The parliament is relieved that Anna Hazare had broken his fast. Any person taking up an issue of public interest and prepared to give up life will be supported by one and all. His life becomes very precious to all. When the country is deep in corruption and people are in despair, AH became symbol of hope and struggle, especially for the youth and all the urban middle class. The solidarity Anna received is the expression of strength of the people to unite to fight against corruption when a leader of clean character is there to stand out for them.
The acceptance of demands of Anna, ‘sense of the House’ in principle to forward Anna’s demands for consideration to the standing committee is the win of Parliament. The acceptance of Anna’s demands made team A is happy, and pronouncing ‘sense of the House’ declared the superiority of the House. By referring the issue to the standing committee, for the time being, peace prevailed and there is celebration. Standing committee will take its own time for deliberations on these demands and also various ‘anti-corruption’ bills forwarded to it. When the LokPal bill itself could lay on the shelf for more than four decades, is there a possibility of expecting a strong ‘anti-corruption’ bill to bring about by the parliament in at least another four year? Every parliament session is boasting of introducing ‘women reservation’ bill for more than a decade. But still it is pending. The Home Minister as representative of Government of India proclaimed to have initiated the formation of Telangaana state. But under the pressure of few unscrupulous rich politicians’ money showers the UPA government failed to implement it. To expect a strong Lok pal in a short period is just but a dream.
Is Lok pal bill the only remedy to end corruption in the nation? Don’t we already have appropriate laws to punish the corrupt persons? There are certain statutory bodies under the constitution to prevent malpractices and corruption and make people accountable at higher places. In the present day, due to the interference of party/Government, these institutions have failed to gain credibility. If the election commission strictly imposes its rules on expenditure of the candidates contesting, disqualifies them earliest on knowing their criminal records will not the criminals decrease in parliament? The CAG which presents its report on economical frauds is criticised by the parliamentarians as being unscientific and disregards its report. In the history of CBI, is there any politician who was charge sheeted was conclusively proved to be guilty and punished? Even if we get a LokPal as a statutory body, when the members in it are always obliging the ruling party or the ruling party uses it as another appendage, the corruption will not stop. Corruption can be stopped when every individual sees to it that all the relevant laws are strictly adhered to. The person who makes the law and who implements it should also adhere to this principle. Then corruption can end.
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The increasing activity of electronic media and social networking has made present day struggle different. Their contribution is becoming immense and inevitable in any struggle world over. The electronic media in particular has become a tool to spread information to rural corners. This is being misused by hundreds of channels which are coming up these days. Now-a-days every party has more than one channel and there are many regional channels. There is propagation of paid news. Many channels have their own agenda and propagate what they want to. Only partial information is divulged or a different twist is give to an issue. It appears, that except a few, all channels are biased. The immense competition between the channels is making them to keep having breaking news 24hrs. It wants to present always hot and sizzling news to increase viewer ship. It seems the national channels mostly concentrate on cities and where it can reach easily and stay comfortably. Anything happening in the capital cities gains prominence. This could be one reason for not presenting the struggle of Irom Sharmila who is fasting for the last 11 years in Manipur demanding the repealment of Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which is often abused. There is no media hype about it, for she is supported by local people and there are no rich and famous personalities are NGO’s supporting her. The failure of giving due importance to the death of a social activist swami in Haridwar during fast of Ramdev Baba and the recent gunning down of Shehla Masood in Bhopal 16th of August is again failure of media. I doubt whether there was any preplanning of these two deaths, because there two occurred when media attention is completely diverted on a hyped issue.
The Telangaana issue also not receiving due attention because of media bias and the influence of corrupt politicians at all levels. This struggle is going on for more than five decades. The Home Minister of India who proclaimed the formation of state had failed to carry out the process being under the influence of monetary power of Seemaandhra MPs. These Seemaandhra MPs are so tactful and rich that they could even purchase the members of a fact finding committee which was to present true situation in the region. Though the committee felt separate Telangaana is a genuine demand, it added a chapter (may be) given by Seemandhraas how to suppress the movement by police and paramilitary force.
As long as people are greedy, selfish and vote for money no law or act can curb corruption. When people of integrity with orientation towards social work/development are elected then a better society will evolve.
The battle has just begun.
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