Anna Campaign, The Errors Of The Last One

By Author: Seema Srivastava
Total Articles: 1
Comment this article

There are a lot of new rumors regarding another Anna campaign, which might be in context of land acquisition, or audit of MP performance. We can only hope that the next one is not as haphazard as the previous one, because this nation is in need of no more autocracy and mass fooling. What it needs are simple, practical and productive steps with a preset objective and direction. Not to be wavered off or stalled by a self proclaiming activist or leader of the civil society. Having conveyed my thoughts in the first paragraph with full clarity, the following article is only related to the mistakes committed by team Anna during the Ramlila Maidan agitation. I highlight them only to ensure that they are not repeated. Hope the message does get spread.

1. First error made by the Anna team was of moving forward in the absence of any constitutional backing. To come up with a bill, to be made a law; from outside the law making authority (Parliament) of the nation was error number ‘one’. To have pushed it forward, without consent or discussion, solely on the basis that it is the best solution was the greater half of the error ...
... in this initial wrong doing.

2. The next mistake was to the methodology of the use of media. Had all the statements been related to the bill, one would have still understood their relevance? But to claim the government is not functioning, to claim that the nation is in shams, and to use the media to fool our masses, not realizing that an international dark spot was being put on our repute at the same time was error number two.

3. The formation of a team that was not consolidated on the basis of practicality or productive output, but on the basis of mass appeal is where everything went haywire. A true advisor to Anna would have highlighted to him that when the government calls you for a discussion, consider the battle won, and push for absolute participation in the discussion and debates over the bill formation and implementation. But rather than doing so, someone from his team told him that no, let us break the method that the constitution puts before us. Let us assume that our idea of the Jan Lokpal is the best. Hence do not give up till your version and only your version is accepted as a law. Were they aiming for soft hijacking of the democratic setup?

4. To have been swayed by the mass attention and to have used the same for defamation of the parliament of certain MPs in the parliament was the first sign of lacking dedication to do good from their side. When the entire momentum and setup had been formed solely to fight corruption, then how did the diplomacy and the blame game of politics creep in. Either the maturity was lost seeing the mass attendance, or else the vested interests were well buried right from the beginning.

5. The final fault was to make the most ridiculed practical demand, of having everything as they pleased, which included everything autocratic to fight corruption. Everything that one can think of under an assertive, over confident and authoritative head. But yet to exclude the NGOs and the private sector. This was like blasphemy in a fight against corruption, since it is well know that majority of the black money in this country originates and gets channelized via these two setups. This blow of statements, surely deterred people like me, for it became clear that this fight has been lost along the way. Lost not to anyone opposing it, but lost to the naïve minds of those who started it. The idea to really remove corruption was where everything began. But it got lost in the attention, the prospective future, and the brand symbolizing of the entire movement.

I hope that such people are never again backed by the masses, for if you come to think of it then we are the ones who let the situation swell to the extent that it did. It was us who did not see through the entire stages setup. We did not foresee the malleability of the leading personalities. Political evolution has never been able to overtake ideological evolution. The earth did not become round, till the people did not accept it. India did not gain independence, till the people did not commit themselves to it. India will not become free of corruption, till the Indian mind set does not eradicate the concept from within each one of us, on our own. Not by the aid and plans of self proclaimed and often lost along the way activists.