Thank God T N Seshan is back in the game again. And I daresay thanks again to a frail 74-yr old man's fasting protest against the high-handedness of the might government of today, because of whom Seshan's legendary crusade against the corrupt ways of the Govt finally found some relevance once again today - enough to draw him out of his slumber and enter battlefield! To put it slightly crudely (with no office really meant) the least I could say is that the intensity of this movement has at least made him shake his booty and come back to where he always belonged – in the center of the action, making all politicians shake in their boots!
I admit that I am no less a (to borrow someone else’s quote) “fawning cheerleader” of Seshan as I am to Anna, even if their methods and views about the current impasse differ, with one reposing more faith in the Indian Parliament than the other. I am sure with Seshan's version of the Lokpal draft, in which he claims may exist be the seed of the "game changing" idea that Rahul Gandhi unleashed upon all of us in Parliamentary in a historic "zero-hour" statement he read out to the lower house of parliament today, will be another enthralling piece of legislative document and will have all the ingredients for a great debate in parliament! I would really be keen to hear what he has to say about institutionalizing the Lokpal in our wounded country, within the ambits of the "parliamentary democracy" he fawns about.
I have not, however, yet found a convincing answer to my question about what has been so unparliamentary about Anna's protest demanding the Govt to listen to what a huge section of the Indian society, which he articulated through his unique and effective way of protest!
Except for the fact that he is insisting and urging Parliament to take up the issue immediately and not dilly-dally, his "my way or the highway" demand, for the ignited mind, will always come across as sensible posturing for purpose of negotiations, like the trader who quotes above the selling price to leave room for negotiations and bargaining. I am not sure why his critics (all of them very very intelligent people, I'll be the first to admit) have jumped the gun in accusing him of subverting the constitutional provisions, so narrowly being interpreted by the very class of people who subvert it day in and day out!
It is evident why that Anna and the others on his team have never categorically said that they have already legislated the law and all parliament has to do is pass it. All they have rather asked for always is for parliament to adopt a motion so that it is discussed in either the parliament or the standing committee. With five versions of the Lokpal bill now (Govt, Anna, Aruna, JP, and now Seshan), the government never need to be at a loss of options and workarounds to bring forth a very powerful and effective independent, constitutional anti-corruption watchdog at both the center and state levels. If the immediate need is to adopt an intermediate Lokpal through a statutory act, the Govt has all the powers provisioned for in the constitution to repeal it when the multi-dimensional constitutional body is finally adopted through the constitutional amendment. It just needs a political will and a very very strong leadership to action it! Strange thing is that suggestions for such a body has been in the present in the corridors of the parliament for years now, but knowing the resultant effect such a body could have on the ways and means of our incorrigible political masters, nobody had even tried to attempt to articulate it and bring it to parliament. Anna's ways may not have found supporters among his critics, but no one would deny this person's complete submission to the mission on purging this country of its greatest evil, at the root of any and all other issue of whatever magnitude that has, have, or will ever befall this nation.
The "gun to the head of constitutional processes, thus desecrating or belittling supremacy of parliament" argument is such a transparent and convincing conspiracy theory resorted to by the Govt's henchmen, possibly to garner support across the political brotherhood in an attempt to administer among them the code of Omertà ! What irony!
Even if Anna doesn't get what he has fasted for for the past 12 days, his very very high moral authority over the issue will lay a permanent siege on the mental state of our thick-skinned parliamentarians. That... in itself compares to what a naked Indian fakir became for a far more conscientious and principled adversary about 70 years or so ago! And this modern day's freshly minted saint (to quote another of my pet peeves, Ms Arundhati Roy) stature to my mind goes even higher when I look at the adversaries HE has stood up against today - wily, shrewd, cunning, conscience-less, CORRUPT, and most important - they can wear masks of the kind no British could ever have manufactured.
If any of us had the guts, including me and my audience here (not sure I have any though, ha ha), we would have been leading this movement against the corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, lawyers and judges of our country, the so-called 3 pillars of our democracy, instead of Anna Hazare who has risen from a distant and little known Ralegaon Sidhi, being just 7th class pass with a humble 12 years job experience as a army driver in 9th Maratha Light Infantry during the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak Wars.
The fact is that we all know what all things are incorrect around us, yet we prefer to toe the same line to our benefit and comfort and lack the courage to take the tyrant head-on. The least we can do is to join the crusader who is showing courage to bell the cat. And if a crusader was ever concerned of the negative consequences, he would never have been called a crusader; he would then have been an ordinary scum of the earth just like many of us and you, taking sides to suit our interests and comforts.
It’s high time that we start developing a backbone now else the world would begin treating us and such others like all other spineless reptiles.
Indranil, you're the same young Indranil we all love!!
ReplyDeleteMy small hope, though it's almost dying, is that he didn't use that opportunity to explain about his stance to the people of India yesterday. Anyway, the solution for the current people's demand must be found by UPA government team, Team Anna & opposition groups and that is the procedure he respects. So, what he did yesterday was to declare his long-term future battle against timid, anachronistic, self-centered politicians presented there, raising the idea of promoting Lokpal as a constituent agency, that everyone knew for the last 40 years but they were too timid to discuss about.
I know my idea is too idealistic, but, I also want to be the same young guy we used to. Anyway, we have to learn a lot from and change ourselves by this precious opportunity.