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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Bombay HC experience to serve well for Team Anna that never took no for an answer by Dhananjay Mahapatra

Bombay HC experience to serve well for Team Anna that never took no for an answer by Dhananjay Mahapatra

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published Published on Dec 29, 2011   modified Modified on Dec 29, 2011

India Against Corruption' spearheaded by Anna Hazare achieved spectacular success in harnessing public anger against corruption and converted it into perceived movement to drive home the seriousness behind their demand for Lokpal.

Anna's 97-hour-long fast at Jantar Mantar in April forced the polity and political parties to admit the need for urgent legislative measures to assuage the public, who had now found a perfect icon in Anna to vent their frustration being haunted in every walk of life by the shadow of corruption for years.

Immediate acceptance of their demand by the political class, at least in principle, emboldened Team Anna to display and use their version of the integrity scale on politicians. If Karl Marx had said 'religion is the opium of people', then 'anti-corruption' became the religion for most urban Anna followers, who had personally experienced that things seldom moved in the government offices without greasing of palms.

When the "Lokpal now and this instant" idea was selling like hot cakes among the "I am Anna" cap-wearing followers, the government was striving hard to find ways and means to defer the issue in the name of meaningful debate, both in public and in Parliament.

Frustrated by the dilly-dallying, Anna fasted again in August. His 288-hour-long fast in

Delhi's Ramlila Maidan drew unprecedented support, which scared the government to fast track drafting of the Lokpal Bill.

The bending of a strong Union government further emboldened Team Anna, which unabashedly demanded "our version of Lokpal Bill". Till now, things were not so difficult. Anna Hazare and his associates -Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan - had smart acumen and credentials far better than politicians.

Putting to good use their combative oratory, they generously hued speeches with patriotism to make the followers believe that the 'Lokpal' messiah was about to incarnate itself to defeat the 'corruption' demon. No one dare question the movement, as the Team Anna called it. If one did, then he ran the risk of being branded as unpatriotic and corrupt.

Buoyed by their success story, they started calling the politicians names and the elected representatives as the "bonded labour' of the party high command. Except for a few Digvijay Singhs, no one took them on public platform. This was mainly because any talk against corruption was always on a moral high ground, the ladder to which was lost by the politicians long ago.

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011, has not met Team Anna's approval. The debate on the Bill in Parliament, even before it had begun, was discarded as meaningless. To exert pressure on the government to respect their version of Lokpal, Team Anna had planned agitation ahead of tabling of the Bill in Parliament. Delhi's biting winter necessitated change of venue to Mumbai, which was more comforting.

Team Anna could choose any venue for any number of days. It had the money as donations between April and October had crossed Rs 2.5 crore. It also announced that there was a queue of donors who were ready to pitch in for hiring any ground in Mumbai for any number of days. But, someone in Team Anna thought it was pointless to spend money when the venue would be allotted on the askance in the name of their anti-corruption agitation.

The Maharashtra government surprised Team Anna by refusing to allow the use of MMRDA's Bandra-Kurla Complex ground for free. It dented the Team's attitude born out of the heady cocktail of success and popularity.

They moved the Bombay High Court convinced that if the administration did not see reason behind their request, then the HC would show them who was right. When that happens, it would confer judicially determined legitimacy to their struggle against corruption, they thought.

The HC said no to their request and rightly so. How could the judiciary have decided which organization be given rent free venue and who should be charged at what rate? A division bench of the HC asked tougher questions about the mode and manner of agitation. But, its decision was the first "no" that the Team Anna had to take in its stride.

The Team Anna baiters need not rejoice over the HC verdict. The Anna followers need not take it to heart. The HC experience will tell Team Anna that not every one at every point of time would agree with its views and that they should take criticism or disagreement as an expression of personal conviction.

The Times of India, 26 December, 2011, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-12-26/india/30558748_1_team-anna-lokpal-bill-arvind-kejriwal


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