By John D Jayakumar
The first flag waving phase of “I am Anna” has ended. Mr. Hazare would not get his ‘Jan Lokpal’ Bill passed within the time frame he was adamant about at the beginning. Nor did he get the resolution he hoped for from the Parliament. There are significant constitutional difficulties with regard to some of his proposals. Still his movement
did make the nation stand and stare for a time being, did make the Parliament, the political animals and the paper tiger of a government, behave as they should. Yes our people are not gluttons, they are happy to have won few token promises. They do not need much to be hopeful. Some sincere words would do and with little give, they are willing to allow the powers to be a big take away.
Mr. Hazare has said that it is not enough to wear the ersatz cap and believe you will turn out to be the real McCoy. It is absolutely necessary to subscribe in principle at least to Mr. Hazare’s FIVE POINT proposal for good living. The man who became the elder brother for the whole nation has no illusions. He understands that we cannot become full votaries of his principles all at once. As he said he will be happy that we take the initial unsteady steps, faltering steps, but towards the right direction, towards honest living, towards goodness. As adman Parsoon said ‘Goodness’ is not a passé. We need to aim at absolute values.. ‘if we don’t leap for the stars, then what are dreams for’
If ‘Adarsh’ torched, 26/11 burnt Vilasrao Deshmukh could reach out and still touch base with Hazare, IITian Kejriwal need not have become so hard of face and bereft of hope so quickly and so very often. And eminently reasonable Bedi need not have lost her cool at the precise moment that it was needed most. Can they say with the common man, ‘I am Anna’. I have my doubts. The difference between Kejriwal and his ‘guru’ Aruna Roy (NCPRI group as a whole more mature and measured in their arguments) was very evident. He is not ready to listen to other points since he thinks he has enough arguments for all. He is afraid they will queer his (‘HIS’ is the operative word) pitch. He plans too much ahead and gets fidgety visualizing the enormity of his project and about achieving anything concrete in this ‘sub chalta hai’ society. On the flippant side, he has a very poor dress sense too (Prashant B with his natty ‘Ts’ should have given him some lessons), where as the clean cut Mrs. Roy is arresting in her looks and lines. Kejriwal wielded a broadsword trying to bludgeon the opposition which also had equally clever and hard heads and then, crying himself hoarse when that failed, while the rapier thrust of Mrs. Roy was telling. The guru could still teach the chela a thing or two it looked. Ms. Roy was almost brushed aside by both Justice Hegde and Medha Patkar as ‘Johnny come lately’, yet the validity of her group’s reasoned arguments cannot be given a rough ‘heave to’.
I don’t think Mr. Kapil Sibal would want to wear the iconic ‘I am Anna’ cap even for a minute. In the first half of the game it was the bull of a Sibal who got stampeded, but the second half scatter brain works must surely belong to the queen of the Tees hazari….some one towed away her apple cart it seemed like.
So no cap for Ms. Bedi…If it is left to me, I won’t mind presenting a cap each to Arun Jaitley and Salman Khurshid. After Jaitley’s presentation in the Rajya sabha, I don’t think he fits sobriquet ‘smart aleck’ which a doyen of Indian Journalism fitted him with.
Salman Khurshid was steadfast in his defence of the government and its policies. He had the right word and the composure to stand up even when all others were seen to be blown away.
The spunk of Vinod Mishra, stoutly defending his country, its democratic traditions and constitutional underpinnings which visibly impressed young man like Gaurav Bakshi, makes him a worthy recipient of ‘I am Anna’ cap. The Younger parliamentarians too can aspire for the title, ‘I am Anna’ in the way they have conducted themselves.
So after getting ourselves decked with tricolours and caps what do we do next. Make sure this idea is not killed off either by too little or too much involvement. How do you kill an idea? By simplifying it and taking its significance out. Pronouncing statements like McCaulay’s ‘every school boy knows it’ or ‘Any body with a modicum of common sense can find out’. But common sense is not common and what is ‘elementary’ is grasped only after much prodding and difficulty. Don’t sleep and let some one rip us off. Don’t let anybody destroy our Constitution.
Some like Mussolini could destroy it even from with in it. Other way of destroying the dream is by biting more than you can chew. You can end up with a mouthful of feathers from your pillow. Don’t do what the mountain climbers call as ‘spread eagling it’- by grasping too much. You are spread out so much on the mountain face that you don’t have power in the legs to push or in the arms to pull. It is OK to broad base your reform movement or open a diversionary front, but you cannot fight like Napoleon or Hitler on too many fronts and not lose the war 28th August, the day Anna Hazare chose to suspend his fast was a Sunday, I am sure it was carefully chosen to get more mileage out of the skirmish he won against the government. For Christians all over the world, it was a Sunday with a special focus on the Cross. The one who carried it said “If anyone wants to be my follower, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me’ One of the persecuted Dangi Christians of Gujarat said “Friends joke that I adore a helpless, naked deity but I find immense strength in him.’ A Gandhian who follows the ideals of a ‘half naked fakir’ has proved on that day the value of renunciation and TYAG, of being hard on himself while willing to offer even to the marginally repentant a face saving solution. If I can do it even in a little way, then ‘I am ANNA’ too! (The writer is former Head of Mass Communication Department, St Anthony’s College)