Team Anna, Lokpal and the present scenario

By Sumit Nagpal 

When Anna sat on a fast at Jantar Mantar everyone including the politicians took it lightly. If you happen to be a Dilliwallah, you would know that Jantar Mantar is a place for people who want to register their protest to a deaf and dumb political class, who would never bother to see why perpetually so many people are coming and registering their protest. But Anna's fast was different! For the first time in so many years, thousands of people gathered on a single call from Anna. And for the first time, the political class of the country saw what can democracy do if the interests of the people is suppressed by the never ending greed of the politicians.

But the events now has led to the erosion in the credibility of Team Anna, the statement made by Prashant Bhushan, the Kiran Bedi's fare fiasco has led to growing confusion among the people that there are differences in Team Anna and whether to support them or not? Rather there is a continuous flow of news in the media suggesting that there is a lack of coordination in Team Anna and so on. Questions are also being raised that why Team Anna is only campaigning against one party? Seasoned politicians like Digvijay Singh have continuously tried to portray as if there is RSS hand or BJP support behind Team Anna and tried to discredit the movement.

So what should we, the people of India do? Should we stop trusting the members of Team Anna? Should be disown Prashant Bhushan and Kiran Bedi? The answer is No! We, the citizens of this country must realise that the political class of this country exactly wanted the present situation. The Congress is opposed to Anna movement because they think that they have won the elections and how can the members of the civil society challenge a democratically elected government? The BJP on the other hand, has its own reservations about Anna Movement. BJP thinks that how can Team Anna take their role of a principal opposition party of India. So both the political forces wanted a common goal that is to discredit Team Anna and continue their show of Tom and Jerry tales.

Why should we support Prashant Bhushan and Kiran Bedi and Team Anna as a whole?

I am not a great supporter of Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi or Arvind Kejriwal. I have never met Kiran Bedi or Arvind Kejriwal for that matter. But I support their cause, the cause of checking corruption in India. When we accuse member of Team Anna, we must realize that all the members of Team Anna come from different backgrounds with different mentalities. Bhushan may have his opinion on Kashmir, Bedi might have done something wrong by charging inflated fare from various organisations, have we ever thought what happens if we don't have Bhushan, Bedi and Kejriwal? Do we expect our political class to come and fool us once again that they will be checking corruption? How do we trust our political class which has grossly failed year after another since last 43 years? 

We must not be misled by the political class. Please remember that what you are seeing today is a deliberate attempt by political class to come back in the center stage and declare once again that they are the only ones who can run this country. They will again fool us for next 43 years and we shall not have an effective Lokpal in this country. We all are driven by our own personal interests so do the members of Team Anna so there might be few occasions when we start disbelieving them but please remember that members of Team Anna have come together to fight for a common cause that is to have an effective anti corruption law in India. We have to support them till Lokpal sees light of the day. 

I have few suggestions for Team Anna too!

• Members of Team Anna must stop talking to the press, rather they should only have one Spokesperson who should interact with the press as and when required. Different statements coming from different members of Team Anna on different issues is creating confusion among the masses.
• Members of Team Anna must understand that they have come together for a common cause that is getting an effective anti corruption law in India, so they must refrain from making statements from other sensitive issues.
• Members of Team Anna must maintain highest levels of personal integrity.They must realize that they are dealing with political class of this country and the collective political class is desperately waiting for opportunities to discredit Team Anna.
• Team Anna must realize that attacking a political party in an election should not be the strategy they should be working on. Anna sat on a fast and till the Lokpal Bill is passed, Anna should continue to mobilize support for Lokpal rather than opposing a political party in some by election. Accordingly, they should refrain from activities like appealing to voters not to vote for Congress in Hisar elections 

Conclusion

Its time that members of Team Anna must realize that people of this country came together for a cause of checking corruption in India rather than defeating the candidate of a particular political party. At the same time, the people of this country must also realize that the if we stop supporting Team Anna right now, it will take another few years to stand up and mobilize support for checking corruption. Members of Team Anna might have certain issues but we have to be with them till we get a strong Lokpal in India. We can stop supporting them once we get what we want.