Author: Rajesh Kalra
Publication: The Times of India
Date: January 31, 2011
URL: http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/randomaccess/entry/when-30k-turn-up-spontaneously-against-corruption-politicians-better-worry
I was at the march against corruption rally
organised by Arvind Kejriwal's 'India Against Corruption' organisation in
central Delhi yesterday. It was a delightful winter noon with a gentle sun
and a soothing breeze. The real icing on the cake, however, was the unbelievable
crowd that had shown up on a Sunday afternoon.
In a country where increasingly we see crowds
gather with great difficulty unless it's a cricket match. Where almost every
politician, save a few, has to necessarily orchestrate paid crowds involving
buses to ferry them and inducing them with food, liquor, even money, for their
rallies and still find few takers, the number of 30 thousand spontaneous crowd
was heartening.
And what a congregation it was! School children,
college students; I saw a few with IIT Delhi jackets, doctors, lawyers, armymen,
housewives, simple villagers from districts around Delhi, nuns, sisters, pundits,
gurus, were all there. Even the Delhi police constables on duty were helpful
with one of them remarking to me - sab achche kaam ke liye aaye hain (All
have come for a good cause).
I have little doubt that this spontaneous
show of strength would have made the political class uneasy, more so with
them witnessing the events unfolding in Tunisia and Egypt. While it may be
too early to predict a similar uprising in India, for I think we are intrinsically
far more stable and also patient, but my gut feel is that the way things are
moving in this nation, the political class certainly cannot take things for
granted any more.
The way people lapped up what was being spoken
there was surprising, and at one level scary too. The no-holds barred speeches
by the likes of Prashant and Shanti Bhushan, Ram Jethmalani, Medha Patkar,
religious gurus and a bevy of others was something not heard at a public rally
in a long time. Medha Patkar, especially, was devastating in her observations
about the industrialists-political nexus.
The clear articulation of how most of our
so called anti-corruption laws and bodies are useless, by the father and son
activist lawyers duo of Prashant and Shanti Bhushan, too had everyone asking
for more. That was followed by Arvind Kejriwal demonstrating how even the
new probity bill being contemplated - Lok Pal - will be nothing but an attempt
to pull wool over everybody's eyes. I had discussed this in an earlier post
(Don't let up against corruption). Basically, all these so called bodies are
made defunct by the babu-politician (and perhaps industrial lobbies) nexus
even before they take wing by making them toothless. All of them have mere
recommendatory powers and no more. Little wonder, therefore, that all their
observations are treated by the powers that be with supreme contempt.
But as I said, if the mood in the gathering
is any indication, all those who have been getting away with the loot of the
nation, riding on the current toothless mechanism in place, need to worry.
The people of this nation are fed up of the
platitudes being served by the rulers and administrators day in and day out.
They are aware of the loot and plunder that is going on in the name of the
poor. The Swiss bank account information is being actively pursued by an almost
activist Supreme Court, as is the information on several other issues of public
interest. We are all witness to growing anarchy. None can forget the burning
alive of a senior government officer in Manmad by the oil mafia that indulged
in fuel adulteration. The list of such brazen acts is growing at an alarming
pace. Not reacting or taking it easy is no longer an option.
As a speaker at the rally extolled the gathering
yesterday, we should now tell all political parties that we need genuine moves
to curtail corruption and bring this country to some order. We need to ask
them if they support the new probity law that empowers action against the
looters. Only if we have unequivocal support from them that they are with
us in this in right earnest can they seek our votes, else we will look elsewhere.
The message has to go across to as many as
possible. On the Internet, there is a Facebook page called India Against Corruption
(http://www.facebook.com/IndiACor?ref=ts&v=wall). We should all go there
and register our protest and speak our mind. Let there be pressure points
all around, so that those who have always escaped unscathed in their loot
of the nation so far are made aware that their days are numbered.
Here is to a corruption free India.
