Last few days were exceptionally different. Very rarely have something unique happened in India with huge support from people. I think this would qualify as an unprecedented event, when there would be a committee of elected politicians and people from civil society drafting a crucial law. The Lokapal Bill gives a much needed push to the fight against corruption.
Small section of India, Lutyens' Delhi and some people in south Mumbai for example, are very cynical and envious. They just cannot fathom how a man without any articulation and high English accent or any flashy upmarket lifestyle could go ahead and catch imagination of almost whole nation, which is deprived of and looking for any true leader.
Fact of the matter is that a 73-yr-old ex-army Gandhian, Anna Hajare, has got extraordinary support from all the Indians, irrespective of cast, language, region, state, religion.
The united nation got someone to follow on a very precious topic – fight against corruption. Not to forget the media, especially the electronic one, rallied and gave coverage of all the details of the fast-unto-death at Jantar Mantar.
Although Anna Hajare had been working on various issues in Maharashtra for last 22 years, it is now in New Delhi that he has a projected image on the national level. Some even compared him to the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and JP. Fortunately he is very clear in his head, he is not the ultimate savior of people. He is just another activist resorting to non-violent measure to protest.
Some tried to thwart this joint exercise of people at large and Anna Hajare, saying the institutions, the executive, and the judiciary is in grave danger. Actually even the Central Government ignored and under-estimated the fast. They tried to play it down, until realisation came in form of astonishing outpouring of public support.
Lokpal bills were introduced in Parliament in1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005, and in 2008, yet they were never passed. It is such a case, almost every MLA, MP, or Minister will detest, simply because honest representative of people is an extremely rare species!
The Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's ombudsman Bill) is a draft of anti-corruption bill that would pave the way for a Jan Lokpal, an independent body like the Election Commission, CVC, and CAG which would have the power to prosecute politicians and bureaucrats without government permission.
All said and done, this is certainly no time to be complacent and to gloat.
