Tuesday 20 December 2011

Politics - The Anna factor in India today

Anna - charismatic or enigmatic. The way Anna's campaign has captured the imagination of one and all is astounding. True, it all started off with corruption in high offices, the corruption which was brought to the forefront and rightly so, and no one is defending that.The Courts' will take care of that. Off late, Anna's movement has started showing strains of what it really aims at, it has now become absolutely apparent, that it is purely a political movement aimed at discrediting the government of the day, making it look weak in the eyes of the people at large.

When the movement of Anna took off, corruption was at it's nadir, the government was on the back foot, both inside and outside Parliament. It was being attacked on every move they made, their actions were suspect in the eyes of the people, and they had lost credibility. Perfect stage set for Anna to come in, and motivate the people against the corrupt practices highlighted in the media and elsewhere. The people just lapped it up, it was as if a Messiah had descended on the earth, a second Christ's coming, who would clean up the government, remove corruption and save them from the small day to day problems of corruption which they faced. Most of this corruption was related to ration cards, and delay in passports, small bribes to be paid for petty work to be done. Tax refunds and so on and so forth. The people were actually looking for an authority which could reduce these day-to-day problems of corruption if not totally extinguish it. Helped by generous followers of various groups, the methods adopted by Anna were an instant hit with the masses. His fasting for days together captured the imagination of the public, bringing back memories of Gandhi against the colonial rule, and the revolution had truly begun. The Government of the day made matters easier for Anna by making him a martyr overnight, by arresting him, and thereafter following the public outcry, by releasing him inside the jail premises. Anna made full use of the God send opportunity by sitting on a dharna in side the room of the top cops  in jail itself, and refused to leave till martyrdom was fully attained. Period. So far so good.

The Government was galvanized into action, what followed was a flurry of activity on the part of the government. A team was hastily created with half of the members of the Anna team being inducted for the drafting of the Lokpal Bill. The bill which was finally prepared was not acceptable to team Anna and what followed thereafter was another battle between Anna and the government, which saw the government buckling before Anna's demands. The entire opposition along with the government and joined by the Speaker made a frenzied appeal to Anna to call off his fast and a strong Lokpal Bill was promised. As part of its promise, the government formulated a standing committee which held a series of meetings and thrashed out the Lokpal bill threadbare. The bill as prepared by the standing committee, was circulated and again comments were invited from team Anna. Based on feedbacks, some changes were proposed and again the bill was prepared accordingly. At the last moment however the government preferred to re draft certain portions of the bill, giving the impression that the government was again buckling in to pressure.

The bill which has now been made ready after a lot of deliberations, is ready to be presented in Parliament. Anna has however made his intentions clear to boycott the bill, and to start a relay fast for three days and thereafter intensify the agitation and move on to the States where the polls are being held in early part of the next year. Intention has now been made clear by Anna, that they will campaign against the Congress,( a fear expressed earlier by many Congress leaders),in these coming elections. This move will directly benefit all the other parties especially the BJP, but will definitely go against the Congress. The ultimate plan has also been unveiled today that in the national elections to be held in 2014, they will campaign for the removal of the Congress party. The hidden agenda is thus out in the open, and events have proved what the Congress has all along been saying that Anna has the backing of BJP and its associate parties like the RSS and Shiv Sena.

The Congress party which has been trying its best to appease Anna and his team before the elections begin has found all its hopes dashed. It should understand that the agenda of opposition parties is only one fold, the removal of Congress from power. It is therefore very important that the legislation as planned by the Congress party and its policies are put before the people as well as Parliament. Let the people decide whether the ultimate objective of what the Congress party promised in its manifesto when it came to power, has been fulfilled or not. The BJP has been successful in fighting a hidden agenda by standing behind Anna and letting him throw muck at the Congress party. So far this tactic seemed to have worked. Now it is up to the Congress to appear to be honest and sincere in its efforts towards the people. Since Anna is banking upon the people to support his campaign against the Congress, it now becomes imperative for the Congress party to unveil its grand plans for team Anna as well as expose the hidden agenda which they have been following all along. You can fool some people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time. The Congress party should now educate the people of this country on the gameplan being followed by the principal opposition party through Anna and his team. So outside Parliament, it is game plan Anna, and inside Parliament we see that all important legislations are being blocked by the opposition and a sense of insecurity and chaos is sought to be created in the country. In this power game being played by these parties, the economy of the country continues to suffer, and that is the main reason why the production level  has also gone down. Hope the Congress will negate the ill effects being generated from this fight between the opposition and the ruling party, and give the country a sense of déjà vu, a sense of prosperity which it badly needs, and clear the mess that has been created as a result of this fight. Cheers !

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