Uncivil Repartees of a Civil Movement

Editorial:
There is no avoiding what the national media will have us believe is the cause celebre gripping the nation at present – corruption. Whether on the streets or in the courts, the only news-making event of late has been corruption, at least that is what is being fed to viewers across the country with the ‘breaking news’ pausing only for fillers like a pair of elephants on a murderous rampage somewhere or a bus accident somewhere else. Nothing else seems to be happening in this country of, how Baba Ramdev puts it, “121 crore” people.
What the entire episode has proven is that corruption is an issue that disturbs Indians. The only reason the citizens have not poured out into the streets against it is because they lacked a credible face to lead the movement.
A politician ranting against the corruption of another, or a wanna-be leader railing against graft, might make for some entertaining speeches, but is hardly convincing enough to inspire people into joining issue in the hope of real change; the while unclothed cliché of the “hamam” analogy coming into play. This suited politicians across the board rather well because they could lob corruption allegations at each other standing in similar ruts of compromised conduct, reassured in the knowledge that no real damage will be caused. In the meanwhile, they carved out vote-banks sheared by societal divisions and batted for the well pursed. And so politics was played until there emerged voices which spoke from moral high-grounds which some leaders believe to be their sole preserves. When these voices infected the population with hope for cleaner governance, the cat was set among the pigeons. In the disorientation which followed, politicians collapsed into an inconsistence which was hilariously embarrassing initially, but has now mutated into vulgar uncivility. The focus now is to draw the pressure groups into a political slugfest. Instigation is being provided in the form of vicious name-calling and character assassinations and the obvious aim is to fetch similarly offensive repartees to muddy the water for long enough for the masses to tire of their engagement and lose hope again. The consistency with which the Central Government has been steering its public spats away from the main issue at hand –the Lokpal Bill and Black Money – suggests that by questioning intents enough, they will invalidate the main issue itself. What is worrying is that they may succeed. Leaders of the ‘civil society’, blocking attacks on their credentials are getting distracted from the issue and slipping into unrelated bombast and allegations themselves. Because they have occupied the platform to speak against corruption and more importantly because people have reposed faith in them, they need to gather their ranks and stay focussed on the issue they are running with.
Questions have also been raised on whether the ‘civil society’ should be allowed to ‘blackmail’ elected governments into doing their bidding. Of course, they shouldn’t, but that is not what they were engaged in. Team Anna, for example, is fighting to ensure that the Lokpal Bill is not diluted into inconsequence. Their presence in the panel to discuss the Bill is to point out the loopholes and weed out weaknesses being planted into it. They are there not to get their Lokpal Bill accepted, but to ensure that the Bill which is finally drafted is the strongest possible piece of legislation aimed at combating corruption. And that is the job of pressure groups in any democracy, to strengthen the hands of the policy-makers so that they can slap down compromises their own constituencies might be forcing on them. Because we have remained uninvolved citizens for far too long, and have allowed ourselves to be ruled rather than represented, the ‘civil society’-government engagement began on a confrontational mode because there was so much that had to be addressed. It need not always be so. And as the pressure groups realise the responsibility which comes to them with the power they now wield, one hopes they will draw attention [of national TV] to other issues which keep a majority of one billion Indians in distress.