View from India: Anna And The Power of One

by Parvathi

In a sense, independent India came of age last week. I am talking of Anna Hazare's fast unto death spearheading the campaign against corruption. After 90 hours Anna broke his fast, as the government issued a gazette notification to draft an effective Lokpal Bill. The government did not know what it was that hit them. Right there on the eve of the general elections, the vox populi seemed definitely threatening. No way in hell could the present government avoid issuing the notification. They were damned anyway, and wasn't there something good old Dante said about the way to hell being paved with good intentions? I am not trying to be clever by half, just that it looks as though our very venerable Prime Minister and his men personally scripted and acted out their endgame. The writing was on the wall.

Anna's fast precipitated the simmering discontent and anger against corruption rampant in every aspect of everyday life in India. So much had it become part of local color, that the not so informed and educated, spoke resignedly of it being the the matrix itself. This after sixty years of hard won independence? A crying shame to say the least.

When I needed a death certificate for my father, the cryptic answer I got from the tehsildar's office was, that as my father passed away in America. I would get the certificate if I coughed up INR 7,000! Oh yes, we then bargained and brought it down to a more user friendly INR 5,000, but less than that they would not budge. The reason for such behaviour? Well, it sits on vertical thinking: if my parents had the money to holiday in the United States, my mother could definitely come up with the five thousand. Had my father died in India, we might have had to pay just a paltry whatever it is you pay for a death certificate. And this is just the benign face of the malignancy that has grown so huge, we literally cannot not see it!

Anna targeted this. And better, the youth rose as one with him and therein lies the moral of the tale. The very young alone --- with their unclouded vision and their untarnished idealism --- can take a nation forward. At this point in India's history, what we desperately need is idealism in the face of a decadent and decrepit political system. Sixty years ago, one man galvanized the nation and took us forward into freedom and independence.

Like in the wonderfully allegorical Animal Farm, we now find ourselves submitting to the tyranny of the very people ( or parties) that rode us to freedom. "All animals are equal but some are more equal than others." This is not what Gandhi dreamed about or gave his life for. We stand among the rubble of moral authority, but there's hope yet, as I see it.

There's hope in the young of India, who have chosen to remain here and fight the bitter battles, not trade it in for creature comforts elsewhere. Anna's call was to the conscience of the nation, and the conscience answered with a roaring cry that echoed in the corridors of power and frightened the power mongers. We are still alive and kicking, people, we care about this country never mind how bedeviled it may be. We still have dreams, we need the young to inherit our dreams, and "We shall overcome......."

My comment: Applies to us here in America as well.