Clearly the mass uprising against the arrest of Mr. Anna Hazare has taken the government and supporters of the party in power by surprise.
But what comes as a pleasant surprise is the active participation of the youth, particularly the youth / student community in raising its voice against corruption and in favour of transparency and accountability. As our past Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Subramanium put it, Anna has touched a raw nerve that has helped galvanize and unite the nation.
Having said this, I feel that the party in power and the sycophant administration totally miscalculated the situation and the power of the people that Anna unleashed. Anna continues to checkmate each calculated move of the government leading to greater admiration in this country of this one man army.
The government continues to be ill advised by people like Kapil Sibal, Ambica Soni etc who appear never to have been at the receiving end; hence the advice born out of arrogance. Mercifully, sane advice from some quarters within has prevailed - the likes of Manish Tiwari and Digvijay Singh have been asked not do what they do best, foul mouth!
We live in a world of perceptions. Anna Hazare is and is perceived to be a man impeccable credentials, fighting for a cause dear to the nation. Dr. Manmohan Singh too is a man of impeccable credentials, heading a government that patronizes the corrupt and corruption and hence despised. Mr. Hazare rightfully reminded the PM that he was nearing 80, has achieved the pinnacle - what stops him from taking a rightfull stand!
Dr. Manmohan Singh has projected himself to be a well bred sycophant of Sonia Gandhi and her son and appears to have lost his sense of balance. He has lowered his image in the eyes of civil society. What use education, distinction and eminence if grace is lacking.
A simple statement from the PM assuring the nation of his determination to introducing transparency and accountabilty in governance would have raised his stock that now lies in a pigsty!
As Mr. Rajinder Puri rightfully points out - where is the need for a Lokpal; All that is needed is to make the Anti Corruption Wing of the CBI totally independent. But that would risk putting half of the party and so called parliamentarians behind bars !
