Anna is going to break his 5 day fast today! He finally, got the government to agree on Jan Lokpal bill. I am not here to argue if the bill is perfect or as Government was quoting since Anna started his fast, the bill is not correct in its current form. All I know was that there is a draft, and it was side-lined for some time by our politicians. Anna forced them to get it back in limelight, and discuss, fix, implement it. This is what according to me he wanted, and he got it.
This article is about how he got it, and not what he got it. Anna went on fast unto death from 5th April 2011. Remember, he is 72 years old. Initially, he was ridiculed by government, opposition tried to cash-in by offering support to him, but he refused the political support, and continued with his fast. Media loves such news stories, and in no time he was on every news channel, on front page of every newspaper! Then started social network support, people started posting about him and the protest on Facebook, Twitter etc, showing support for him. Few organisation organised protest march, candle lighting etc peaceful protests to show support in Anna. This got more momentum, and in no time, he is the biggest news of the nation! We forgot about our World Cup victory a week ago, everyone was talking about Anna! Common Men, Politicians, Celebrities, everyone was kind of supporting Anna and his cause, except people in Government. But we knew that with such kind of people support, and states poll around the corner, Government will have to find a solution for this. That’s exactly what happened!
So, if you remember my earlier article, about Gandhi, I don’t believe that Gandhi’s way of protest will work in today’s world. But then how Anna is able to pull it off? And it’s not the first time he has done it this way! This prompted me to re-think the whole protest model, and how it works in modern times!
We have 3 different protest model, we can always create sub-models under each of these, but on broader category, its mainly 3 models:
- A cause to kill for
- A cause to die for
- A cause to protest for
I know the above sound confusing, but let me explain each one by example:
1. A cause to kill for
This is the type of protest when you just go out and kill the accused! Its quick justice! This is most useful when you don’t have any trust in the corrupt system. There are various examples of this type of protests, including freedom fighters like Azad, Bhagat Singh, today’s Maoists, to some extent.
2. A cause to die for
This is Gandhi’s way of protest! You should be ready to die for the protest. Don’t compromise, and protest until you get your way or you die! Be it fast unto death or getting beaten up by police, still continuing with protest! Anna has chosen this path.
3. A cause to protest for
This is the most popular method of protest in modern world! Almost 99% of people use this kind of protest. This is the most flexible and easiest path as well. This is the middle path of both kill for and die for! How it works? Easy, you want to protest, do whatever you can to protest, and once you reach your limit, back-off, adjust and get on with your life! You will be satisfied that you raised your concern, but somehow the whole system is corrupt or incapable of, so no one listen to you. Also, this “whatever you can” is a very big terminology. It includes taking legal action, putting road blocks, disrupting trains/traffic, forcing others to close offices/shops, destroying public property, beating up innocent people, it even includes killing innocent people! Whenever there is a call for one day strike, this kind of protest! Whenever you see buses being burnt or trains held up, this kind of protest! Whenever you read about terrorists killed innocent people, this time of protest! Whenever you read about moral police beating up people on Valentine’s day, this type of protest! I think you got the picture!
You may ask me to split the 3rd into different parts, or object putting terrorists with our politicians or moral police. But for me, both are equal, terrorist killing innocent people, and someone destroying public property. They both should be treated like terrorists only. But again, this is not something we are discussing today.
Coming back to the main point, Anna Hazare, and his method of protest. He chooses the Gandhi style, “a cause to die for”, and succeeded. But, he only succeeded because there were support from media and public. There was the poll factor as well, which prompted Government to take quick action and avoid public outcry. But all this only happens because Anna was ready to die for! He could have died had it not been supported by media and public! But he was prepared for it. So, it’s not that Gandhi’s style of protest will work, it may work, if backed by proper media coverage, and organising public support around it. But still, there is limitation for this protest method. You can protest against a lawful agency using this method. You cannot protest against Maoist if they kidnapped someone, as they will kidnap you as well, and force you to eat something, breaking your fast. Or there is high chance that they may kill you, killing the protest immediately. So, for any agency or organisation which respects law, this method can be used for protest. But success can only depend on your determination, if you are ready to die for it or not! Anna is successful in getting the government to bow down and agree on the bill. But there are others, who tried and failed on this method. I am not sure if you remember, Mamta Banerjee tried this fast unto death for Singur issue in 1996. The state government did not listen to her. They simply choose to ignore her fast! There was public support, full media coverage and the drama lasted for 25 days. She finally called off her fast on the basis of “personal appeals” of Prime Minister and President (neither of them visited her). There are various other examples where people may have hospitalised, and no one cared during the fast unto death protest! So, don’t put your hope too high, as this is not the sure shot success method of protest. Well, like I said, if you are ready to die for, then you may get justice, after your death. Like the case of Mamta Banerjee, had she continued for more days, and died, there was no way Left would even be able to claim victory in West Bengal. The ruling party may have finished forever! But, was she prepared to die for the cause? I didn't think so, and now I know she was not. So, she opted for 3rd method, do whatever you can (fast) and then back-off (call-off), get on!
Before I end this article, would like to mention a little perspective on corruption, as Anna was fighting for the bill against corruption, and there were thousands like us supporting him in this cause.
We all are corrupt, and help nourish the corruption in our society. We always look for short cuts by using money or influence. We ask traffic police to take some bribe and leave us without the penalty. We pay donation money to schools for our kid’s admission. So, it’s not our leaders, it’s not our bureaucrats, but it’s us who are corrupt. I know about the scams, and how corrupt our politicians are, but let’s not forget our own mistakes. Do we have any right to stand up and say “Mera Neta Chor Hai” (My Politician is a thief)? How can a Pot calls Kettle Black? We are same like our Politicians! I fully support Anna and his cause, but that according to me is just one small step in right direction. If we need to eradicate corruption, we need to change. We, the people of India, need to stop paying bribe, stop helping corruption, stop tolerating irregularities. Until and unless, we step up, corruption will continue to grow, as we are nourishing it! So, you need to fight the same battle Anna has fought with government, but this time it’s with yourself, to clean yourself from corruption, then only you can fight against it! But the problem with all of us is, we all know we are corrupt, we accept it. We have multiple excuses for being corrupt as well. We also support Anna in his anti-corruption cause. So, we are in both the camps, and when the main support of Anti-corruption front is corrupt, this front will never succeed. So, we only have two choices – accept corruption as part of our society or fight against it. We cannot accept corruption in society by paying bribe/donation, and still fight against it! But that’s what people are doing today with Anna! I am sorry Anna, but I can only give you moral support, as I am a corrupt person, and has not been able to win in my own internal fight to eradicate corruption from me!
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