Anna Hazare’s fast at the Ramlila ground has attracted unprecedented crowds. For someone who was born and grew up in Delhi, I have not seen anyone getting this kind of support even if it is from a certain section of our people. Yes three political rallies in this city have been really mammoth. The first one I remember very clearly was when Babu Jagjiwan Ram broke away from the Congress to form the Congress for Democracy in February, 1977 to back the JP movement. His rally in the first week of February took the fear out of the people after the Emergency was lifted and it drew a huge crowd. Every lane and road next to Ramlila Ground was jam-packed. The other two mammoth rallies were the Farmers rallies of Chaudhury Charan Singh and Indira Gandhi. Both were held at the Boat Club lawns and no one had seen anything like that for a very long time. Now it is Anna’s agitation, which is drawing big crowds from all over the city. I sometimes wonder as to what happened to Shiela Dikshit’s Bhagidari with the Resident Welfare Associations, which were all there doing Bhagidari with Anna at the Ramlila grounds. It goes on to show that the issue of corruption touches a chord everywhere. The inability of the government to defuse the situation also demonstrates that those who are ruling us today are not capable of good governance and seem totally unprepared to meet the challenge head on. There is no management of any kind and there is no strategy. The end result is that the stock of the UPA government is perhaps at its lowest and unless something is done, things are not going to change.
My reading of the situation is that we are headed for a period of instability and this could even necessitate an early poll. Most in the political class may not agree to this hypothesis on the plea that no one wants elections but sometimes circumstances determine the course of history.
While Anna has acquired a hugely enhanced status, there are various forces that are trying to make the best of the situation. All these forces have different objectives. The RSS and a section of the BJP want to use the agitation to navigate the middle classes to return to the Saffron fold. A section within the Congress wants to use this agitation to get rid of Manmohan Singh and replace him with someone else. Another section wants to point out at the youth and student support, which Anna is getting to dump Rahul Gandhi who was seen as a future icon for the younger generation. Many non-Congress and BJP parties see for themselves an opportunity to once again rule this country, something what happened during Deva Gowda and Gujral’s time. There are a few in Team Anna who could also have their objectives. What they are only time will tell.
Meanwhile, the Congress cadres are demoralized and some of them also want the government to collapse. They have been sidelined since many others who came from other parties have become more important. The party on its part continues to field many of these entrants as its spokespersons on the TV every night therefore rubbing the cadres the wrong way.
In the end, Anna’s agitation has a lesson for the entire political class. He has galvanized forces, which will not be satisfied with status quo.
Hindustan Times Blog : link above
