Who is Anna Hazare?

Who is Anna Hazare?

I pretty much ignored Anna Hazare and his theatrics for the past few months; I thought here we go another great 'Social Activist' who wants free publicity. But as things have spun out of control and Govt of India blinked, I thought I will follow Anna Hazare story.

It was comical to hear that he refused to leave the Tihar jail when the police told him he was free to leave; I think he was first person in the world who refused to leave the jail cell. :) .

It has become fashionable for everyone to sit in for well publicized ‘fast’ in their five star tents with their supporters in front of TV cameras.  It is a real insult to 800 million people who live below poverty and they are on indefinite fast all there life. It was real funny when I heard former Chief minister of Karnataka Kumarswamy was on fast and he called it off within few hours, I thought we had reached the lowest point.

Anna Hazare’s theatrics have been totalitarian and he wants power without any responsibility, he reminds me of the communists during the first UPA term who enjoyed all the power and withdrew support when the general elections were nearing and blamed Congress and their allies for the ‘misrule’ and non-performance for the first four years, so where are the communists now? When I last checked they had lost both Kerala and West Bengal state elections.

Coming back to Anna Hazare, my question is what will the new Lokpal bill do? Or for that matter any bills do? Can this bill prevent scams like CWG scam, 2G spectrum sale scam? I don’t think so.

Let us take the example of illegal mining going on in Karnataka which has cost the exchequer crores of rupees for the last 30 years or so? The illegal mining was rampant and daily wages laborers’ are exploited to the hilt. Where were the Lokayukta and the great justices of the Lokayukta then? You have a non congress government and first BJP led government in South India, they were well bent upon bringing the government down, first they tried the traditional route of rubber stamp governor, when that did not work they went the Lokayukta route and Chief Minister Yedurappa had to resign. Congress has a history of destabilizing and bringing down state governments where it not ruling or giving support to militant ideologues to counter (remember Punjab).

I am very much against bringing Prime Minister and Chief Justice of India under the bill, it will only lead to more bureaucratic red tape, not to mention the independent functioning of the judicial system and the courts, what about decisions made regarding foreign policy and National security, as it we have so many power centers in our country, Gandhi Family, NAC, volatile and moody allies like TMC, AIADMK (remember Vajpayee term), DMK and  politicians in stone age like Laloo Prasad Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan, Shard Yadav to name a few, now you add Lokpal to it, I have no idea how and when the Prime minister will have time to dispense his everyday duties.

Being corrupt is in our DNA, I don’t remember getting anything done in my life without paying a bribe, whether it is driver’s license, property registration or any government document, when I did raise a hue and cry about not paying any bribe and getting things done by the book, I just spent running from pillar to post for weeks together and I was ridiculed by everyone including my family and friends, I was the bad guy for not paying the bribe. If we have to change we have to change from within and at the lowest level, let us start by opposing or refusing to pay bribe.

According to our constitution, the power is distributed between Parliament and the states.
The Prime Minister of India and council of ministers who are directly elected by the people of India exercise their offices as long as they enjoy the majority in the Lok Sabha and no one must be able to hold it hostage with the threat of fast, violence and encouraging civil disobedience, I thought we had come a long way from that during the 70s. If Anna Hazare thinks he as got the mass support, he can put up independent candidates during the next general elections, if he musters 50-70 seats he can use those numbers in the parliament to bring any strong legislation he wishes to bring, as the coalition stands now, even a party with 5 seats can arm twist the government into anything, but Anna Hazare cannot and should not turn this into a circus, oh sorry I am late...he has already turned it into one!