The Contra view

An article by Karan Bedi.

What Anna Hazare is trying to achieve with his protest is, in the long run, very harmful for the country. Protesting against corruption in itself is, of course, not wrong and should even be encouraged, but what Hazare is trying to do is influence the working of a democraticallyelected government and the due process of law-making by what is essentially blackmail. The constitution of this country clearly lays down a number of safeguards, processes and institutions that are designed to deal with all these issues. If someone has a problem with corruption, report politicians to the police. File a PIL. Or better still, don’t elect them! Sharad Pawar seems to be the target of this particular protest, and if the people are so aghast by his behavior, don’t elect him the next time. Violating the due process to achieve a goal — and this is admittedly a noble goal — is adding to the problem. It sows the seeds of anarchy. This is trial by the media and trial by a kangaroo court. Who are Anna Hazare or his followers to decide what should or should not be included in the Lokpal bill. Leave it Parliament. That’s what you elected them for. Many have brought up the example of popular movements in the Middle East that are currently in vogue. Everyone forgets one major fact. All those governments were autocratic. This is not Gandhi versus the British. There is no enemy. Our government is our government. We put them there, and often enough have booted them out every five years if we don’t like them. Allowing extra-constitutional measures to be used to influence the process of lawmaking sets a dangerous precedent. Today it’s taking on corruption. How do we know that tomorrow it won’t be used to push some other majority agenda (and one shudders to think of the kind of majority agendas Indians have come up with — Babri Masjid being a case in point). India’s main strength lies in it’s ability to have maintained democracy for 60 odd years while all others who became independent around the same time have failed. The wellspring of the Indian democracy has been the strength of it’s constitution and institutions. These are above all issues and above all people. They’re not perfect by any means but need to be upheld to ensure that the every issue goes through the same due process. That is democracy. If Hazare has a problem, then let him deal with it in the ultimate manifestation of public opinion — ballot box.