Yesterday, had a talk with few Anna enthusiasts, kept a tab on social network (Facebook primarily) and watched news channels – Few things were evident to me:
Many either could not offer a definition to corruption or had set a very restrictive scope for it – Ideally one should know what he / she is fighting against.
Self-introspection and improvement are down the list of many in this fight against corruption – or to put it more bluntly people are using different lenses to judge acts by different parties. I just wish now that Anna has awakened them from slumber, he would also aid in developing an instinct of self-improvement and check.
To some it is not fight of principles – it has turned into a slugfest against individuals. Fight against corruption and its protector. History has shown that once people start getting personal they lose focus of things to achieve.
Media has showed immaturity in the way it has handled the coverage of this episode. It appears that the coverage is biased. I am not sure if the attempt to sensationalize every news item would be beneficial to this country either in long or short run. Though the cause is just, media houses should keep the sanctity of their institutions intact.
Opportunism is on show and it appears that people involved are either too ignorant to detect it (which is highly unlikely) or have simply shut their eyes to it. Both the cases are highly deplorable.
This ‘revolution’ primarily appears to be a middle class assertion which is good in many ways. The only caution one should keep is to not bring in self interest in this endeavour and work for general good.
Finally, in a fight for ‘democratic values’ (and everyone would accept that yesterday it was assaulted badly) people are not willing to listen to different opinions… ‘If you are not with Anna then you are for corruption’… And why should that be? I am as free to express and retain my views as anyone else in this country… And a person can be with the intent of Anna but may have a different perspective on how to bring about changes. Does that make a person pro corruption? Rationally not but I have no clue on what the popular perception would be.
There are many more points that I want to list down but would do without them at the moment. I wish the corruption is cleaned from our society – if this is the first step then I think the second step would be achieving 100% target on the self-correction front for each individual of this country.
P.S: Was watching the news during the lunch break – plagued by a question since then. Is this movement taking the right course? The theatrics is on display and so is the power tussle. I simply hope that we do not lose the cause in the midst of such chaos and frenzy.
Comments
Personally I am not a fan of Gandhi (and his ideologies- I just dont think they are practical) and I think his contribution to Indian freedom struggle is overrated but just imagine if leaders with different ideologies started criticising him then and created a divide amongst the people, his contribution would have been much lesser.
My point is -
1) Let people follow the leader (I assume you support the cause)
2) It is good to debate on ideologies but never a good idea to criticise ideologies other than yours.
3) No focussed effort can stay focussed with lakhs/crores of people being a part of it, so just forget about the diversions like individuals being targetted. That is somethin bound to happen. The more important point would have been to suggest 'should-be' focus areas for the movement.
4) If putting a peaceful protest is an assault on democracy, what do you have to say about policemen beating sleeping women and children and leaving them stranded on streets at 2AM(Ramdev incident)? Correct me if I am wrong but I think the most un-democratic entity today is the 'Government' itself.
PS: People shut you up when you speak against anna is because they follow him (and respect him) for being a leader fighting for a cause - a cause which effects every single individual of this country.
Moreover just look at the Government's standpoint in the recent past. Do you also stand with the Government in Baba Ramdev (Ramlila ground and rest) episode? Do you trust the likes of Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Singhvi or Digvijay Singh? Is it hard to see that our Prime Minister is actually a puppet Prime Minister?
People are not entirely wrong when they compare it to the freedom struggle. Just imagine if people of India then questioned the need for freedom. That definitely would not have helped those fighting for freedom.
If Gandhi could bring in discipline amongst people then, Anna has done the same now. If it is your democratic right to speak, it is also my democratic right to counter. If I counter your points, it is for a reason and should not be hard for a learned like you to understand.
In your reply you said -
"if you are not respecting one of the most fundamental aspect of democracy, what is the guarantee that you would respect other aspect of common man's existence when situation is against you"
Isnt it the same what the highest institution of democracy has been doing for last a few months? Government is hitting people making peaceful protests (which is by the way people's constitutional right) just because they have started speaking against them.
You also said - "Shouting 'End Corruption' and 'Anna Hum Tumhare Saath hain' will not end corruption".. neither does it make any difference when you do that in a cricket stadium. You do it to raise the confidence of cricketers in a cricket field, here again you do it to show your support for the cause. I think you have already got an answer for that.
And as I said earlier, if you have a better suggestion, put that on your blog. Just criticising doesnt do any good.