Thursday, June 16, 2011

Will The Real Anna Hazares Please Stand Up?


India, today, is faced with one of history’s most baffling paradoxes. All the right people, at this point, are proposing all the wrong answers; and all the wrong ones, the right! I simply must explain further, because India’s identity as a real democracy might hinge on the actions we initiate as a nation today.

India, the largest democracy of the world, has today, woken up to the more than unfortunate truth, that most components of its democratic apparatus are, alas, corrupt! And those that are straight, are mere pawns of the corrupt! This puppet democracy, led by the feeble, fumbling though honest Dr. Manmohan Singh, is floundering in pain, and the balm is nowhere to be found.

Enter Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal and their crusader kin, or the group I like to call ‘The Means Justify The End’ club. Let me explain – this is a group that represents a section of the Indian Public, and at the risk of sounding bigoted, I say the ‘sensible’ section. It is effectively in the process of using blackmail as a means of pushing through authored legislation on behalf of what it claims is the public at large – and unfortunately, I believe the government to be right in refuting these claims.

A wise soul once said – A democracy is governed by the government it deserves. Translated, this would read – If people have the cheek to elect the uneducated, irrational and corrupt to power, or people with such orientation, they deserve to live as per the legislations of exactly such a government! Which is exactly what has happened at this point: today, India is governed by a Congress-led coalition, probably the most embarrassing the nation has seen in a while. What is more, a ‘large’ section of India’s population has now even realised this for a fact. Astounding is merely the fact, that in spite of this realization, the country cannot muster a set of politicians who can overthrow these corrupt ruling forces, notwithstanding the massive anti-incumbency and hence, the ‘citizen groups’ of this country are forced to revolt thus.

It was a proud day when India’s constitution was written, and it is an equally disgraceful time today, when India’s educated class, the very citizenry that is expected to understand and respect the ideals of this document, is forced to go against the very same ideals in order to reinforce the very government the constitution gave birth to.

It remains a fact that Team Anna represents but a positive, forward thinking segment of India, which probably holds the key to the creation of some quick, successful and stellar legislation which could potentially impact this nation for decades to come – but then, on the other hand, this country does not really deserve legislation developed by these great minds, until the point where they can be elected to office and constitute the Parliament – the true ‘representative section’ of the Indian Public, as deemed by the Constitution that we hold holy.

This can only put one question before all of us – Will the real Anna Hazares please stand up?