Government fast losing ground on Anna’s movement

Since day one of Anna’s ‘protest fast’ against corruption  and movement  in support of strong Jan lokpal Bill capable of really eradicating corruption that has  so badly  and overwhelmingly percolated  the government administration /system, the government has been caught on a wrong foot one after the other. First, putting unreasonable and inacceptable  conditions  on these protests through the agency of police and then ministers parading the relevance of the provisions  of criminal Procedure Code  was nothing short of  an affront to the public mind already  suffering under the scourge  of corruption . No wonder the ‘protest fast ‘ immediately  turned  into a  public outrage erupting simultaneously  in different cities of the country.The delay in allotting suitable venue made theprotest march swell to the most disproportionate levels.

Thereafter studied silence on the part of  the prime minister in additional  to his defence  of “official Lokpal Bill” that seeks to prosecute  the whistle blower even with two years of imprisonment  while giving opportunities  for  defence  to culprits , has come as handy ammunition with  the team Anna for blowing government’s reasoning/intentions to pieces.

While ministers  are supposed  to act as ‘ servants of society’ with respect to their  duties  towards the people, in terms of  political philosophy, the congress ministers have  been crowing about their authority as legislators , without recognizing  the suffering of the people under the menace of  corruption. The protests have  thus acquired  the character of a movement spreading rapidly even globally with Indian community  protesting  in London , New York and elsewhere .This has brought disrepute to the Indian political  system and even discredited  the Congress ,though a political party of India with 125 years of standing .The party of this stands ridiculed domestically   and internationally  with irreparable loss.

Had the official Lokpal bill  been drafted  in a spirit of meaningful  understanding  and cooperation  with the representative of civil society keeping the problem of corruption  in mind, Congress would not have found itself  in such a sorry state of pass. In addition to uncaring attitude of ministers ,even the prime minister was not found head and shoulders above his team of ministers to impart sanity and wisdom  to tackle the problem.While the public anger  was gathering steam in a most unprecedented  manner in kilometers  long marches ,the ministers  were turning out stereotype statements referring to constitutional provisions  otherwise  very well known to the present educated  youth of the country.Ironically no lessons  have been learnt  from the most  shaking happenings  of Mid –East while  our leadership was lecturing on the happenings in Libya , Syria and Egypt.

While team Anna  has astutely stolen much of the dignity of  the Congress party,BJP as the main opposition has finalized its strategy to take on the Congress  inside  and outside the Parliament .

Immediate dialogue with the Anna team  can only tackle the political crisis and save Congress from further damage .