| by N.S.Venkataraman
( October 15, 2012, Chennai, Sri
Lanka Guardian) There is considerable concern and anger about the prevailing
level of corruption in India at every
level. However, the fact remains that resistance to corruption is abysmally
low. It appears that many citizens in the country is having a role either as a
bribe giver or a bribe taker willingly
or unwillingly at one time or the other. Very rarely we come across instances
of people refusing to be part of corruption process and who would be willing to make the necessary
sacrifices or undergo the sufferings in
standing up to the demand of the corrupt forces. There may be some people who show such great
qualities to resist corruption but they are rarely highlighted by the media and
in any case they seem to be miniscule segment
of the population.
It is sad that Anna Hazare’s anti
corruption movement lost its steam after its promising start. Anna Hazare’s
movement failed to take off mainly due
to the excessive stress on Lokpal Bill
, while many people concerned about
corruption thought that the existing laws are adequate and what is required is
the need to build very strong anti corruption sentiments amongst people at
every level. Efforts should have been
addressed to reform the minds and hearts of the people of the country, so that
anyone found to be involved in corrupt dealings would be looked upon by the
society like a drunkard or a molestor.
Further, Anna Hazare’a movement had several participants or supporters
who themselves are suspected to be involved in corruption and tax evasion at
one time or the other. In the
circumstances, the movement did not take
off and
this fate for the movement was predicted by several people earlier.
Certainly , Indian voters would
reject those who resort to lawlessness in the name of fighting for the law.
People would certainly expect that those who fight against the law breakers
should be lawful. A hate movement practiced by Kejriwal is no substitute for a
constructive anti corruption movement. All said and done, the average Indian
citizen is always able to read in between the lines and distinguish between the
good and the bad. This is the reason
that many governments have been changed after the elections , showing the
maturity of the average voter in showing
the door to the dishonest rulers.
While tapering of Anna Hazare’s
movement is a sad development, many today think that the tapering of Kejriwal’s
present hate movement would be good and positive development for the
country. . Wild allegations made during the street protests giving no scope for
scrutiny by due process of law will only
contribute to make the scenario more murky , creating a free for all situation.
Today, Kejriwal is getting huge visual media attention , due
to his demonstrative form of protests. Obviously, for privately owned visual media today, the focus is on scenes of demonstration, violence, shooting,
rape and molestation and Kejriwal’s
method suits them well.
Kejriwal and his associates will be doing a big mistake , if they would
think that huge media publicity would
take them forward , which is unlikely. Kejrwal’s selective targeting of some people whom he
considers to be corrupt will lose its “charm” for the media
, when he would do it too frequently,
just like Anna Hazare’s fast lost its ”charm” when it was repeated too
frequently.
The chances of anti corruption
movement succeeding in India would become really great ,if the campaign against
corruption would be carried out in a
sustained manner, utilizing the due process of law and encouraging the common man at every level to
resist corruption and urging the people to utilize Right to Information
Act much more. Those individuals and institutions who resist
corruption should be applauded and highlighted in every possible way. The
country desperately needs constructive anti corruption movement and only such
constructive protests supported by well investigated and logical arguments and
resorting to the due process of law, would stand the test of time.
A few hundreds of people joining
the protest along with Kejriwal can only result in making lot of noise without
results and in the process causing.
confusion and exasperation amongst the people who want to fight against
corruption. Such methods of making vague charges in public will make a mockery
of law and regulations. It is possible
that someone may bring out equally vague
corrupt charges against those activists
who cannot then complain.
People recognize that there are
corrupt forces not only amongst the politicians, bureaucrats and government
employees but also in private establishments big and small and amongst the non
governmental organizations and social activists. Kejriwal’s protests would do more harm than
good to the anti corruption movement in the country by shifting the focus to
select individuals giving to
suspicion that he is settling scores for
whatever reasons. On the other hand, the
anti corruption movement would become credible if it would be targeted against
all corrupt people irrespective of the positions and parties they belong
to.
Mahatma Gandhi said that a man of
truth should also be a man of care. Kejriwal
and his associates should also be transparent and clearly explain in the public domain as
to how his demonstrations are funded and
everyone knows that without lakhs of rupees of “investment”, such
demonstrations can not be organized in
India today. It would be appropriate if
he would constitute a scrutiny committee of eminent retired judges to whom his
day today income expenditure statements should be presented and which should
also be in the public domain.
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