Anna Hazare failed and Congress is relieved

03 August, 2012

Anna Hazare's much-hyped fasting did not yield much result this time. The citizens' fight against corruption caught the fancy of the country nearly the same time last year but empty grounds and non-participation forced a premature end to the struggle.

THE RULING Congress-led coalition government should be thankful to Anna Hazare for turning a popular movement into a political agenda, which will split the vote-bank of the main opposition party, something that to the advantage of the ruling alliance.

Such failure of a people’s movement is usually rare. If such a movement becomes political it is not good for the nation and the people. The root cause of corruption in the country is due to many corrupt political leaders - many of whom emerged out of a similar such movement of Jai Prakash Narain in the 1970s, and a repeat of history should not be ruled out in case nominees made by Anna come to power.

Such a strong weapon of fast should not have been used so frequently, especially after the failure of the Mumbai-fast by Anna on the issue of the Jan Lokpal. The Anna team made many strategic mistakes starting from Hissar Lok Sabha by-election, which should have been best utilised to press for Right-To-Reject.

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COMMENTS (3)

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Nitin Raj

As JP had said, a successful mass movement against the establishment has three interlinked frames....a firm leadership, an unwavering team and an immaculate plan of action.Though undoubtedly this second massive non-violence event, post-independence(after the much hyped JP movement of 70s') has the first two elements it surely lacks the third one.Talking precisely ?voluntarily fasting? should be the last and final weapon from the armory of non-violence.Using it as the only mode to attain the goal has only left it's edge blunt.The team should garner some of the elements from Mahatama Gandhi's roadmap for non-violence protest who engaged other clever modes of protest and also emphasized that fasting against tyrannical rulers may not succeed and will be left unnoticed.Ironically (without any disrespect to the noble movement),this is a country where abject poverty forces millions to fast,without even getting noticed.

0 Replies

AKS Ganguly

Very sad that there were few supporters of Anna this time. Shame on Indians.

3 Replies

Bikash

Its not easy to fool the public every time. Also Anna gets a reality bite this time - first time he was a 'hero' but the 'public mood' is a volatile thing and he failed to gauge that this time.

0 Replies