The Jan Lokpal movement based in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, spreading across India through fasts, marches and vigils, reflects a serious face-off, between the middle class and India’s political class. As the tussle over the Bill’s provisions continues, the depths of the popular groundswell of disgust with corruption become evident, disaffection strong enough to bring together diverse groups.
While the movement’s leader, Anna Hazare, is a Gandhian, adopting the Mahatma’s method of fasting, many joining him are not satyagrahis shaped by austerity. Several are middle-class Indians, moulded by professionalism, progress and consumption. Many are youth in university or jobs, shaken by what they see, stirred into joining an elderly leader who refers to another leader’s practices, which for many have passed into the realm of cliche. The agitation is strong enough, however, to override these divisions. Corruption, exemplified by a terrible year of scams, is the oil fuelling such coalescing.
However, there’s more. The Indian middle class is not only demanding accountability but dignity in citizenship. This notion has been catalysed by recent cases like Rizwanur Rehman’s and Ruchika Girhotra’s, where regular middle-class lives were crushed by a brutal nexus of political and financial clout. The booing away from Jantar Mantar of Om Prakash Chautala, one of the political shields around Ruchika’s tormentor, police officer S. P. S. Rathore, reflected public anger with precisely this sort of nexus. This reflects growth in ideas about citizenship. Previously, notions of citizenship were limited to a small, well-educated elite. Today, this circle has perforce widened. Media and travel have changed the way people think. Indians are increasingly aware of countries where bribery isn’t normal, where murders get punished even when committed by the powerful. It’s become apparent that globalisation is not just about mobile phones and malls, but lawful, equal societies, an ideal many are now demanding.
The media is their ally. Starting with the Jessica Lal case in 1999, the media began acting as mirror and motor to civil society agitation, transmitting information about unpunished crimes, locations to gather at and modes of protest, like candlelight vigils, email and text campaigns. The Internet also sees massive following for Hazare’s movement. All this gives lie to the notion of middle-class Indians being ‘apathetic’ to politics. Where once frustration existed without cohesiveness, today there are effective means to channel feelings, forums to gather at, ways to debate and discuss. Several ‘ideas of India’ are emerging. Many Indians feel a deeper connection to their country. In that sense, Anna has won the war even as the battle persists.
(Source: The Times of India, dated 8-4-2011)
