Public is fickle. Public is gullible. Public memory is short.
You don't need to be a Pol Science major to know this; or a diplomat, to never say it loud. hint: if you didn't object to my blog title already, you have proved a good bit of my point - Is it just "Anna's victory"? "His" agitation?
No doubt, Anna is a hero. No doubt, we must emulate him. But heck, something must be wrong with the whole system if we let this situation come up in the first place - forcing Anna to become a hero in this manner. Isn't it?
So what is my point? The whole exercise has already mislead vast masses into learning a dangerous lesson. That we must fight our politicians to get what we want. Lemme back up a bit... get back to the beginning of what I am trying to say.
Fortunately, Anna is already on the job ("right to recall elected reps"). I am with him on this.
You don't need to be a Pol Science major to know this; or a diplomat, to never say it loud. hint: if you didn't object to my blog title already, you have proved a good bit of my point - Is it just "Anna's victory"? "His" agitation?
No doubt, Anna is a hero. No doubt, we must emulate him. But heck, something must be wrong with the whole system if we let this situation come up in the first place - forcing Anna to become a hero in this manner. Isn't it?
So what is my point? The whole exercise has already mislead vast masses into learning a dangerous lesson. That we must fight our politicians to get what we want. Lemme back up a bit... get back to the beginning of what I am trying to say.
- We are a democracy. We elect our representatives - so that they represent our interests, make laws for our benefit, protect our interests by aligning/steering the bureaucracy to our priorities, and so on... In theory.
- In practice, we elect our representatives. They do their own thing. We helplessly wring our hands, rave and rant (like here). Then we start agitations and hunger strikes - fighting our own representatives to do things that they are supposed to do to begin with. This is reality, you say?
The right and the most urgent thing to do is to fix the system. Make our representatives (read: our, yes our politicians) fight for us. They are our main channel/recourse to get our work done. That is why we elected them. Not to put them on a pedestal, write them off (while still continuing to invest in that channel through taxes, btw) and setting up alternative systems (agitations, et al) to get our work done.
Fortunately, Anna is already on the job ("right to recall elected reps"). I am with him on this.
So are you propagating "don't pay taxes" concept ;-)
ReplyDeleteif there are less takers (from the political circle) for the first dharna of Anna, there will be even less for the second one. I believe the system needs clean-up and none of our representatives, will cut the branch they are sitting on. May be there will be civil war like in the US history; or may be there will be silent revolution.
Joseph
@Joseph: "don't pay taxes", eh? Indeed, since we are talking about learning the wrong lessons... so you had to show how sharp you are! :D
ReplyDeleteAbout "not finding support from our reps", everyone has "image management" goals; so my guess is that most of them will not openly oppose this. Undermining this through backdoor (e.g., due process, reference to standing committees, etc.) will definitely be attempted.
Overall, I am optimistic about the eventual result; not so optimistic about getting it done "quickly" though.
What if Anna was a memeber of the donut-house (i.e. an elected rep) and did what he did. Can it be construed as 'fixing the system'?
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if the idealogically integrated group is able to make a sharp difference at least in the composition of people filing nominations during next elections. And should even a few people with the candle-light symbol win the election, it will reflect true internalization of democracy.
Hmm... (if) as a member of the donut-house, would Anna have to "fast unto death" even as a member of the donut house? How would that reflect on our state of affairs then? Something to mull on, eh?
ReplyDeleteIn any case, Anna would then qualify as "one of the top performing elected reps". If he is the only one doing it, then I wouldn't call the activity as "fixing the system"; rather "doing the job correctly". If many elected reps are doing it, then I would call the system as "functioning well" (i.e., doesn't need fixing).
Things are totally different as the main issues related to Anna matter was inflamed by hurting the fundamental rights of a citizen reasons like arresting Anna for the threat of security from his house when he had 5000 followers with him and releasing him when he had 200000 people at tihar supporting him shows the double mind set up of government without any doubt present government is the most corrupt government india ever had so Anna is right may be his methods of protesting can be wrong but what you must have done when you were at his place????????
ReplyDelete