By Kanan Dhru
The current hullabaloo surrounding Anna Hazare and the Lokpal Bill has taken the country by storm. In my opinion, the way the entire protest has resulted, is a missed opportunity for India.
Anna may have ‘won’ his fight but I am doubtful whether anything actually came out of all this.
People compared Anna with Gandhi and even called his fight the second independence movement for India. Jantar-Mantar was compared with Tahrir Square and the present uproar to the Egyptian revolution.
Let’s be honest! Whatever happened around the Lokpal Bill can hardly even be compared to a revolution. There was no government overthrown, there was no change-agenda, there was no fundamental shift in the way our country functions. What came out of it was setting up of a committee to draft a bill to be passed in the Parliament! A bill which we can just hope will change things around us.
In fact, what the Jan lokpal bill sets out to achieve is being called dangerously unconstitutional by the legal experts! It purports to create an all-pervasive authority which can even contest the actions of the highest of the offices including the Prime Minister or the Supreme Court judges. Something of this nature would not stand the test of the rule of law in the courts even for a few seconds.
And frankly, our country already has far-too-many well-meaning legislations, which have been conveniently put into their respective toothless positions through interpretation or (lack of) implementation. In all likelihood, the Lokpal Bill may share the same fate.
Who has gained the most from all this are a few ‘representatives’ of the civil society who will be part of the ultimate drafting of the bill. It seems thoroughly surprising as to how these few people were chosen? Who do they actually represent? Why is so much power being given to them?
Unfortunately, the amount of frustration or anger that people had for all these years against bad governance in general and corruption in particular, has finally come out on the Bill which did not really deserve all this.
There were marches and protest across the country! I was receiving messages at all times of the day for joining the protest. This opportunity could have and should have been channelized for a larger cause, a larger agenda of nation-building. The politicians or even these ‘representatives’ should have engaged more openly and transparently with people and should have tried to understand their wants. There should have been a better dialogue on all fronts concerning corruption, a wider agenda for reforms – which are so badly needed.
But sadly, what this ended up becoming was propaganda merely for the Lokpal bill. Sadly, the protest was directionless, ineffective and a waste of everyone’s time. On the top of all this, it ended up setting a bad example of getting things done through a hunger-strike, which in my opinion is a completely unacceptable form of revolt in a democracy.
Many are already cynical about the ultimate outcome of such a protest. Historically it has been proven that even revolutions don’t affect much of a change within the governance processes. Most of the times, they merely result in a regime change. One corrupt government is replaced by another corrupt government.
However, assuming that the best possible 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! And this can only happen through long term sustainable efforts.
The fast has already been broken and the victory has already been announced. Those who have marched all these days will go back home and wake up next day to the same India. A one that saw a potential for change but was fused out even before it became a wide ranging movement fundamentally shaking the way of governing our political institutions. This could be very dangerous - it might create a disillusioned mass amongst the young generation – who would see their efforts resulting into nothing much.
Although, I hope that the momentum continues. I hope that the present ‘leaders against corruption’ don’t call it quits when their purposes have been achieved. I hope they guide and channelize the energies of people in the right direction. In a secret corner of my heart however, I doubt!
Kanan Dhru is the founder of Research Foundation For Governance in India.
Socio- Legal Notes are write-up’s on contemporary issue having a law and society interface
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