'Aye' to Anna's Lokpal Bill

“Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today”….Mahatma Gandhi

Virus Detected: CORRUPTION

Sometimes a sense of unrestrained virtue can also challenge democracy. The confrontation, altercation and the campaigns by civil society activists over the Jan Lokpal Bill is a reminder of this uncomfortable truth. It started on 5th April 2011 when a ‘fakir’ whose imperial power is personified and one who is the emissary of idealism – Mr. Anna Hazare went for a fast unto death at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, though the seeds of this movement were sown long ago. Soon this movement was supported by Retired IPS Officer – Dr. Kiran Bedi, RTI Activist – Mr. Arvind Kejriwal and some other known people like Swami Agnivesh, Shri Shri Ravi Shankar and Mallika Sarabhai. No sooner than later, the bill got drafted by Justice Santosh Hegde (former Supreme Court Judge), Prashant Bhushan (Supreme Court Lawyer) and Arvind Kejriwal

This movement is an expression of collective anger of people of India who wish to fight against corruption and the people shoring up for this share a common motto i.e. to curtail the corruption in India.

The integrity of fasting unto death for a political cause in a legitimate democracy has always been a delicate issue. There is something profoundly coercive about fasting unto death. When it is tied to an unparalleled moral eminence, as it is in the case of Anna Hazare, it leads to Unity and awareness. It’s like waking up India from a deep slumber. This is the result of those circumstances, where the tyranny of government is so oppressive and the moral cause at stake is so vital that some such method of protest is called for.

On the other hand the response from our honourable government is disgraceful and appalling. A couple of days back, our cabinet has passed a government’s lokpal draft which has a very constricted and narrow jurisdiction. This draft from the government involves corruption rather than taking out a measure to eradicate it. The government plans to keep the ‘panchayats’ which are the epitomes of corruption, out of the lokpal bill. The government also wishes to keep NREGA and the Public Distribution System out of the lokpal’s supervision when studies have proved that 80% of 30,000 Crores of annual subsidies is siphoned off. The medicine stores in government hospitals, the roads in cities and villages which are constructed and they come back to their previous worst conditions in few days of their construction because of the enormous corruption involved in it, is also out of lokpal’s custody. The municipal corruption, the Adarsh housing scam, the Common Wealth Games Scam, Reddy Brothers Scam, Mining Scam, Cash for Vote Scam, Yamuna Expressway scam and all others have been placed out of Government’s Jan Lokpal’s Bill super view.

The government’s hunger doesn’t stop here. It also says that out Honourable Prime Minister is out of Jan Lokpal Bill’s guardianship. The MP’s are not answerable as per Jan Lokpal Bill. Our MLA’s are outside government’s lokpal, the ‘surpanchs’ are outside government’s lokpal, Muncipal counselors are outside government’s lokpal, all state government employees across the country are outside government’s lokpal, All groups – B, C and D grades of central government employees are outside government’s lokpal. Now here I stand firm and tall to question our government that ‘What is inside Government’s Lokpal…?’

Today if the government is adamant, we need to become more. To fight against this cause our ‘fakir’ has promised to once again go for fasting unto death from 16th August, 2011. And extending support to social activist Anna Hazare over Lokpal Bill issue, Mumbai's famous dabba-walas have said that there would be no service on August 16, the day our Anna proposes to start his hunger strike. When a survey was conducted in various cities across the country maximum people favoured the Jan Lokpal Bill. In Nagpur, 81 percent spoke in favour, in Mumbai, it was 95 per cent. Social activist and Gandhian Anna Hazare has himself said: “If people’s views are not taken into account then it’s not a democracy; 85-86 per cent people agree with us on every issue, so does Kapil Sibal really represent the people or their views in his constituency?”

Today corruption has become a challenge. And public agitation is required to shame government. The people associated with this movement for India against Corruption have set examples of sacrifice and integrity that lesser mortals can scarcely hope to emulate. In this age of cynicism, these sacrifices should cause all of us to introspect.