Anna Hazare is back in Ramlila Maidan with his Anti Corruption crusade but his Lokpal agitation has few takers
- In Politics
- 08:59 AM, Mar 23, 2018
- Shridutt Gaitonde
When Anna Hazare had begun his movement to push for the Lokpal bill, he seemingly had united the country. Televisions turned crazy and the social media became a platform for the youth to support with a bubbling enthusiasm. The agitation struck a chord with the people and bursting crowds at Jantar Mantar became our version of the Arab Spring. Finally after much assurance from the UPA that time, the agitation ended and raised the stature of Anna Hazare.
Although, the Lokpal movement turned out to be an opportunity for the common man to vent his fury, the end result was different. The movement churned new leaders and political parties who promised to give an alternative form of governance. With the advent of time, nothing really changed on the ground and newly emerged parties also became too main stream. The demanded version of the Lokpal bill went into cold storage and poor clones of such agitations failed to inspire the nation.
Recently, Anna Hazare made a scathing attack on the Modi govt and is planning to re launch his call for the original version of the Lokpal. In the midst of this process, he has verbally abused the Modi govt and accused it of not thinking about the farmers and added that they only care for the industrialists. He criticized policies such as demonetization or GST and is planning to launch yet another peaceful agitation. Will Anna succeed in re creating the Lokpal agitation? Or has the movement outdated itself with a changing political scenario on the ground?
Firstly, last time when the Lokpal movement had happened, it was too productive to culture such an agitation. It was UPA’s second term and its disastrous monumental scams were out in the open. Scandals such as 2G or commonwealth were widely discussed in the public domain. Owing to this backdrop, the movement could channelize that anger amongst the masses against the ruling dispensation. The movement gave a legitimate reason to fight as the graft issues were increasing by the day. Contrasting it with today, the Modi govt has fairly been clean. There has been no emergence of even a single scam in the Modi cabinet. The credibility deficit which was during the UPA years has been restored by the Modi govt. This may result in not many people really supporting or coming on the streets to protest.
Secondly, the Anna movement was wholly supported tactfully by the opposition that time. Those who were seen with Anna Hazare then are in the govt today. If opposition in the form of the Congress or even somebody like Mamata Banarjee joins the podium, it may reduce the seriousness and credibility of the proposed protest. If RJD chief Laloo Yadav’s son is seen sharing the dias with Anna, it will certainly become a mockery rather than a fight against corruption. This fundamental difference as to who supported the movement then and now will have a bearing on its outcome and success.
Thirdly, the coterie surrounding Anna and some proponents of the last Lokpal movement had hijacked the event. This spilled on to the emergence of a political party such as AAP. Although, the party did proclaim to showcase alternative polity away from the mainstream, with the advent of time, it became just like any other political party. It’s imperative to understand that such forums of revolutions have been used as tools of opportunism for vested interests. Arvind Kejriwal did it and so did somebody unsuccessfully like Swami Agnivesh. Perhaps, this outcome in the previous edition of the movement may too have a bearing on the new edition. Opportunistic leaders who want to make a niche in polity may use it and so the movement beforehand just may lose its sheen.
Fourthly, Anna Hazare has been unnecessarily quite vocal against the ruling dispensation. Even if we say he is exercising his right to criticize a popular leader like PM Modi, he is trying to balance it out or find an alternative by lavishly praising leaders such as Mamata Banarjee. Her party, the TMC has been accused of facilitating mega scams like Rose valley and Sharada chit fund. So when Anna decided to put her on a higher moral pedestal, it definitely dented his overall scheme of analyzing things. As a matter of fact, if leaders like Mamata use this agitation to fire upon the Modi govt, it may just result in the movement becoming nothing more than the opposition’s gallery.
Lastly, the timing of the Anna movement in 2010-2011 was apt and it happened during the climate of rampant distrust against the ruling UPA. It also coincided with the Arab spring in the Middle East which was a fountain for new age democracy movements in the region. The timing now is misplaced as the new Modi administration is being relatively clean and the atmosphere is no where similar to what it was in 2010-11. On the contrary, all opposition is ganged up against Modi and is in the midst of making a front. If Anna starts a new agitation, new front opportunists like Chandrababu Naidu may use it to stitch alliances and will set the stage to mount the battle for 2019.
It is important to note that Anna Hazare may be harboring good intentions to pass something like the Lokpal bill. But if its interspersed with the objective of just criticizing the ruling dispensation, then the agitation is bound to suffer or fail. Anna needs to gauge the mood of the nation. During the end of UPA years, there was tremendous disappointment amongst the masses. After Modi government has assumed power, the seething discontent has been replaced by hope. Even the emergence of fraud like PNB scam had its roots in the UPA. It would be interesting to see if Anna Hazare is able to garner a similar spectacular response. Will the agitation make a lot of noise as it did last time or will it be a damp squib this time around?
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