Anna - the idea and the execution

We Indians are doing our very best to emulate the freedom fighters from Middle East and trying to grab our share of freedom from our government. The government - which operates under the definition of "by the people, of the people and for the people" - is returning the favor by doing their very best to not succumb to the demands of the very people that they represent.


I did not expect the government to lay down at the first poke and accede to every single demand of the people - that would be akin to a kid agreeing to not eat candy just because the parents are asking not to. But I am more surprised that there are lot of people who are hand-in-glove with the government and are opposing this movement tooth and nail. A very good example of this resistance is this interview by Karan Thapar





From my extensive experience of "Devil's Advocate" series, I have come to know Karan Thapar as someone who mistreats his guests with a barrage of allegations without giving them a chance to respond. If someone is smart enough to give it back, he is prompt to leap to the next allegation and drop the previous topic as a hot potato. Here Karan Thapar plays the quintessential Karan Thapar to the hilt, doing just what he does every single time, and runs out of time when the guests have their answers ready. What is unclear from the confrontation though, is why Karan is being so pro-government and anti-reform.


And Karan is not the only one. I know at least 5 other friends / acquaintances who do not like / support the movement. Some of them do not like the idea, few other do not believe that the idea will work and the others like the idea but not the execution. I have heard counter-arguments like -- 
1 - This is a unconstitutional way of demonstrating and registering your protest
2 - What is the guarantee that vesting more powers, powerful enough to override the government in a council, will not create a Frankenstein monster, bigger than one that we are dealing with one right now?
3 - Why such haste and adamancy in a particular format of the bill?


There have been some ridiculous counter arguments as well like -- 
1 - From Dalit groups -- This protest stinks of pro-bramhinism. This will stop reservations for us.
2 - From Muslim groups -- This protest stinks of pro-hinduism. This will stop reservations for us.


Probably, a very good indicator of the insecurities in their minds and how crippled these groups are going to be without these crutches.


To all these groups, I have just 1 question - do they acknowledge that corruption is the biggest termite infesting hollow the bark of this country? If they do not accept it, then it means that they are a part of the corrupt brigade and are worried abt their future when, and if, corruption is eradicated. And if they do acknowledge, then as long as the idea is good, the execution does not matter.



The current cause has been the most peaceful one, probably since the candle light march after 26/11, and a mighty testament to this was the march in Mumbai on Sunday. So much, that the cops did not even have a bandobast (vigil) for this march. They were so confident that stone-pelting and burning of property will not happen that the cops did not even think it was necessary to oversee this march.


Having said that, no revolution is devoid of blood, no revolution has ever been achieved purely by the might of the pen. There has been a sword or a dagger lurking beneath the cloak of the pen wielding writer. And every revolution has been tainted by the red of the blood as much as the blue of the ink.


And if this revolution taints a few cloaks with the blue of the ink and the red of the blood, the blue and the red will look very pretty on the background of the green, white, saffron tricolor.