By Barnes L Mawrie
The Jan Lok Pal Movement led by Anna Hazare has become the biggest civil movement since the Quit India Movement led by Mahatma Gandhi against the British colonial authority. Every day the movement is gaining strength both in terms of number and intensity. I fully endorse a civil movement of this sort especially when it is for a noble cause, namely, to rid our beloved country of corruption. Corruption has been a major hurdle in the development of our nation. Corruption has blunted the edge of law and justice and it has ruined the future of every citizen. Corruption has deepened the caste and class systems in our country because the advantaged group continues to grow richer and powerful while the disadvantaged group continues in its downward sliding. Corruption is truly the woodworm that eats into our national well being. If countries like Germany and Japan have been able to reach such present super-development within a period of six decades after their total destruction brought in by World War II, it is chiefly because these countries are not infected by corruption on such a scale as we see it in India. Six decades have gone by since our independence yet our country has lagged behind in development. The Jan Lok Pal movement demonstrates that the people of India have opened their eyes to the stark reality that they encounter in their day to day life. The younger generation in particular is quite apprehensive about the present state of affairs. They see a bleak future for themselves within the present corrupt system. This is the reason why young people have come out in large numbers to support this movement.
However, there are issues of national concern when we look at this civil movement from another perspective. Civil movements like the French Revolution of 1789 or the present Arab revolutions, are movements against monarchy or autocracy which are very legitimate struggles in view of the fundamental human rights. However, a civil movement like the Jan Lok Pal is a movement against a legitimate democratic government mandated by the people of India themselves. In this regard, the Jan Lok Pal Movement can become a destabilizing factor in the country that is already quite fragile. As of now this movement with its eccentric demands and conditions, is paradoxically “digging the ground under our very own feet”. There has to be a give and take between the government and the Hazare group in order to end this impasse. Such mass movements cannot go on indefinitely without affecting the law and order situation and the development of the country. Arrogance on both sides is not a healthy attitude. An acceptable and effective MoU must be achieved soon or else we are turning the clock of development backward. I fear that if such mass movements continue indefinitely, one day it may turn ugly. After all human beings are human beings and the youth are always hot blooded and prone to overreaction, so we will not be surprised to hear of violence and arson in the near future. It is enough to have a handful of mischief mongers in the group in order to kindle the fire of violence. Another negative side effect of this movement is the politicization of it by certain political groups especially the BJP. When politics enters in, even the most genuine cause like the Jan Lok Pal Movement becomes murky and less credible. In India this is the greatest curse we have to live with, whereby everything does not escape the meddling hand of politics. As of now, the Jan Lok Pal Movement has become an issue of convenience for the NDA to launch its attack against the UPA government. Thus the Jan Lok Pal Movement has given way to a fight within a fight, an agenda within an agenda.
Finally, I would like to draw the attention of intelligent and reasonable citizens, to the Post Jan Lok Pal Movement. If the Bill would be passed by the parliament, what guarantee do we have that corruption would be rooted out from our system. Let us not forget that corrupt persons always have a way of getting around the law. Corruption is a perverse attitude, a habitual behaviour learnt by an individual within a system in a society. We may speak of a corrupt system in India, but de facto, individual citizens (politicians, bureaucrats or plebiscites), are the ones who constitute the system. Therefore trying to control the system with laws and preventions is an idealistic approach to solving the problem. Until and unless each individual citizen of India decides to change his/her attitude and behaviour once and for all and assume more civic sense, ten more Lok Pal Bills would do no good. It is here that another civil movement is needed, a movement towards a “Civic education” in every Indian family, educational institution and religion.
If citizens in western countries are more conscious about justice, equality and common welfare, it is not because of any draconian law against corruption, but basically because they are educated from their early childhood to acquire such civic virtues. Christianity has played a major role in the moral formation of the people’s conscience in the west. Therefore, the maxim of Gandhiji “be the change you want to see in others” is very apt for every Indian citizen. If every Indian citizen decides today to live a righteous life, if every couple decides to bring up their children in ethical values, if every school, college and university decides to make civic and moral education an important part of its curriculum and if every religion (Hindu ashrams, Muslim madrasas and Christian churches) decides to take moral formation as its mission, then we would not need any Jan Lok Pal movement at all.
Corruption is a resident evil within the human mind and heart and therefore to end corruption we need a radical change of the person and not merely of the system. We need to support such a genuine movement like the Jan Lok Pal but let us not get obsessed with it so as to forget to look deep into our inner being. The Jan Lok Pal Movement will be successful and fruitful only if every Indian puts to himself/herself this question: “what can I personally do to end corruption?” If such a question is sincerely responded then the answer is “I need to change myself”. If all Indians were to answer to this inner call, then together “we can make a change”. Jai Hind.
(The writer is a social science researcher and a Catholic priest)