inability to carry on the fast showed him to be an unworthy leader. While the political immaturity of Baba Ramdev has certainly played a huge role in his humiliation; just watch him fumble and get aggressive and defensive by turns, when asked probing questions, there can be little doubt that the hostile role played by the media has served to undercut Baba Ramdev more than he actually deserved. While the media, particularly the English news channels had always been openly contemptuous of this rustic, saffron clad mendicant from rural Haryana, the fact of his dressing in a salwar to flee the police crackdown were replayed again and again to forcefully reinforce the point on Baba’s cowardice. Semi-celebrities like Sonam Kapoor declared him a bigot for his anti-homosexuality views while the Shabnam Hashmis of the world managed to snoop out a Godhra in his designs. Compared to the crescendo of well-deserved condemnation of the Government’s attempt to muffle voice of protest, when Anna was arrested, the outrage following the Ramlila Maidan crackdown was certainly more muted and the ELM condemnation was tinged with glee at the saffronite being shown his rightful place.

Yet, while criticizing both Baba Ramdev’s immaturity and the role of the media, one should not lose sight of the fact the Baba Ramdev’s chief advisor, Shri Govindacharya made himself absent when the crackdown happened and was not to be seen when Ramdev was further tying himself up in knots the coming days. While only the inner circle will know on what exactly, whether hints of megalomania in Baba Ramdev’s conduct, his probable disregard for advice or any other factor prompted Govindacharya to disassociate himself with the fast post crackdown, it cannot be denied that after having guided and mentored the Bharat Swabhiman movement for greater part of the last two years, Govindacharya owed it to its followers to have presented himself to steady the rocky boat of the movement. However, if Govindacharya did indeed move away on account of controversies associated with Ramdev, he would have played true to his upbringing in the RSS ideology where even the slightest stain on honour or association with trouble makes you a person-non-grata in the parivar.

Coming back to Anna’s recent fast, the parliament’s ‘sense of the house’ has given an honourable cloak of retreat to Team Anna, something which was made to resemble a victory over Jan Lokpal by our spin doctors. However, this has meant that the Baba comes out all the more poor compared to Anna – a fortyish yoga guru unable to fast for seven days vis-à-vis a septuagenarian fasting for 12 days and more critically a loser as compared to a winner. Had Team Anna had to withdraw without a modicum of victory, there would still have been a decent number of people who would have placed their bets on Baba Ramdev’s movement against black money. But now that we have a ready winner in Anna, few, other than his personal followers would want to side with him in his crusade. A discernible indicator to this is media and public reaction to Government actions against him vis-à-vis the former’s reaction to Government actions against Team Anna. While Baba Ramdev has been declared guilty before even crimes being identified, (just like how the Kanchi Shankaracharya’s guilt was established), allegations against the Bhushans’ and Arvind Kejriwal have been trashed without analysis of their merits, if any.

Finally, while Team Anna’s intent to fight corruption is noble, the tool of Jan Lokpal is more akin to Gandhi taking up the Salt Tax issue to fight colonialism! Salt tax was not repealed in spite of the Salt Satyagrah’s success in mobilizing people. Likewise, the Jan Lokpal, an envisioned by Anna’s team is unlikely to see the day, if for nothing else, on account of the glaring drawbacks of the said proposal. Compared to the Jan Lokpal, it can be argued that the demands put forth by Baba Ramdev, i.e., Declaring accounts of Indians in tax havens as national property; Declaring stashing away black money in tax havens as national crime; Setting up of fast track courts in all states to deal specially with corruption issues; Removal of high denomination currency notes from the economy; Enactment of a strong Public Service Delivery Guarantee Act and Removing the Land Acquisition Act; will have a more profound and long lasting impact on the public life in country.

Anna jaise Hazaron ho?

Shri Anna Hazare’s fast, pressing for introduction of Jan Lokpal Bill has captured the imagination of the Nation and the entire political class has been shaken with the hype it has generated. The Government of India had to capitulate and prima facie, has accepted Anna’s demands. Even if nothing tangible comes out in form of an empowered Lokpal finally, the fast has certainly served to channelize the growing impatience of public with the state of affairs of our country. However, beyond the hype, it would do good to appreciate that the support which Anna drew was more on cyberspace and would-do-anything-for-eyeballs media rather than on ground. Even after 4 days of fast, the maximum crowd which Anna could draw up was around 6,000, a tiny number by any reckoning.

Without in any way belittling Anna’s efforts to clean the system, it is my humble submission that his right thinking supporters will do good to evaluate if righteousness of the larger cause is sufficient reason to ignore fallacies of the immediate cause around which campaign has been built.

While there cannot be any doubt that the Augean stables of corruption need to be cleaned, will the Jan Lokpal Bill model, as proposed by Hazare, really be a panacea to our ills? The model bill proposes a draconian authority that would be larger than any of the elected or nominated constitutional authorities. Looking at authorities like the Election Commission of India, while the Nation may owe a debt of gratitude to TN Sheshan, the havoc a Naveen Chawla like person could have wreaked, had he enjoyed powers like Sheshan did in his heydays, can only be imagined. Likewise, when we know that nomination to most august of bodies is only made by Government and that too from its preferred bunch of bureaucrats and retired judges, can it really be in the interest of larger society to have so powerful an individual to be at helm?

A more critical evaluation is required on the aspect of ‘civil society’ participation. Firstly, what exactly is civil society? Does it mean representatives from cross section of public or does it mean a group of people only with decidedly leftist leanings? If it means the latter, than automatically, at least one quarter of the entire Indian population, majority of the professional / middle classes and an entire thought process, is completely exluded. Even more critically, does it mean representation of people with dubious backgrounds and funding and even more dubious intentions? Who do we have in the name of this civil society today? A Teesta Setalvad who has had numerous strictures, a Cedric Prakash, who manufactures all sorts of lies, a Arundhati Roy, who berates the idea of India, the likes of Agnivesh, who has been expelled by his own ilk but goes around in saffron robes? Who or what has given the idea that a Nation run by a group of shady individuals, with even more shady funding and shadier intents, would be better than our politicians? As far as morals (or the lack of it), biases and thick skin are concerned, our ‘civil society’ members would put many a seasoned politicians to shame.

That said and in spite of the fact that I find Anna’s antidote to corruption woolly headed and impractical, it is sad that this well meaning personality is being subject to attack from the left, right and center. Politicians and columnists have sneeringly called for Anna to fight an election and many have accused him of subverting the constitution. His fast unto death has been denounced as blackmail and tactics undemocratic. While the left sees him as a stooge of the Hindu Nationalists, further certified by his apparent praise for Narendra Modi, the Right sees him being propped by the Congress to subvert Baba Ramdev’s own movement against corruption. Whatever the truth may be, one cannot deny that if the rulers of the day are insensitive, tools used to wake them out of their slumber cannot be of their choice. Had the rulers alone been final arbiters’ of dissent, social revolutions in any part of the world would not have happened, pre independence INC would have forever remained a party of prayers and petitions and Indira’s dictatorial rule would have continued unabated. Desperate times call for desperate measures and the state where India is in today, with the Nation sold to crony capitalists, the babus and the netas, there is little hope for the common middle class person if a well meaning individual is thus ridiculed!