Slinging scribbles

The news about Anna Hazare’s desire to float a political party caught fire as quickly as his decision to disband the core committee. This, just after the latter’s call out to the public to decide upon the party candidates. Within just few days after officially announcing his entry into politics, the anti-corruption crusader blogged , “We’re stopping the activities of Team Anna today. It was formed to fight for Jan Lokpal… Now people have asked us to leave fasting and give a political alternative.” The recent comment from Hazare has yet again, made the differences within the 25 member committee quite apparent. An ignorant Kiran Bedi expressed her disappointment over the move on Twitter with a tweet, “Read Anna’s blog. Do not know what all it means? For we all had very useful preparatory meeting with Annaji wherein he gave useful guidance!”To come up with such an important decision without informing its members makes one wonder if there are enough voices in the...

All this talk of the Jan Lokpal Bill capable of eradicating corruption seems ludicrous. It is easy to initiate a change in the system but difficult to adopt it. Even if Anna Hazare succeeds in bringing the Lokpal Bill into the force, it is difficult to expect too much from it. Especially, in a country like India where the government is run by a mute President, an equally silent Prime Minister and his Council of ministers who are nothing but a pack of cards governed by the Gandhis. Corruption, since long, has been instrumental in destroying the functioning mechanism of a country. Needless to say, it is a disease and the Lokpal bill with all its benefits seems weak to counter it. Interestingly, the problem, in this case, is not the Bill but the mindsets of the people. Despite having elections at regular intervals, one rarely knows the person who is contesting in his ward. By voting for the same party for years, it seems, as though, each person is carrying his legacy. Although, n...