Reading a tweet from a well known and responsible senior journalist made me think deeper into the less ordinary life of the so-called middle class hero whose selfless service elevates his stature above that of an ordinary man. While it is unanimously accepted that India needs educated leaders to lead the country, when a responsible, learned and worthy person advocates that media will do disservice by showing Anna as a Mahatma, not only the traits of the leader who unified the country for a noble common cause are questioned but the middle class fraternity is also sympathized for ever remaining the same merciful middle class.
Apart from Cricket or perhaps a New Year celebration, any other joyful occasion when India is truly unified, irrespective of demographical, geographical or communal bias, is hard to find. Unlike political rallies in which people camouflage as volunteers either for free meals or for some induced causes, multiple rallies across the nation supporting Anna witnessed true volunteers with causes of their own. Corruption in India has become so pervasive that its tentacles have grappled even the most revered institutions. It has seeped into the social culture and is affecting umpteen masses. No wonder Rajiv Gandhi once bemoaned that ‘Out of every 100 crore allocated to an anti-poverty project only Rs 15 crore reach the people. The remainder is gabbled up by middlemen, power brokers, contractors, and the corrupt’.
While people talk about corruption reaching monstrous dimensions among public servants, individuals are no less different. Recall Harshad Mehta, Ketan Parikh and now the case of Hasan Ali, the examples are only those few who couldn’t cope with lying below the surface. The more recent 2G scam appears as Public-Private Partnership. Corruption is not only a powerful inhibitor to economic progress of the country but also a moral issue which if addressed maturely will ease the economic prosperity and might also help in narrowing the rich and the poor divide. The stand that Anna has taken and the conviction that he has shown in his endeavors have aroused the nation leading to a new movement. People, media, bureaucrats, politicians and many more have positively acknowledged both Anna and his movement. If the motive is that imposing, the person behind needs an hats off and no surprises if some compare him with more notable personalities whom the history has witnessed.
Campaigning for a bill is only a fledgling step into a mass movement. True success cannot be ensured until the Indian mindset accepts it as a moral responsibility not to indulge in any act of bribe irrespective of its magnitude. This is something very difficult to accomplish. However, well begun is half done. Anna’s power to mobilize the public may partially be accounted to impactful digital social media. The more prominent factor that has propelled Anna to marshal the nation for various social causes, frighten the power goons and shake the government, is perhaps because he has nobody in his family to cry for him. Otherwise, a plebeian is more concerned about his family, his daily wages and thus by choice opts out of contributing to these social causes. Nevertheless, it is the plebeian who either suffers the most from corruption or indirectly contributes significantly in aiding this epidemic. Not to forget, the power of masses endures forever. Until the so called middle class or a common service man bursts out of its cocoon and espouses Anna’s cause without condoning, the wishful success is still a distance away!!!
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