India Today Conclave 2012: Anna Hazare to address session on corruption

He is the crusader who would never give up. When Gandhian activist Anna Hazare addresses the India Today Conclave as the lead speaker this week, images of his struggles in the nation's Capital would surely play back in everyone's mind. For, in the recent past, no one has inspired the soaring aspirations of the Indian masses the way Hazare has.

This is obvious because a generation born after the heady days of freedom struggle requires a timely connect. Even more so when for millions, the nation's post-Independence journey has been a saga of rising corruption in high places even as they reel under its ill effects in matters as basic as earning their daily bread.

India is lucky that such figures often rise like a phoenix to stir the nation's psyche at the most opportune moments. Although Hazare's efforts to get a strong Lokpal Bill enacted during the last session of Parliament were lost in misguided political cacophony, the shadow of the septuagenarian activist from Maharashtra's Ralegan Siddhi is far from fading.

After all, the past few months have shown that Hazare has jolted India's conscience on the core irritant of corruption in a manner reminiscent of a Jai Prakash Narain or a V.P. Singh, minus, of course, their overtly political content.

There is no easy way to judge the exact impact of corruption as an issue in the just concluded assembly elections in five states. But the results show, beyond doubt, that if any party has been hit the worst, it is the Congress, which was at the receiving end of public anger in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Goa. And it was the Grand Old Party that attracted the ire of Hazare and his lieutenants, who, like him, simply refuse to surrender in the war they have declared on corruption.

Not long ago, the groundswell of support for the Gandhian activist had been such that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made it a point to salute him from the floor of Parliament. A fumbling government did try the many tricks in its bag to silence the former army man and his associates. But like many earlier occasions, the match, at least for now, has been decided in favour of the elderly simpleton who, like Gandhi, is ready to undertake penance on people's behalf.

His efforts may not yet reflect in the concrete output of an effective Lokpal, but Hazare has definitely ensured that the man on the street wouldn't now think twice before calling a spade a spade. It is a trend that should make the high and the mighty sit up and shudder before they indulge in any act that has the slightest whiff of unfair means and would result in the accumulation of ill-gotten wealth. Hazare's movement has also helped establish the fact that currently, India could well be under the rule of a regime that is struggling to come clean on the unprecedented charges of corruption it is facing.

On a systemic note, Hazare, whose relentless efforts led to a number of positive changes in the way Maharashtra is governed, has thrown up a crucial question for public debate: Where does one go if a government elected for five years tends to lose its legitimacy midway? It is a poser that the world's largest democracy, which is showing ample signs of maturity, must confront. And Hazare, who turns 75 on June 15 this year, has surely pointed one possible answer to that.



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