Anna’s
anti-corruption movement is facing difficult decisions. Can they form a
political party and get any closer to their objective of reduced corruption in
India? There have been many skeptical remarks by public commentators. I would
like to remind them about parties like the Alliance '90/The Greens in Germany,
which won 10.7% of the
votes and 68 out of 622 seats in the Bundestag in 2009. Visit
A focus on the environment is one of the major characteristics of this party. If concern for the environment can get 10% of the seats in the Bundestag, I do not see why an anti-corruption movement cannot get 10% of the seats in the Indian Parliament. Clearly, however, it is not a cakewalk to create such a party. Much strategizing would be needed. The movement should recognize its limitations and focus on specific constituencies where it can win and on specific public figures who can get votes. The movement would also need to exert its influence not by fighting on its own, but supporting clean leaders from other parties and working against corrupt leaders. They should not choose the most corrupt to fight, but the ones who are most vulnerable in the electoral field. You need to win! Choose an enemy you can defeat! Altruism needs to be supported by good strategizing.
As we all know, the hatred for corruption is widespread in India and one political party alone cannot be the solution. Is there room for secret societies in this field? I believe there is, particularly in view of the vastly lowered effort required to do social networking using the cell phone and computer based devices. Why a secret society? Most people against corruption do not do anything about it – for fear that they will lose their jobs, will be thrown out of college, will be targeted by the baddies, etc. A secret society will protect whistle blowers. It will not expose them. It will let the “deep throats” communicate with the effective actors who will do what needs to be done.
Every corrupt person has a hundred people around him knowing what he does. No RTO’s office employee can do underhand business without a hundred people knowing it. No college can run a back-money factory without hundreds of students and their parents knowing it. Fraud is best sniffed out by people who have the knowledge. Take the case of the big share market scam of the nineties. I remember the role of some employees of the State Bank of India who saw a share-broker make frequent visits to the bank’s headquarters in a flashy Toyota Lexus and sniffed something fishy. Visit
for
information on the scam.
Somehow, information got to a veteran columnist, Sucheta Dalal, who wrote an article about what was going on and blew the scam sky high! Who decided to inform Sucheta Dalal, how was she chosen as the best person to act?
Put yourself in the shoes of an office employee, working in an office where everyone knows what is going on. There are at least a few people who are disgusted with it, but everyone is scared of the baddies, particularly the bosses who may be getting a good share of the loot! You don’t know someone who will strike out like Sucheta Dalal and succeed. I have a few suggestions for you:
You need a
secret society so that you can belong to it and work with others who think like
you without being exposed. But it need not be a single society, it needs no
central HQ, it doesn’t need a central leader. All you need to do is to believe
that there are few altruistic people like you who will not let this country go
to the dogs. Believe that you, along with them, and their other contacts can
achieve your goal. All of you don’t need to meet together. Everyone you think
belongs to this group does not need know the others. If some of them interact
with each other without your knowing it, so be it. Get to know a journalist, a few
students who are willing to act, and a big talker who seems to know everything
going on in the office. If you trust them, share some of your information with
them selectively. If one of them tells you something, you do not necessarily
have to let on that someone else had told you the same thing earlier. Let
information go around, someone with the opportunity and the capability will act
on it. There will be a hundred centres in the movement and hundreds of actors.
You need to have two important beliefs. One, we need to act collectively. Two, cursing and condemning is not action. Trust me, there are lots of Sucheta Dalals. As the movement grows, more and more of them will do what needs to be done.
The media have become powerful, and they usually ensure quick justice. A crook cannot spend his lifetime happily, filing appeals, delaying the progress of cases and getting bail every time. Media are not the only solution; there may be a few honest and competent vigilance officers; there may be a few honest and competent cops. There may even be a few honest and competent netas!
Srinivasan Ramani
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