The real fight

As I write this. Hoards of people are gathered outside Tihar Jail, Chatrasal Stadium, JP park, Jantar Mantar, India gate a several other places. If TV channels are to be believed, there are similar protests happening at various cities in the country.

Is this a start of a new revolution? Perhaps Yes. Perhaps No. Next seven days holds the answer. It would not be fair to compare this movement with the ones that the world witnessed in Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria etc. Those were uprisings against a tyrant ruler. In this case, common man is uniting against corruption (Is there a similarity?)

Opposition parties are trying desperately to project it as a war between Government and the rest. ‘Behti ganga main haath dhona chahte hain’. They are forgetting that this time people are not getting organized under any specific banner, be it communists, trade unions or other political parties. They are organizing for a cause and against the system. For once they are not talking about ‘chalta hai’ syndrome. You need to be as blind and ignorant as Prakash Javdekar to not realize that. They fail to realize that it’s a fight against them also. A fight against the entire political system, against red-tapism, against bureaucracy.

Personally, I am not too sure if keeping this fight only to achieve a strong Lokpal bill will really help the root cause of eradicating corruption from all levels. There are Lokayukta’s in some states, Chief Vigilance commission, Enforcement Directorate, CAG and few other offices and officers for more or less ensuring a corruption free state. All are failing miserably. It doesn’t look that another parallel office, however strong it is, would change things drastically. The need is to enlarge the ambit of this movement. Why just Jan Lokpal? Why not against the corruption in Judiciary? Why not for the electoral reforms?

Its been 35 years since people took to streets. So we all know how difficult it is to unite people for a social cause. JP’s movement was more about agitating against the then ruling government. They wanted to get rid of it. And when they finally succeeded, they had no clue what to do next. Janta Party was a disaster. This should not meet the same fate.

Indian needs reforms. And they need them badly. Reforms in every stream. Be it economic reforms, political reforms, judicial reforms, electoral reforms or constitutional reforms. I hope that this movement won’t stop with just another Bureaucrat above the rest.