CROSSROADS CROSSED !
Anna ,along with his small team and meagre resources, surfaced two years back as The Saviour for the common man to fight the ailing government machinery and to clean India from corruption.( At a Crossroads, OUTLOOK, Aug 13,2012) But the very context of move Anna has changed overnight, since the article went to the press and till the issue of OUTLOOK reached the reader
The Anna movement has a very noble mission and got an unexpected overwhelming response, with Anna being called Today’s Gandhi, but the following dwindled gradually. The reasons for this are many and expected. The approach and means was not very democratic or mature. Holding government to ransom by fasting over ultra short deadlines, is not the way to bring changes .Revolutions don’t happen overnight and one cannot end the unruly rule of six decades in six months. Personal differences ,in-house fighting and lack of a strong platform are factors that contributed to the fading off of the spark. The changing goals, getting personal ,indecisiveness to decide on alliances and the inability to decide whether to be political or apolitical added further to the chaos. And finally when you throw stones at others you should be prepared to get some stones hurled at you too. When one fights the oldest political body of the country, retaliation is natural, and so one has to keep his house clean and in order, which is almost an impossible task to do, as everyone, has skeletons in his or her cupboard ,big or small.
A more feasible line of action would be to exploit this following of the masses, to form a party, with or without political support and try to topple the government and to come in power in the next elections and work to improve the governance of the country and fulfil every Indians dream of corruption free India………………This option was thought of and declared too, but soon things took a 360 degree turn…………..mainly due to internal difference and bickering, this gave Anna cold feet and he withdrew himself from the so called movement which was being expected to be the largest after the Independence Movement. The questions that come to my mind today are
Will the Anna Movement survive with Anna’s walk out?
Will Anna continue giving it, its name?
Will it succeed in going political?
Will the public give it the kind of support they gave to Anna?
Is it a victory of the government?
Will Ramdev take over the movement or start a parallel one?
And above all?
Has Anna disappointed the masses who showed their immense faith in him and stood by him in millions in solidarity?
Is Anna answerable to the people of India who trusted him blindly?
Time alone will answer these questions
Satyamev jayate !!
Prof Sanjay Kapoor ,Lucknow