Dear Summit, et al,

There are some pitfalls in this. At this point in time, all those who are opposed to corruption (which is almost the entire aam aadmi) are united behind Anna.

If Anna were to form a political party and contest elections or field candidates, we need to understand how he'll tackle these issues:

1. What will be the party's stand on divisive issues like reservations (in general, and in every sphere like Lokpal Drafting Committee), splitting large states into smaller ones (like Telengana), Armed Forces Special Powers Act (in sensitive states where there's insurgency & infiltration of terrorists), Prohibition, pricing of agricultural commodities (free market pricing will help agriculturists, but will increase food prices several fold), Environment Vs Industry, FDI Policy, etc.? You'll find that once Anna takes a position, the people will stand divided; politicians will fan these differences multi-fold, and soon Anna will be a spent force.

2. With a corrupt system, individuals can't make a big difference. Even before any changes can be brought about, which will surely take some time, at least some elected representatives will try to make a quick buck, or there will be reasons for people to suspect so. How will Anna handle them? If he sends them out, Anna's support will come down, and people will start getting disenchanted, saying he can't even keep his flock together. If suspicions can come about a person as high as Swami Agnivesh, who will Anna be able to trust for the 100s and 1000s of responsibilities?

3. Anna will be forced to ally with at least some individuals and political parties. Will he, for instance, ally with the Congress? BJP? CPM? CPI? JDS? JDU? FB? BJD? RJD? TMC? DMK? AIADMK? NCP? NC? Damned he will be if he allies with any of them, and damned he will be if he doesn't.

4. Anna will be forced to name a successor, or heads for various tasks, and this may divide the civil society again.

At least some of these decisions will be sound but politically risky, some will backfire, or be at least strongly criticized; the more he gets criticized, the less powerful leader he'll be seen as. Remember the Janata 1977 experiment?

There are more complex issues, but let's first see how these will be handled.

I had, in fact, suggested some time back, a variant of this idea addressing these issues, which I'll explain after hearing the views of folks on my questions.

Thanks,

Ganesan. :~)