Public on Corruption:

April 18/2011: There was an old Hindi song that went ‘Yeh public hai yeh sab jaanti hai…’. Although one will not be able to vouch on the ability of the Indian public to really know everything, in spite of a plethora of new laws such as the Right to Information Act, the public does understand or more correctly has a ‘feel’ for the truth. It would be unwise on the part of anyone to assume that comprehension or memory of the people in this country does not measure up to expectations of the so called intellectuals.

There was a year 1977. Mrs. Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister then. A state of Emergency, declared on June 25 of 1975 was already 21 months in force. Many politicians, media people, businessmen and bureaucrats and even roadside goons had been arrested under Maintenance of Internal Security Act better known as MISA or Defense of India Rules (DIR). Generally speaking, there was an atmosphere of distrust and scare everywhere. No one trusted anyone. ‘The walls have ears’ adage seemed appropriate. Sanjay Gandhi and his hoodlums, under the guise of the Youth Congress were being perceived as the Black Shirted SS of Hitler’s Germany. Press was censored.

Newspapers were often seen with blank columns or editorials that were abruptly cut off in mid sentence or a black screen put on them.  Electronic media meant the radio when the government channel was termed All Indira Radio. Television was limited to a few large cities and was wholly government controlled. Times were bad as most major media houses of the country, barring a handful of second line or small publications printing something unwholesome for the powers that be, preferred to kowtow to the censoring authorities in return for favors, large or small.

Suddenly, what seemed like a dark age appeared to have an illuminated background. The Prime Minister declared elections in early 1977, expecting the cowering populace to vote her back to power and legitimize her brand of democracy that would then be acceptable to the world at large. All that she did not quite understand were the Indian people. In spite of a subservient media, an Opposition that was badly fragmented, most leaders in prison or terribly scared to openly come out and oppose, business totally supporting her and the armed forces not playing any active role, another old saying, ‘Kashmir to Kanyakumari, India is One’ came true.Although the elections were held as detailed earlier, people from Kashmir to Kanyakumari actually voted en masse against the Congress and brought in a hurriedly cobbled together coalition titled Janata Party.

This was the first proof that the Indian mass does not have a short memory. They can decide and act upon whatever it is they consider good for themselves. And they are capable of doing it all at once and seemingly all together too.

It is another story that some of the worst crooks known to Indian politics controlled some prime ministries in the new cabinet headed by Morarji Desai, himself a case study, and destroyed one of the truly wonderful experiments in Indian democracy. Yet, it was probably the first ever opportunity when this nation proved beyond a doubt that India, actually, is a single spirit.

This may seem as history and as not being relevant now. Till such time as the incident of a few days ago is considered where Mr. Anna Hazare captured the imagination of a lot of people of this country. No doubt, they were a particular kind of people. Educated, middle or upper middle class and those who think a cleaner non corrupt society is being denied this nation by its politicians. They forget they have the right to feel such a feeling AND act upon it (by sitting with Hazare at Jantar Mantar or wherever) only because we are a democratic nation. Our politicians may be the worst in the world yet they represent us. They are mirrors wherein we see our own reflections. We are bad, they are bad. We become good, they have to become good.

So, till April 30/2011 the government has given all us mere mortals time to send in suggestions on a proposed and yet to be passed law which is the Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials and Officials of Public International Organizations Bill, 2011. This is needed to be passed by the Indian Parliament so that this country can ratify the UN Convention on Corruption. All of us are aware that the UN is probably one of the most powerful organizations that encourage corruption in less developed countries by dumping loads of money and involving only certain handpicked bureaucrats and NGOs of that nation in its activities that are always shady and obscure. Where and how UN money is spent in Asia and Africa is a question that millions worldwide would love to know the answer.

Coming back to the anti graft law issue, now most people have started getting disillusioned by Mr. Hazare’s circus. They have already started asking whether there were not even 5 civil society citizens in India that a father-son duo had to be opted by Hazare to be part of the committee to draft the new law. We must accept that India really has no civil society worth the name. An educated bumpkin does not necessarily become part of civil society. So anyone who speaks a bit fluently in English is considered part of civil society. No one would ever remember meeting a Kannada, Assamese or Oriya speaking civil society leader. Max it would be a Hindi speaking (read screaming) person who would fit that bill. That being that, now the new law is what needs closer inspection.

We are of the opinion that no one person is capable of leading the 21st century India. After the mid Eighties, politically and otherwise, this country always opted for a leadership that took in aspirations of all parts of the country. That also marked the end of ‘national’ parties. Icons like Tatas and Gandhis have started crumbling. A new era will dawn where the common man will decide his fate. Not a bunch of industrialists in cahoots with a couple of bureaucrats and politicians backed by civil society hirelings. An effort has to start to take public opinion on new laws. Not through the internet as that service is unreachable by most Indians but by public notices, discourses, meetings and even newspaper advertisements. The replies may seem jumbled and confusing but a thread has to be taken out of all that. Doing that effectively will be the task of a large group of people, not just NGOs or officers, but those who shall eventually form a backbone of India’s true civil society.