Following in Gandhi’s footsteps

Anna Hazare is demanding an end to corruption and his words have resonated with Indians across the board.

As I wrote this, an amazing protest movement was taking place across India. In Delhi, more than 50,000 people were gathered in the heart of the town at the Jantar Mantar observatory. They were joined by hundreds of thousands of people in cities and small towns across India: Mumbai, Ludhiana, Kolkata, Madurai, Bangalore… A petition on the internet supporting the agitation gathered over 250,000 signatures in two days; everywhere there were songs, candlelight marches, people of all colours and classes and a tremendous sense of solidarity.

At the heart of the agitation is one man, slight, in his seventies, a Gandhian and someone who has been consistent in his demands for years. Perhaps the last of the Gandhians, Anna Hazare — along with a dedicated team of supporters and volunteers — is demanding an end to corruption and his words and his call to action have resonated with Indians across the board.

Anna Hazare was on a fast unto death — a tactic and strategy that went out, some might say, with Gandhi, and that no longer has the moral force to move governments or people. And yet, this time it has — people were camping with Anna, as he is affectionately called, they were fasting with him, they were singing with him, and even he seemed surprised at the strength of the response.

Anna’s agitation is demanding the introduction of a piece of legislation that allows citizens’ committees to be formed to judge cases of corruption, from the lowest to the highest levels, right up to the prime minister. He calls this legislation the Jan Lok Pal Bill. The government, too, has one such legislation on the table — introduced as long ago as 1966, the Lok Pal Bill lacks the teeth of the people’s version and it has been fiercely criticised for protecting corrupt politicians.

In informed circles there is considerable discussion on the two bills, and a large number of progressive people, including some members of the National Advisory Council, do not agree with some aspects of the Jan Lok Pal Bill, although they are fully in agreement with its spirit. In a democracy, they ask, can a body be created — and who will create such a body, who will be on it — that has the power to supersede the judiciary? Can a body be created that can hold even the prime minister t0 task, perhaps forcing him to reveal state secrets or to compromise on security aspects? If such a body is supreme and has power over all other democratic institutions — and yet it is not an elected body — how can it be said to be representing the people? And moreover, while tackling corruption at every level is both necessary and imperative, surely the passing of a law will not in itself root out a problem that is so endemic.

Many of Anna’s supporters, and indeed people in his own team, agree with some of these questions and have many of their own. Arvind Kejriwal, an activist who is well known for his use of the Right to Information Act, has also said that in itself the law will not necessarily be adequate, that it will need to be accompanied by police reforms, reform of the judiciary and many other kinds of reforms.

There’s no doubt there are many questions, but there is no denying that Anna’s campaign has struck a chord and it is this that will sustain it. The maximum that can be hoped for is that both parties agree on the principle of having a Lok Pal Bill to address corruption and they form a body to go into the drafting of a revised Bill. Anna’s fast came to an end on Saturday, April 9, after the government issued a gazette notification constituting a 10-member Joint Committee of ministers and civil society activists, including him, to draft an effective Lok Pal Bill.

It’s also clear that this will not in itself change a great deal, but importantly, it will acknowledge that corruption exists and that we need mechanisms to address it. The momentum to go further, to refuse to give bribes, to report those asking for them, will have to come from the people — and if their response to Anna Hazare’s call is anything to go by, they’re more than ready to address this issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th,  2011.