Anna 2014!

Anna 2014!

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Anna 2014!

August 06, 2012 02:48 PM

By Deepak Parvatiyar
What is wrong in joining politics? Ask Anna Hazare. His political movement against corruption has now taken a political turn with his decision to float a political outfit.

Indeed it is an interesting turn of event. From the political fraternity, there is a loud welcome cry predictably laced with acridity. “Ab way isi hammam me kapde utaar kar khade hain na, aa kar dekhiye unko (now he too is standing naked in this hammam [of politics], so come and watch him),” law minister Salman Khurshid’s reaction says it all.

Curiosity made me glance through the reactions to his decision on the social media sites. Not surprisingly, while many of his fans welcomed this move, there were many with a common refrain: “Et tu Brute!”

Anna’s fans don’t doubt their leader’s personal and moral integrity. In the last sixteen months the septuagenarian Gandhian has become an epitome of sacrifice who is capable of fasting unto death for a just cause. By declining to contest elections, he seems more interested in casting himself into the mould of a JP and a Gandhi. He wins hearts with his rustic simplicity. His speeches sound honest and his smiling yet firm countenance strikes a chord with the emotions of the masses. Though he failed to generate crowd at his recent Jantar Mantar sit in, only a naïve will doubt his fan following.

So, why should his followers feel ditched when he talks of taking his battle against corruption to the hustings in 2014? Obviously, for them politics has become synonymous with untouchability, or more famously (as failed politician and Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan once said), a “cesspool”.

There are a number of questions that his fans are now confronted with: From where will Anna get money to contest elections? (Till recently even Anna used to concede that millions of rupees are required to contest today’s elections); why shouldn’t politics corrupt him? How will he deal with greasy palms and deep pockets? Isn’t he a simpleton surrounded by a coterie of ambitious people who themselves have a tainted background?

I don’t think I need to answer such questions. But I believe that such questions are ample testimony of the fact that it is not Anna, but the politics of the land that has ditched the people for a long long time now. Remember reactions to Sachin Tendulkar’s nomination for the Rajya Sabha and the protest that it generated from his diehard fans? They wanted their God of cricket to be away from politics and politicians!

So why has our political system reached a point that makes even the likes of Sachin and Anna look a diabolical villain when they get associated with it?

As I do some loud thinking, I find the following reasons for this systematic erosion of our political system:

1. Today politics is a lucrative career:
Look at the way our elected representatives demand more wages for their services to the nation. Isn’t the ever increasing perks of these elected representatives incongruous with the aspirations of the people they represent? Isn’t this the reason that today naxals control over 2000 police station areas in 223 districts in 20 states of our country? Similarly, while Anna and his band wagon too are accused of belittling the parliament, haven’t they emerged as a force to reckon with?

2. Autocracy within political parties: Isn’t it a fact that elections within the political parties are a sham? Isn’t it a fact that inheritance is fast becoming the mantra of many regional parties too? Isn’t politics a big business?

3. Non transparent financial dealings: Remember the Bangaru and Judev episode or cash for vote scam? Still political parties do not maintain proper books of accounts. This fact is mentioned in a guideline note on ‘Accounting and Auditing of Political Parties” prepared by the Institute of Chartered Accountant of India in February 2012 at the behest of the Election Commission of India. The note points out that the present system of accounting and financial reporting followed by political parties in India “does not adequately meet the accountability Concerns of the stakeholders”.

4. Power brokering: Doesn’t support come at a price in the era of coalition politics? Isn’t this the time to tackle power brokering and bargaining (read blackmailing) in the era of coalition politics, where every coalition partner eyes the largest share of the pie?

So, I wonder whether Anna’s political party can be a trendsetter to prove a ‘party with a difference’? His political adversaries rule this out. There are many in the Congress who swears that Anna’s team is not as clean as it pretends to be. I wonder whether these claims are politically motivated. Yet, more than the Congress, Anna can seriously dent the BJP vote bank on anti-graft plank (unless Anna joins hands with the saffron brigade). But can Anna’s party sustain itself? I am not sure. After all, none of the political outfits with lofty ideals could ever survive in the quagmire of expedient politics — whether it was the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party of Acharya Kripalini, or the
Swatantra Party of Rajaji, Janata Party of Jaya Prakash Narayan or the Lok Satta Party of Jaya Prakash Narayan (a retired IAS officer turned political activist striving for implanting rectitude and service-before-self in the political system)!

So does Anna have a future in politics? Wait till 2014.