Opinion
|
|
|
| | BETWEEN THE LINE: Politics of a people’s movement in India | | | It is not the first time that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has disclosed the government’s involvement in a scam. What is disconcerting this time is that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has been accused of keeping the CAG report on coal bungling — running into Rs1.45 trillion (Dh96.63 billion) — from parliament.
Dr Singh told parliament on May 23 this year that the CAG report was only a draft. It has, however, come to light that the final report was received on May 11, both by the government and the president’s office. It means that there is nothing, even parliamentary privileges, that is sacrosanct to the Congress-led coalition, much less transparency in governance that one expected from a government headed by Dr Singh.
The government is only a forwarding agency as far as reports by the CAG are concerned. He reports directly to parliament through the government as he did in the coal scandal, a portfolio directly under the prime minister. How he rationalises the delay — he is a master at doing so — is something I await. Yet the corruption part is really serious. Certain private parties and individuals are said to have been given benefits. They must have rendered service in cash and kind to the ruling party.
The sad part is that when a movement against corruption is needed the most, Gandhian Anna Hazare changed his strategy with an eye on contesting elections in 2014. Although he looked reluctant and expressed doubts in public, he seemed to have been prevailed upon by those who have always focused on electoral politics. Some of them may well be members of the team which Hazare has now disbanded.
Yet abandoning a movement which had come to ventilate the resentment of civil society is leaving a job half done. True, the government was obtrusive and did not want to create a strong Lokpal (ombudsman). Equally true, the opposition parties were indifferent. This is all the more reason why the movement for a Lokpal needed to be intensified.
The failing health of some members who went on a fast was one reason why the movement had to be restructured. In fact, fasts are a wrong strategy to begin with. Mahatma Gandhi’s fasts were never against anybody. He was always positive in his demands and that was why he was successful in wresting freedom from the unwilling hands of the British.
With no immediate challenge to corruption, the government has blessed the move of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) not to appeal against the rejection of the disproportionate assets case against former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati. She has reportedly amassed wealth of Rs1.16 billion since 2003. Her 21 votes in the Lok Sabha are important for Dr Singh’s government to show a majority in parliament.
And it seems obvious that the Congress-led ruling alliance will last the rest of its term, roughly 22 months, even if it has to play foul.
Indeed, this is the best time for Anna to enter the political field. But can a party rise from the ashes of a movement which swept the intelligentsia off its feet and had kept the media focused for 18 months? In concrete terms, the movement has nothing to show. But the awakening of civil society is itself an achievement of sorts.
Whether Anna can convert the awakening process into a voting process is yet to be seen? One thing which is in his favour is that he is being associated with an alternative to the Congress and the BJP, the two main political parties. People generally want a change and don’t want either of these political parties at the helm again.
Gandhian Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) was forced into a similar situation. He accepted the Jana Sangh, the BJP’s predecessor, after the party promised him to sever ties with the RSS. He was betrayed, but in the process the Jana Sangh gained the credibility of a non-communal setup.
Anna faces a similar situation with Baba Ramdev, who wants his support. Secularism and parochialism do not mix. JP made the mistake and parochial forces gained from it. Anna should not traverse the same path. He has to stand alone when Baba Ramdev and his musclemen try to make a united stand. Their culture is different and civil society is not willing to accept them.
The mantle of JP has fallen on Anna. But JP travelled throughout India to awaken people to the need for an alternative and to defeat the rulers who have mutilated the very system to serve their purpose and sustain the status quo which gives them power and unfettered control.
I am not against Anna contesting elections. He himself is having second thoughts. Yet it would have been far better if he had held wider consultations with activists like Medha Patkar and Aruna Roy. Such consultations took place before Anna began the movement against corruption. He must string together the various movements, however small, which are visibly working at the grassroots. These activists will provide grist to the mill of change that Anna is contemplating.
Maybe a political platform instead of a party may serve a wider purpose. Some can work with the people’s movements and some contest elections. They will help each other and together they will be a force to reckon with. Mahatma Gandhi had separated constructive workers from those engaged in the legislative field.
JP did not form the party until after he won at the polls. Yet he saw to it that his candidates fought on one symbol. What proved to be his Achilles heal was the wrong candidates he chose. They were not the people to effect changes. They used the system to benefit themselves.
Then JP’s health failed and he could not reach out to the people. Anna should be careful about his health and slowly but relentlessly harness support among those close associates who have the commitment and faith in basic values. He should take his time, but he cannot afford to fail again. Politics is not bad. Those who dominate it have given it a bad name. |
|
|
|
|
Comment on this Story |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|