The first time I heard of a person called Anna Hazare was in April this year. Call me ignorant! But when the 73 year old announced his intention to sit on an indefinite Hunger Strike to coerce the Government into acting, he won my heart along with a million others. A lot has happened since then-Joint Drafting Committee, Another fast, some great debating in the parliament, Standing Committee & a lot of mudslinging in the public. Now, we have finally reached a stage when the Lokpal Bill can become a reality after nearly 48 years of having come to light. A lot still needs to be decided and the Government needs to get its act together but given the amount of public pressure, it would be a historic blunder to not fall in line.
Yes, Anyone who has even remotely followed this movement would be able to tell you that the Government has made several flip flops.They have made all attempts to subvert the credibity of the people behind the movement- be it the personal attacks by Mr Digvijay Singh(The less said the better) or be it the IT cases against Arvind Kejrival. Abhishek Manusinghvi could have done his father proud(who introduced the concept back in 1963) but instead, he decided to please his party leadership. The end result that the Standing Committee came up with was what some people like to call as "Jokepal."
But, is Government the only party who has made mistakes or rather, shown arrogance??
What about Team Anna or the NDA??
While the NDA & the Left have been saved because of them not being in power and like it is rightly said, only the party in power can pass a bill or make a law. But still, they have not let go of a single chance at Political Opportunism. A specific example that can be talked about here is the curious case of Sharad Yadav. He slammed Team Anna in the parliament, he fully supported them at Ramlila Maidan & then he changed his stance at the All-Party meeting. While Arun Jaitley & Sushma Swaraj got all the adulation for the wonderful speeches during the Lokpal Debate, they have also not taken a clear & specific stand till now.
Now, moving on to the biggest players in this game. I am, without doubt, talking about Team Anna. I admire the work done by the likes of Kiran Bedi & Arvind Kejriwal in their respective fields, and for mobilizing public opinion on the Lokpal Bill. But, at every step along the way, they have tried to tell the people of this country that the the representatives chosen by them are useless(some of them maybe, but not all). Remember Kiran Bedi's Dupatta act? I am no legal expert but I do tend to watch a lot of TV Debates and from what various experts say, their way in not the only way. Yet, "CBI under Lokpal" is the only solution according to them. The Government's proposition might be absurd, but there are other ways. And last, but not the least, is what my biggest problem with Team Anna is-Lokpal is the "cure-all" solution! A false hope has been developed among the people that an institution called Lokpal will eradicate corruption from this country. Yes, they haven't said it outright but that seems to be the theme. Most of the readers of the blog would know that is not the case. But, what about the common man on the street?
So, while the UPA Government at large or the Congress Party in specific maybe the biggest spoilers, who has "Rin ki Safedi?"
