Us and Them

Is your facebook and twitter feed exploding with Anna Hazare updates. Mine is. The extreme polarization in these updates truly motivates me to write this post. I never thought I would. Also, because, somewhere along the way, I stopped for a moment and realized that my initial responses to this  campaign was not completely rational. 

During the first phase of the Hazare campaign, I was terribly cynical. Facebook activism, I thought. "The middle class just needs a high." My judgemental mind made its set of condescending statements. (Baba Ramdev, still inspires that in me) But otherwise, during the second  phase, I think, I was getting tired of the other extreme that I saw in my twitter feeds. The complete disregard and disrespect for people who thought it was indeed their movement. That too, was facebook activism. Sitting in our comfort zone, and throwing stones at people who believed and acted on something that they thought was right. 

Having said that, I am not here to say that I support the campaign. 

My stand is, I support the possibility of any campaign and totally despise the threat that a people's movement can have. There are people on the streets. I may or may not agree with what they are asking for, but I will certainly support their right to voice their concerns and hold their representatives accountable for their commitments.

As I said before, the polarity tires me out. Hence this post. 

The kNOTs in the Hazare Campaign

1. The Jan Lokpal bill itself

That the bill is too  draconian by itself. That, while it tries to fight against the vested authority of the state, it assumes too much power by itself. I quote Tehelka, "It is too gargantuan; it centralises too much power in one institution; and it seeks to do too much. Several human rights and civil libertarian co-travellers have urged the Hazare team to achieve the same objectives through different means: most importantly, separate the oversight mechanism for the judiciary and grievance redressal from the Lokpal. The other contentious clause has been the inclusion of the prime minister under the Lokpal." One of criticism seems to be the grievance redressal powers of the Jan Lokpal. The suggestion has been to keep the bill restricted to anti-corruption alone. Moreover, the check on the Lok pal is said to be only the Supreme Court and not other structural mechanisms. I quote Shoma Chaudury, "The real trouble at the heart of the Jan Lokpal Bill as it was drafted by Anna Hazare’s team is that the structural changes it proposed relied heavily on a belief in the immaculate virtuousness of its champions. It deemed itself worthy of accruing immense, even unconstitutional, power because it believed itself to be incorruptible as individuals. Dangerously, personality had come to stand in for structure." 

2. Do it my way, and Do it NOW 

I guess, this is has been irritating, to say the least. Hazare started the August 16th fast with the "blackmail" that he would fast until death unless Parliament passed the Jan Lokpal Bill in this session and in its current form. That is where, powers of the parliament is being questioned and it is not democratic to  usurp the policy/law making role of the parliament that too by a self elected civil society body. Also, one cannot ask for a bill to be passed without a debate and it is not fair to say, "debate for 4 days and pass it" , as Prashant Bhushan seems to be saying. 

3. The politicians are bad people

The tone of the campaign is a little too distressing. For an apathetic middle class, pointing fingers at the politician comes easy. There have been ridiculous campaign emails going around, sometimes which even insults my intelligence. There is clearly a conscious strategy to vilify politicians. As a strategy, I think the Hazare team has used this to catch the imagination of the middle class and it was dot on target! However, in the larger scheme of things, it is short sighted to do that, considering that this legislation is only one small tool against corruption. 

4. Tall tall tall tall claims 

Pass the bill and corruption will reduce by 65%. Really?? This is just one piece of legislation. We should never forget that. This is one more weapon. It is not the end all of corruption. Such tall claims are just too misleading for a genuine campaign. Again, you insult my intelligence. There is no doubt, that there is the need for a strong anti corruption law, but that will not turn black into white in one day. The claim is complemented by the silence, my next point.

5. The Silence 

For me, this has been the rather uncomfortable part of the campaign. If the middle class has been terribly disturbed by the 2G scam, I wonder why there is complete silence regarding the other side of the corruption game - the corporates. The Hazare campaign and the people supporting the movement have maintained a convenient silence about that. I quote Prakash Karat , " If you look at the growth of corruption in the last two decades, you can see it basically stemming from the nature of the economic regime in our country — this big business-politicians-bureaucrat nexus. The nexus comes from the fact that you have a State, a government that facilitates the takeover of resources and assets by big business and formulates policies accordingly. In every major corruption scandal there are corporates behind it.If you look at it purely as a matter of the corruption of an individual minister or a bureaucrat, you are missing the woods for the trees. To tackle corruption in the legislative, executive and judicial arms of the State, you have to make changes in the political system and this economic regime. You can’t have policies that facilitate this loot."

I wonder, how the middle class would respond to this. We would not dare to restrict corporates, would we? We need them. We adore them. Our future, depends on them.

6. Moral high ground of the middle class 

We bribe. Somehow, in this campaign, there seems to be this complete washing off of our responsibility in this entire issue. The politicians want us to pay. Yes, they do. But dont we pay when we want an out of turn process. Dont we despise the wait? We want to speed up our papers, right? We want to run past that signal.We want to drink and drive. We dont want to wear that seat belt. For some time in life, lets take a good hard look at ourselves. 

Then, there is this criticism about people making this, a facebook activism. There are jokes on those who go for the rally, and put up photos on facebook. Well, in this case, I think, the cynic is the joker here. If they have taken the pains to be on the street, for something that they believe in, it does become their movement. It is equally undemocratic to say, "your protest is not deep."

7. Media that chooses its campaigns

The media has been widely criticized for choosing its battles as per what sells to the middle class. This is not the only protest in the country. Irom's protest is now talked about, only because of the obvious lack of space it has in the mainstream media. I dont expect that everyone should voice their concern for Irom, but the media certainly needs to do that, right? 

8. Who is associated with the campaign?

This is my biggest put off regarding the campaign. The day I saw religious leaders, RSS leaders on the stage with Hazare, alarm bells rang in my head. No way! I said. The last straw, was Hazare praising Modi.  Then I saw, Ram Jethmalani placing his commitment for the cause. Yes, the same Ram Jethmalani who was the attorney for Kani Mozhi, Manu Sharma, Ketan Parekh, Harshad Mehta. I feared the day, he would be the legal advisor for the Lokpal. 

Having said that, this article by Niveditha Menon, did make me think. "Any mass movement brings together disparate and sometimes  starkly contradictory tendencies.", she says. I cannot say it better, when she says, "Our problem is that our search for purity is all too often an expression of deep insecurity. A friend said to me recently, “But don’t you see, the RSS can piggyback on Anna Hazare’s movement?”  So why aren’t we piggybacking on it? What’s stopping us? The Hindu Right enters the movement against the Tehri dam, and promptly the Left forces move away, fearing pollution, leaving them a clear field. Another friend  calls this the saffronizing of the green – could it not, if ‘we’ continued to be present there, become the greening of saffron?"

I guess, this is not an easy one to answer. The religious forces in this country have sometimes gone beyond our imagination in terms of their influence on the Indian mind. All religion based violence, India has seen seems to be very straightforwardly ridiculous and yet, we have seen it. The fear, I think, is therefore genuine. 

Phew! This was not supposed to be an anti-Hazare post. I have something more to say!!!

The State is NOT a Saint 

1.  The Lokpal bill of the government

There have been sane voices in the media, which also point out the mal-intention of the government in the way, they have drafted the bill. I quote Tehelka 

• The Selection and removal process of the Lokpal is faulty, compromising its independence from the government 
• It creates provisions to penalise complainants for frivolous and vexatious complaints. This could lead to harassment of whistleblowers 
• It has no oversight mechanism for middle and lower bureaucracy 
• It has justifiably removed the higher judiciary from the ambit of the Lokpal. But the government makes no commitment for an effective Judicial Accountability and Standards Bill
• It has a faulty and inadequate grievance redressal mechanism 
• The bill does not even mention the need to protect whistleblowers 
• Its definition of corruption is limited in scope and coverage 
• It makes no provisions for the creation of state Lokayuktas. This is a huge lacunae, as it will require individual agitations in every state to push this through

2. The State can be non-responsive 

Lets not forget that. In the online media, the other side has now become this big protector and advocate for the state, completely forgetting that the state can be non-responsive too. If the media is criticized for not taking Irom's cause, so can the government be called to task. Why has Irom been fasting for ten years? Because the state refuses to engage. Why has the Maoist issue become this worse? Because the state refused to engage in dialogues and resorted to force. The state is no angel. If you think it was justifiable for the state to arrest Hazare for his campaign, however much you hate his methods, you are giving the state the power to curb any such campaign - and that includes people like Irom. The State went to fall at Baba Ramdev's feet, and responded to Hazare's demands ONLY because the camera was on them. If not, they would not. Therefore, while blaming the Hazare team for "blackmailing" the government with fast to death, you must realize that sometimes, the state will talk ONLY when such measures are resorted to. What is the right time for that measure, is a formula that every activist would love to learn!

2. Parliament should frame the bill, but sometimes, it just does not DO it

The biggest retort against the Hazare team has been that, they are taking the reigns of the parliament.  Suddenly, there is this new found respect for the power of the Parliament, that they are supposed to make the law. Great! But this bill has been pending for 42 years. The Lokpal Bill has been introduced in the Parliament eight times in the past four decades. Remember the Women's Reservation Bill? It is lying the Parliament for more than 13 years. It is quite clear why these two bills dont pass in the Parliament. One is about holding themselves accountable and the other is about sharing power. There is certainly conflict of interest in both cases. It does sound ironical to see that those alleged with the crime are given the responsibility to design accountability mechanisms to curb it. Obviously 42 years! Lets not be naive. There are crooks in the Parliament. By the way, while I was researching on Ram Jethmalani, I realized that he was a Minister for three times! So, whether I wanted it  or not, instead of being legal advisor, he could very well be the decision maker!

3. Civil Society has a role to play

We do follow a decentralized governance  mechanism. It is true that it does not work the way it was meant to be, but hey, our democracy is designed for civil society interventions. The Gram Sabha in the village, is the highest form of civil society intervention. We are supposed to have a say in policies of this country. To say, that the parliament will make the laws, does not mean that we have no role. Ideally, we should be playing the role of the Hazare team for every single activity in our municipality and panchayat. 

Then, the second question is about whether this team of civil society has been elected and whether it represents us or not. Maybe, it was not elected. But most certainly, the people on the streets who came to the Ram Lila Maidan, do think, Hazare represents them. Karan Thapar did say, that only "45%" of the people have heard about the bill, but last I remember, the voter turn out in Mumbai was around 40% for the municipal elections. Dont latch on to that one - i am just trying my hand on punch lines! The common man in Tamil Nadu did press the button and to vote out the corrupt DMK this time. So, yes. Democracy works! 

But the point is, it is the ostrich phenomenon to say, that the Hazare campaign does not represent anyone or that it is a middle class "cheap thrill" mechanism. 

I quote again from Niveditha, "He collapses all support to Hazare as emanating from the elite middle classes of the gated colonies with an exaggerated sense of their own entitlements. But what I see both on TV and around me in Delhi, is the outnumbering of those middle-classes by a sort of aspirational lower-middle-class-to-working class population, some of whom may sometimes go to KFC as a treat, but certainly not those with whom we would have a drink or engage with socially.............But there are also workers (auto drivers, dabbawalas, railway workers of MP).... Chandrabhan Prasad derisively said on a TV panel – where are the Dalits in that movement? And one girl in the studio audience stood up and said, ‘I’m Dalit, and there are many of us out there."

Finally, the ONLY reason the government is paying attention to this movement, is because it represents people and is afraid of losing power!

4. Complacency of UPA II

I borrow this point from a friend of mine. We have heard our prime minister moan about the banes of coalition politics many a time. Seriously, thats our problem??? You are our Prime Minister. Thats your job! Although, we would like to say that all politicians are corrupt, its not the complete truth. Many of our  politicians in our mainstream parties are not corrupt (no allegations) - Manmohan Singh, A K Anthony, Kapil Sibal, Narendra Modi, Pranab Mukherjee, A K Advani and most of the politicians in the Left parties. (Religious fanaticism is not corruption.) However, the same cannot be said of the current coalition partners of the Congress today. Lalu Prasad Yadav, Amar Singh and the DMK have been known for their corrupt practices. We cannot expect them to hold the government accountable in their governance. Neither can we expect the congress to take immediate action, when these coalition partners are corrupt. The corrupt will have to be given space in the cabinet and be made ministers even when they are known to be corrupt. It is highly possible that the UPA  turns complacent in this comfort zone of corrupt partners. Thus, there is a clear role for public uprising to make them uncomfortable. Ideally the opposition should be playing that role. But BJP has been silenced by its own dear Yeddy boy! Well, then who can play that role? Our parliamentarians only represent us. It does not mean, we dont have a voice. We could also hold the government accountable. 

While the Lokpal Bill is not the be all and end all of corruption, this movement is most certainly an opportunity to question the norm. While the Hazare campaign has been often termed as a middle class entertainment, corruption is an issue that affects all classes of society as Niveditha says, "

"This movement is centrally about corruption, and corruption touches every single life in India. It touches the labourers whose muster rolls are faked, it touches the agricultural worker whose NREGA payment is swallowed up, it touches every poor undertrial and prisoner in jail on trumped up charges (was it surprising then, that the undertrials in Tihar fasted in solidarity with Anna?), it touches the farmer whose land is seized to be passed on to corporates, an issue mentioned by Anna Hazare in his speech at Ramlila Maidan (kisanon ki zameen zabardasti chheeni ja rahi hai)....And you tell me there is “no mention of poverty” in this movement?"

The polarity in this debate has been distressing. The hate campaigns at both sides are working  strategically in terms of gaining momentum but most certainly lack vision. This is high time, to step back and take some constructive steps

"Instead of demonizing the bill Anna Hazare group and campaign, it [govt] should have understood that the JLB has critiques from extremely well meanning and thinking individuals from witihin the civil society itself. So in good faith, it should have broadened this debate. It can still do so. It can invite a much larger discussion on both drafts of the bill... The government's draft of the bill is an extremely bad intentioned and badly drafted  bill and the Anna Hazare team is right to be angry. But because there own bill is faulty , he govt should be inviting a much larger debate on both drafts of the bill so that  at the end, what this campaign will achieve is an exytremly well argued, rationalized piece of legislation which accomplishes the aims. And what are the  aims? It is to be able to curb corruption by creating oversight mechanisms that are transparent, have no conflict of interest and have  teeth. But that which is not centralized by itself. It is fairly easy to come up with such  law like that if this debate happens in a less polarized and less angry environment. Today the initiative for that  lies squarely in the govt.'s court and not necessarily in the Anna Hazare team, because it is for the govt to take the initiative and I hope in the days to come, that is what the govt will do."

If you reached till here, I'll let you enjoy this brilliant song from Pink Floyd - Us and Them

Always feels great to let it cool with Floyd :)

Me, and you
God only knows it's not what we would choose to do

....

Black and Blue
And who knows which is which and who is who

Up and Down
And in the end it's only round and round and round
Haven't you heard it's a battle of words