Their cause was always clear: fighting corruption. And now their target too is in focus: the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre. As the 2014 general election draws near, the movement of civil society groups against corruption is turning into an electoral battle. When Team Anna announced its intention to enter practical politics and challenge all hitherto existing parties, the campaign for a Lokpal to eliminate corruption was effectively scaled up to a fight for political power. Not to be left behind, Baba Ramdev, whose original agenda was the repatriation of black money, began another agitation in New Delhi and declared an “all-out war” on the Congress. The Bharatiya Janata Party, far from leading the fight against the Congress, has lined up behind the yoga guru, seeking his approval in the guise of offering support. Indeed, among those hanging on to the Baba’s angavastram are some parties not exactly known for their commitment to probity in public life. Even the BJP, whose leader L.K. Advani was among the first to make the case for repatriation of black money at every available public forum, is tailing the Baba on this issue now. All of this despite growing evidence that popular support for Anna and Ramdev is nowhere near what it was earlier. Clearly, the BJP is low on confidence and is looking for every available crutch in the run-up to the general election. Unable to convert the public disaffection with the ruling establishment to its own advantage, and conscious of the limited purchase the Ram Mandir and Hindutva planks can offer, the BJP seems ready to court Ramdev for whatever he is worth. But this is a risky strategy. Although the sangh parivar did mobilise numbers for Ramdev’s agitation, if and when the flag-waving movement snowballs into a major political protest, the BJP might not be the one in control.
With Team Anna and Baba Ramdev going political, the Congress might feel vindicated in having stopped engaging the civil society groups in the drafting of an effective Lokpal Bill. But it would be suicidal to dismiss the growing public disenchantment with the corruption-laden governance system as politically-inspired from beginning to end. In the absence of a counter-strategy, and meaningful steps on the ground to reassure voters that corruption is being tackled effectively, the UPA could well turn into a lightning rod for public anger. But although corruption is a serious issue with great public resonance, there is no saying how it would play out in an election. With the BJP and its allies yielding the opposition space to sundry outfits, and many claimants for the leadership role in the campaign against corruption, all those votes cast in anger might not fall any one way.
Keywords: anti-corruption movement, black money issue, UPA 2, UPA government, Baba Ramdev protest, Team Anna, Anna Hazare, Anna Hazare party, Jan Lokpal, Lokpal bill, civil society protest
A corrupt UPA does not results into a saintly NDA. At best now we have
certain alternatives to look out in 2014. Political aspirations if any,
should be respected and accommodated, if that brings any good along with
it. Success and failure of this third front opening up in Indian
political setup will be a crucial factor in drafting history of
democracy in our great Nation.
@Gayathri:
Plurality of unprincipled parties leads to difficulties in governing.
But, it seems, governance is so bad and the usual democratic checks
and balances so distorted today that only the plurality of parties is
providing any brake from the country descending into a deeper mess of
lack of rule of law, under-performing economy, serious erosion of
social/civilised values damaging the nation and the people (current
and future generations).
No country can prosper for long, when a section of society can carry
on plundering the nation or extracting bribes from the citizens WITH
IMPUNITY! This cancer needs to be cut out and the body healed, fast,
or else the patient may die (ie the country and society will go
backwards).
Is it time for the citizens to start discussing ways of tackling the
problem (rather than just philosophically debating the issues) to root
out corruption of democratic systems (incl. elections) and financial
corruption leading to social decay and moral debasement?
The UPA govt lost its sincerity of purpose and patriotism when it did
not act on Lokpal bill when it had ample opportunity for acting fast and
decisively.Now when Anna and his team have sought a political-and
effective -route there should be no complaint or criticism
"Outsourcing Vote-catching"! No title could be more appropriate than
this to describe the way BJP attempts to catch voters through Team Anna
und Mr. Ramdev.
There was nothing wrong in Anna or Ramdev taking political route as they were challenged by Congress leaders themselves to go to people and get endorsement. Democracy allows that and your paper need not pamper UPA and criticise BJP forthat. Even SP, BSP or BJD are supporting the issue on which UPA has not until today presented an action plan to bring back black money to the Nation in 100 days as promised by PM himself in 2004
what rubbish? so what if the movement against corruption is supported by NDA? what does the author mean when he says that the congress may feel vindicated in not engaging the civil society groups when they turned political? does he mean the govt should only listen when agitations are by apolitical formations? what is the role of the opposition in this democracy then? when they engage in agitations over various issues, should the govt not talk with them because they are politically inspired?
Your editorial is an well-written one. Even after our attainment of
65 years of Independence, We, are yet to free ourselves from unending
corruption that has deeply entrenched into our executive and judicial
system (albeit on a low scale). No union government , till date, has
been able to mitigate the corruption to a manageable proportion. The
main political parties viz., Congress and BJP has never thought of
controlling corruption seriously. On the other hand, these parties
have in a most contemptuous way, aided and abated the corruption
network to serve their political interest.
Lovely editorial. I feel that if regional parties lose a lot of their
clout and we can elect a single party to majority, then the country
will see strong legislation and reforms.
When Congress through its different faces like Ambika soni, Digvijay Singh, Sheila Dikshit, Kapil Sibbal etc. says that they (Team Anna/Ramdev) have got political ambition and they knew it from start of all these agitation (of course they are very omniscient excluding present economic and social condition of nation and sporadic terror attacks and vandalism I want to ask congress and other parties that what according to them is political ambition and what are their political ambitions (is it usurping tax payers hard earned money by unimaginable faces and tact of corruption). If a person irrespective of Anna or Ramdev or even a common man for that matter keeps political ambition for a secure, corruption free, economically strong and secular INDIA, what is harm in that. I feel every true Indian has got such type of ambitions....
Will Anna and his team be able to field 540 candidates all over India, in 2014? They should make it as a test case and see how far the electorate is worried about corruption issue. They certainly need money to fight the elections. Even to go by the stipulated minimum, they will need anywhere between 50 and 100 crores. This apart, they cannot merely carry on with the slogan of rooting out corruption at the top level.Forget about it. It is all going to die without a whisper.
Editor has meticulously intertwined democracy,votes and techniques to gather votes. But the reality in India is that pillars of democracy are functioning with least efficiency to the detriment of one and all. Remember, India is the largest mass of democracy and not the greatest democracy.
corruption has entrenched itself firmly in the indian society.all the political parties of the day are busy filling their coffers and what matters to them is hold of power.for this they make use of every available oppurtunity.take for instance the nda alliance.instead of putting up a tough fight against the corruption by its deeds it is cashing in on the popularity of yoga guru ramdev.the upa govt during whose reign the biggest scams of all have surfaced are busy blaming the opposition and whosoever goes against them.it is time for our leaders to behave responsibly towards the nation and live upto the expectations of the people who have elected them.on this independence day our leaders should pledge to rise above their vested interests and fight unitedly and whole heartedly against this monster of corrution.
UPA, with its vast sources thanks to multiple mega scams,is capable of
'forming' a govt in 2014.'Operation 2014' is already in full swing.
CBI,an ally which has no demand,is solidly under its command. A
seasoned congressman is ensconced in the Rastrapathi Bhavan.Allocation
of funds can be a source to win new friends.Even if congress is routed
in a state[e.g UP],the regional parties in the state can be 'arm
twisted'.A magic wand called secularism[not the one commended in the
constitution] can get the support from 'leftists'.Once back in
power,it will be the same story. Only the people[neither BJP nor Baba
Ramdev/Anna] can change the corrupt regime.
why r u putting a relevant issue as a political party issue? if NDA or
BJP is supporting the issue who is stopping other parties like
congress to give their voice for movement. we all know politics is not
always idealistic.
but except bjp and allies other parties are afraid of people awakening. what else u hear to know while a so called "future prime
minister" is aptly called the corrupt and listed in the criminals who
steal the Indian wealth and put it in the Swiss banks.
why don't u people debate on this ?
Congress is not a party that is devoted to Indian cause. Infact all of
them and their allies are a bunch of selfish people those have no
national pride .
i often wonder why my countryman never understand this basic thing
that who he have the emotion for his motherland or fatherland will
never do the harm to it.
and u can see who is with nation and who is against.
The reason we did not hear about corruption in high places immediately
wafter the independent was the men who were elected to rule were of
unquestionable honesty and probity.corruption began ruling the roost
when venal people got elected to power.Therefore we need election eforms
first.only men of character should get elected and we should explore the
ways and means to do it first.vote bank politics must go.perhaps we
should dispense with the present system of westminister pattern and go
for Amerocan model
It is not the time of independence, when people at power cared for the
INDIA and shed their own blood for the sake of nation.Their slogan was
"VANDE MATARAM". Even at that time, struggle for freedom from
Britishers had taken 1857 to 1947, close to 100 years.The advantage
that time was they were outsiders and we had to throw them out of our
nation.
Contrary to this,it is the time when people at power can shed blood to
stick to their seats, Now their slogan is :"Let NATION GO TO HELL" .
Termites eating our nation are citizens of our own country, members of
our own families, living and eating with us.So, these people cannot be
thrown out of the country, but a feeling needs to be inflicted in them
towards their nation.
No rule of law is going to eradicate corruption flowing in the blood
of people from common man to highest positions of state.
It is difficult to find out what you are trying to convey in your editorial. Should political parties remain idle when popular discontent get vocalized through democratic methods?
It has been clearly demonstrated that in elections corruption takes a
back seat and the ill gotten money by politicians is used to buy votes
and win elections.Unless the people at large take a firm resolve
against corrupt practices and avoid taking or giving favours on
considerations other than merit,the road to success is far away.It is
sad but true that even after sixty five years of independence majority
of the people are not fully informed and mortgage their political
rights foregoing economic opportunities.Most of the schemes of
freebies for aam admi have been sources of corruption at the expense
these hapless groups rendering them poverty stricken in perpetuity.
It is not mathematics , apply a formula - get the result. All these
movements, even India's independendence movement had it's turning
points , strategies, scientific explorations, wars between nations
also like that, there is no straight path for many things. Everyone
accepts the ills prevailing today - solution, no one knows; prisons
are supposed to correct wrong doers - in practice? People who are in
Power only will be blamed in democracies for the ills - if they cannot
correct things, who else can? What is expected from rulers, political
parties? Any movement, parties including elected representatives will
have people with different background, motives and so on.Anna's
movement has created the awareness. Even some media relentlessly
highlighted Bofers issue - result, Rajiv Gandhi lost -nothing more.
For most of the people in this country Baba Ramdev is shadow to BJP
(NDA), either it is true or not, because of his Hindutva background.
Anna teams support to Baba, making people to rethink about the Anna's
intentions to fight against next general elections. Yes, there is a
need to support people who are fighting for common purpose, however,
from a common man stand point it is leading to unnecessary confusion.
If Baba's intentions are to fight against corruption, he better
support Anna and their team. All these are leading to dilution of the
movement. Entire globe kneenly observed Anna's movement one year back,
but things got changed from there just because of all this.
Its 66 years still we are not able to provide basic necessities to
major chunk of our population. We all moved like a wave when Anna team
started the strugle, where all that went? Recoup your energies,
support the cause, irrespective of who is leading it at that movement.
Let our leaders feel heat and responsible.
There are no Saints in our political parties.One way of spreading money to Indians is not to select the same party but another one who can enjoy the money out of corruption.This is the only way to spread "Socialism" in India.
It is good we thiniking again and again about wide spreading coruption even in high level political leaders as well as the bureacratic in the eve of Freedom days. currution is a blood cancer of nations progress. It should be treat well in a time bond. But how? Who can lead? which medicine priscribed for it. Any chance the 'patient' become normal after the treatment?
We living in a democratic system which the most good ruling method in experiance. This democratic system is strongly want to the interaction of the people with thier political leaders. The people or the members should controled their leaders and their decisions. every second they must introgate their own leaders in their localities. It is very sad that the majority of people living in a century back and their leaders enjoy it.
Clearly anti-corruption fight is so last-season and therefore all media
outlets including The Hindu seem to have switched to pushing the
government strategy of discrediting the movement. Hopefully, better
sense will return.
This editorial presents less than justified arguments of the government
without questioning them.
Congress claims that since it had the divine wisdom to see that Anna
and Ramdev were headed for the political arena, they didn't want to
negotiate with them. Now, I haven't seen this editorial or other
reporters that have turned cool to the anti-corruption movement ask the
basic questions: a) Isn't it the expected response from people when
those democratically elected leaders refuse to respect the mood of the
country? b) OK, let's accept that excuse this time around. What
happened for the last 40 years?
Is this the State of the Nation, 65 years after independence??
(i) All the political parties know that vote buying, vote-banks,
unholy-alliances of splintered parties and horse-trading of elected
Representatives (if all else fails), will ensure that no new party can
easily break their stranglehold; and they have huge ‘vote buying war
chests’!
(ii) No party wants to curb corruption or do anything about black
money. All parties toy with citizens’ hopes in Parliament, and keep
confusing them with false arguments about
democracy/Constitution/Parliament etc (no elected Representative is
authorised to plunder the nation!), or asking the citizens to
eradicate corruption by raising their own moral standards, while the
politicians continue looting!
(iii) Some political parties have already put in their bid for a share
of any “anti-corruption vote bank”. Will the ruling parties take the
wind out of their sail by enacting some ineffective anti-corruption
legislation just prior to the election?
'Outsourcing vote-catching" is an apt and timely editorial to caution the warring poitical groups, NDA and UPA - the former ready to lend support to the Anna and Baba groups in their eagerness to get their mass support base swelled before the next general elections and the latter wrongly concluding that the movements against corruption launched by the two have fizzled out - about the risks that lie ahead
if they blindly opt to go ahead with their intended crafty moves in this regard.The end to Baba Ramdev's fast has turned out to be more or less identical to the end to Anna Hazare's fast, both finally declaring their determination to politically defeat the Congress. While the Congress party cannot afford to be complacent in the matter of eliminating corruption, the BJP too cannot afford to throw caution to winds and opt to align with any group just because it is inimical towards Congress.
Both of these movements have been suicidal for the fact they turned
party political from an apolitical start. But let's not forget to change
the system, we need the legislature to perform with integrity first and
then executive and judiciary. In upcoming elections if they can increase
voter turn to near 100%, it will be a big boost, but without actually
participating.
After all politics for power and not for doing good to the public.
Corruption has emotional factor.Even the corrupt will not tolerate corruption because others should not. There is no system to prevent and cure.Every one knows that this can not be corrected by governance.The slogan is a product readily available for no price in Indian market particularly during election period. It is like a box office hit cinema where neither the hero nor the villain is actually hit.But we enjoy it.They catch the real people for the purpose.The policy product is not available with parties and out sourcing emotional product for their business.Alas the UPA partners are also jumping into this foray for power soon. After all Coalition and out sourcing are order of the day under liberalized environment in the market oriented politics. we want popularity to enjoy knowing practically they are not for it so far and so done..The gap between the political parties and the public is filled up by outsourcing.
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