“Who says it’s difficult to pierce the sky. A man with a strong will can do it by throwing a stone up in the sky.” Actually it’s the literal meaning of few lines of a noted poet, which in Hindi language means: Kaun kahta hai nahi ho sakta aasman mein suraakh. Ek patthar to tabiyat se uchhalo yaron.

These lines befit Ann Hazare’s crusade and mass movement against corruption and his rock determination to get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed by the Parliament of India. In view of the mass following across the nation and the continuous 12-day fast by Anna, ultimately, forced the Parliament to discuss the issue and subsequently take up the questions and points raised by Anna in the coming Lokpal Bill. Though the Parliament and government shouldn’t have taken this much of time to arrive at a consensus on Jan Lokpal Bill, anyway, everything is well that ends well!

The major demands put forth by Anna and his team can’t be ignored now by the parliamentarians especially, in view of the overwhelming mass support to the movement. However, parliament should be given sufficient time to deliberate on the issue at all angles and then get it passed in the parliament because everything has to be done according to the principles and norms envisaged in the Constitution of India. The basic objective should be to come out with a strong Lokpal Bill which can effectively tackle the corruption issues that have been affecting the lives of 120 crore people of India.

Clearly speaking, the 74 year old social activist Anna Hazare has set a beautiful example before the people of India through his 12-day fast that how a non-violence movement can even bend the government. In fact he has inspired both the young as well as the old generation. People from all walks of life, rich or poor everybody rallied behind Anna for the nation’s cause of a strong bill to eradicate corruption at all levels effectively. Perhaps this is for the first time since our Independence that a movement has evoked such a mass appeal. Though emotions ran high but it never broke the barrier of discipline and constitutional norms and this is something which needs to be admired by one and all. People in this movement saw the reflection of Gandhian movement and Gandhism.

For the first time patriotism and nationalism in the true sense were seen among the people in such a gigantic proportion. Time has come when people’s representatives should realize that people are aggrieved by the present rot seen in the political and administrative system of India. If their grievances are not addressed in time then it could pose great crisis for the nation.

It’s said that one alone can’t accomplish his mission, but Anna’s tough resolute has shown that even a mountain could be turned into a plain by strong determination and the will to succeed. People seldom have the luck to see personalities such as Martin Luther king, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Anna Hazare. People of this great nation are lucky to have between them a savior like Anna Hazare, who is all there to demolish the Ravana like corruption. Anna Hazare’s movement has awakened everyone whether children, youth or old to take the corruption issue head on. I was surprised to see that my young daughter who never likes watching TV news channels asking me straight away after returning from her school whether Anna had broken his fast.

Anna’s movement has made people aware that peoples’ representatives are not our masters but our servants. In fact in the true sense the masters are the people themselves and they have every right to ask why their representatives are not working properly in the right direction. The day this realization grows deeper our country would see the establishment of a truly democratic state.

In fact in a recent ruling the apex court has also said that it’s high time, people who are in power should act positively now or else time has come when they would have to move out of the politics for not doing what the people really want from them. Politicians, who are challenging Anna to contest an election and win it, have forgotten a simple fact that this person is not at all interested in power. Had this been in his thought this could have happened way back. What he wants is to solve the genuine problems of the people who are being strangulated by the soaring food inflation on one hand and the blatant corruption on the other. In fact Anna even staked his life to take ahead his mission of creating mass awareness and bringing people together for their cause of a pure and uncorrupt regime.

If at any moment people realize that Anna is also treading the same path that reaches the power galleries, the very same moment the movement would lose its effect. Today there is no dearth of political parties. For getting into power they divide people on the caste and religion lines so that their vote banks are assured. And this has been going on for the last say, sixty years. The result is that they have lost the faith of the people in the present political system.

It’s no wonder that to mobilize the crowd for rallies political parties pay people for this, which is in sharp contrast to Anna’s movement where people on his call even braved rains, dust, heat and food for days and nights. Today we need people like Anna Hazare who can guide political parties and political leaders and force them to make right laws and frame exact policies which suit peoples’ and nation’s interest on the whole.

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rgupta@nnsonline.com