I am AGAINST Anna; I am against corruption.

We are in the midst of a revolution this monsoon. Either you are part of it, wearing an ‘I am Anna’ Toppi, or you are corrupt! Is it really so? At a time when disagreeing with team Anna is tantamount to treason, punishable with instant lynching, I stick my neck out in the hope that somewhere out there, some people still have some balance to read a contrarian view.

Nobody, not even the builders & the politicians, deny that along with the arithmetic growth of  India’s GDP, Corruption has grown exponentially,   may be keeping pace with the Fibonacci series. If Thomas Malthus would have been an Indian and alive today he might have been forced to modify his Malthusian crisis (Population grows exponentially but Food supply grows arithmetically).

Any agitation against the devil of corruption is fully justified. But where is the devil? Who feeds this devil so that it grows catastrophically? Is the devil outside or is it within?  Right from School admissions to jumping traffic signals to avoiding temple crowds we have institutionalized greasing. The point is whether the Indian middle class perpetually striving to get richer and more powerful and thus gain entry to the elite group, really want a end of corruption ( Nagarajan Chelliah, Is the Middle class really ready for Lokpal?, DNA, 25/08/2011, http://epaper.dnaindia.com/epapermain.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=14&boxid=30575450&parentid=147975&eddate=08/25/2011  ) And who is the real culprit? According to Law both the ‘Giver’ and the ‘Taker’ are equally guilty. Is that somebody, who made 2500000000, plus or minus few zeroes the culprit, or the person thinking that “uskae zero mere zero sa jyada kyu hai?”  The real villain!

 Our paradoxes are difficult to understand. While we remove our footwear outside whenever we enter our home /temple, we don’t mind spitting Beteel juice in Public places. Even the images of our gods can’t prevent us from reliving in Public places (Yahaa Pisab karna Mana Hai!). While there are one set of rules for all others, there are different or no rules for us. But what can you expect from the ‘Am Admi’ when their Heroes/ Idols/ Gods follow similar principals.  Our God is ‘Such’ that he want exemption from Tax for his Ferrari, our –dev’ is so ‘Ram- that he owns islands in the Caribbean.

Let’s leave aside this moral preaching. Since corruption has grown exponentially, whoever is committing it, there should be a law to stop it.But is there no laws in India now that punish the corrupt? India is one of the most corrupt nations not because it doesn’t have enough regulatory bodies to catch the thief in fact it has too many points of bureaucratic and political power that are lucrative check posts for the corrupt. And now we demand the addition of a supremely autonomous ombudsman, the Lokpal, to fight corruption. Creating an unaccountable ombudsman who will sit in judgment over everyone including the Parliament & the Judiciary will add another check post for the corrupt. Fighting corruption should mean fewer cheeckposts, not more. (Gautam Adhikari, Fasting as Democracy decays, Times of India, 25/08/2011,http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2011/08/25&PageLabel=18&EntityId=Ar01800&ViewMode=HTML.)

It is argued that strong anti corruption laws will act as a deterrent. However the experience with capital punishment doesn’t give much hope to this argument.  (Madhukeshwar Desai, Why I don’t support Anna Hazare, DNA 25/08/2011 http://epaper.dnaindia.com/epapermain.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=14&boxid=30568256&parentid=147975&eddate=08/25/2011).

 Walk into any urban middleclass home at tea time and you will have elders debating the problems our country faces and solving them before they are done with their evening chai. This chattering class needs to be taught the importance to go out and vote, the primacy of the political process, the importance of participation in public life, the significance of institution and institution building and how important it is to uphold constitutional morality – the rule of law(Vaibhav Purandare, Mumbai Matters - August Kranti? Shanti, Shanti, Hindustan Times, 21/08/201,http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/PUBLICATIONS/HT/HM/2011/08/21/ArticleHtmls/Mumbai-Matters-August-Kranti-Shanti-Shanti-21082011015001.shtml?Mode=1).

Citizens have rallied behind the deceptive ‘shortcut’ in the fight against corruption and have ‘outsourced’ the same to the firm of Team Anna. 24 hours television has gleefully packaged this ‘reality show’, providing a perfect cathartic experience to a pathologically passive civil society, to believe that they are actively participating in a historic struggle. Alas fight against corruption is not that easy. It takes no personal courage to join an anti-corruption rally. How many of us are ready to stand up and take a stand against everyday corruption that one comes across. (Salil Desai, A few questions for Anna worshippers, DNA, 22/08/2011, http://epaper.dnaindia.com/epapermain.aspx?edorsup=Main&queryed=9&querypage=13&boxid=30593382&parentid=147762&eddate=08/22/2011).

I have tremendous respect for the Indian Constitution and its authors. They were visionary. Even today when every south Indian is a Madrasi and a north Indian Punjabi, we shout “Bharat mata ki jai”. There might have been a Jarkhand or a Uttarakhand. There might be demands for Telangana. We might not see eye to eye with each other, but nobody demands a Telanganasthan or a Kerelasthan. Pakistan was formed not only for a religious identity but also because of the skepticism in the minds of its fathers about the concept of ‘One United India’. Thanks to our constitution we are having the last laugh. If the authors of the Indian Constitution deliberately kept the judiciary and the parliament out of public scrutiny they would have had valid reasons to do so.

A ‘Balgopal’ (oops Lokpal) will come and will relieve us of corruption! I am not sure of that. But a reincarnation of Mahatma Gandhi who ‘reteaches’ us Civic sense & ethics will surely revive us.

Is Anna’s campaign worthless then? Not at all. It has awakened a deep reservoir of discontent against corruption. This awakening needs to be channelized in the right direction. Instead of a ‘Top down approach” to attend ‘nirvana’ from corruption, what is needed is a bottom up approach. People are wearing Toppi’s pronouncing ‘I am Anna, I am against Corruption’. From the Toppi’s the message needs to percolate down into their spirit. This is a revolution following the Gandhian principles! After the Chauri Chaura violence Mahatma Gandhi withdrew the Non Cooperation movement saying the Nation is not ready for Independence. The question is are we ready today; Ready to be the change we desire to see in the world.