Just like they responded to belly-gyrating, 'item songs' of Bollywood like 'Sheila ki jawani' and 'Munni badnam hui', the youth of India reacted to Anna Hazare's declaration of 'fast unto death'. It can be summed up as hyperactive, immature and over-the-top. The media, gleefully joined in and made hay. Mr Hazare claimed that he is fed-up of the delay in enacting a strict anti-corruption law by the parliament and threatened that he will fast till such time the law is drafted. He later increased his demands to include that the law be drafted by a committee that has a 50% representation from activist and that the committee should not have any politician who hasn't been accused of corruption. The youth of India, who had gone on a slumber for some years, came out on the streets and angrily demanded that the government pay heed to the so-called 'modern Gandhi'. It entirely missed their narrow minds that by calling Hazare a Gandhi, they are both demeaning the father of the nation and showing their lack of knowledge of either person's ideals and lives.
Anna Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare, a former Indian army driver, is a social activist from the western state of Maharashtra. He is the only member of his contingent who survived the war with Pakistan and is claimed to have taken his survival as 'rebirth' which he wants to dedicate to the service of the people. An activist with remarkable work in his home state, he is often credited with turning his village, Ralegan Siddhi into an environmental prototype through motivating the villagers to build dams and percolation tanks, conserve water and to plant trees. Hazare later on took to social activism and campaigned against alcohol, tobacco and illiteracy, in addition to regressive social norms like dowry and caste system. Known for his activism supporting decentralization and putting power in the hands of the people instead of politicians, Hazare, in his fast for an anti-corruption law, surprisingly argued for a centralized institution headed by a Lokpal, an independent investigator with powers to inquire about complaints of corruption against politicians and book criminal cases. This contradiction, however, is one among many criticisms that can be leveled at this man who is touted by some as the new Mahatma (great soul).
Egged-on by the hysterical media, the Indian youth took to streets supporting Hazare through rallies and by claiming to fast along with him. Recent revelations of large-scale corruption and scams also contributed to this general feeling of contempt for politicians and the Parliament. Though I disagreed with Hazare's method of demanding the presence of unelected social activist who cannot be held accountable through any democratic system for lapses in law-drafting, in the committee composing the legislation against corruption, I did, however agreed that the method is best applicable only in this situation as the legislation will ultimately be used against erring legislators! So, to avoid a case of the conflict of interest, only in this situation can the presence of social activist in the law drafting committee is needed. So, to show my support, I heeded a call by a colleague at office who had planned a rally after office hours. Once in the rally, I realized how utterly clueless these people are! While around 70 people turned up for the rally, only about 3 placard had been organized. While the participants wanted to make noise to draw the attention of the passer-by to give the message, the impromptu leaders of the rally shouted them down, saying the movement is a 'silent cry'! When the time came to take out a procession, there was much disagreement on which direction to take, which streets to cover and who would lead, prompting a friend to joke that if managing such a small crowd of highly educated and well employed youth is so difficult, then maybe our politicians who manage the entire country of mostly illiterate population do need a little graft to stay in the job!
The government soon agreed to all of Hazare's demands and included social activists in the committee drafting the anti-corruption legislation, going so far as to make an activist the co-chairman of the committee which it was revealed was yet another of Hazare's growing list of demands. Hazare reportedly drank a lemonade to break his fast and soon showed signs of his lack of skills to manage PR. The feverish media pushed microphones at his chin and asked his views on a hundred things under the sun and Hazare was all the happy to respond. When his views were sought on a statement by a minister who said that an anti-corruption law may not necessarily solve the problem of corruption, Hazare demanded the minister resign from the committee immediately. Such a statement by Hazare was shocking to his supporters like me. I expected him to be a little more tolerant of criticism and disagreements. But alas, Hazare did not stop there and went on later to suggest that all states in the country follow the lead of states like Gujrat and Bihar in terms of 'development'. Both these states are ruled by members from political parties that form the key opposition block in the parliament. So, a political angle to Hazare's statement cannot be ruled out. This fact is most disappointing as one of the key reasons for my support to Hazare was his independence towards any political or ideological affiliation. To add to this, Gujrat is a state ruled by a politician who has widely been reported as the architect of a pogram directed at a minority community. Hazare's support of this state, overlooking its awful human rights record is very disappointing.
A colleague when proudly said that Hazare's method be repeated often to force parliament to heed popular demands made me realize the extent to which this erroneous method has caught on the imagination of the youth. What these people do not realize is that in a democracy, it is the job of the parliament to form legislation, debate it and make it into law. Citizens, if they find a law to be harmful, can challenge its validity through a public interest litigation in a court of law. If the legislators themselves are bad, then it is the mistake of the electorate who have sent such unqualified people to represent them in the parliament. I just hope that better sense prevails soon and that the youth recall what they learned in school civics.
Anna Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare, a former Indian army driver, is a social activist from the western state of Maharashtra. He is the only member of his contingent who survived the war with Pakistan and is claimed to have taken his survival as 'rebirth' which he wants to dedicate to the service of the people. An activist with remarkable work in his home state, he is often credited with turning his village, Ralegan Siddhi into an environmental prototype through motivating the villagers to build dams and percolation tanks, conserve water and to plant trees. Hazare later on took to social activism and campaigned against alcohol, tobacco and illiteracy, in addition to regressive social norms like dowry and caste system. Known for his activism supporting decentralization and putting power in the hands of the people instead of politicians, Hazare, in his fast for an anti-corruption law, surprisingly argued for a centralized institution headed by a Lokpal, an independent investigator with powers to inquire about complaints of corruption against politicians and book criminal cases. This contradiction, however, is one among many criticisms that can be leveled at this man who is touted by some as the new Mahatma (great soul).
Egged-on by the hysterical media, the Indian youth took to streets supporting Hazare through rallies and by claiming to fast along with him. Recent revelations of large-scale corruption and scams also contributed to this general feeling of contempt for politicians and the Parliament. Though I disagreed with Hazare's method of demanding the presence of unelected social activist who cannot be held accountable through any democratic system for lapses in law-drafting, in the committee composing the legislation against corruption, I did, however agreed that the method is best applicable only in this situation as the legislation will ultimately be used against erring legislators! So, to avoid a case of the conflict of interest, only in this situation can the presence of social activist in the law drafting committee is needed. So, to show my support, I heeded a call by a colleague at office who had planned a rally after office hours. Once in the rally, I realized how utterly clueless these people are! While around 70 people turned up for the rally, only about 3 placard had been organized. While the participants wanted to make noise to draw the attention of the passer-by to give the message, the impromptu leaders of the rally shouted them down, saying the movement is a 'silent cry'! When the time came to take out a procession, there was much disagreement on which direction to take, which streets to cover and who would lead, prompting a friend to joke that if managing such a small crowd of highly educated and well employed youth is so difficult, then maybe our politicians who manage the entire country of mostly illiterate population do need a little graft to stay in the job!
The government soon agreed to all of Hazare's demands and included social activists in the committee drafting the anti-corruption legislation, going so far as to make an activist the co-chairman of the committee which it was revealed was yet another of Hazare's growing list of demands. Hazare reportedly drank a lemonade to break his fast and soon showed signs of his lack of skills to manage PR. The feverish media pushed microphones at his chin and asked his views on a hundred things under the sun and Hazare was all the happy to respond. When his views were sought on a statement by a minister who said that an anti-corruption law may not necessarily solve the problem of corruption, Hazare demanded the minister resign from the committee immediately. Such a statement by Hazare was shocking to his supporters like me. I expected him to be a little more tolerant of criticism and disagreements. But alas, Hazare did not stop there and went on later to suggest that all states in the country follow the lead of states like Gujrat and Bihar in terms of 'development'. Both these states are ruled by members from political parties that form the key opposition block in the parliament. So, a political angle to Hazare's statement cannot be ruled out. This fact is most disappointing as one of the key reasons for my support to Hazare was his independence towards any political or ideological affiliation. To add to this, Gujrat is a state ruled by a politician who has widely been reported as the architect of a pogram directed at a minority community. Hazare's support of this state, overlooking its awful human rights record is very disappointing.
A colleague when proudly said that Hazare's method be repeated often to force parliament to heed popular demands made me realize the extent to which this erroneous method has caught on the imagination of the youth. What these people do not realize is that in a democracy, it is the job of the parliament to form legislation, debate it and make it into law. Citizens, if they find a law to be harmful, can challenge its validity through a public interest litigation in a court of law. If the legislators themselves are bad, then it is the mistake of the electorate who have sent such unqualified people to represent them in the parliament. I just hope that better sense prevails soon and that the youth recall what they learned in school civics.
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