Cursed by Graft

When Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai decided to sit on an indefinite fast against graft at Jantar Mantar from July 25, they realised that it would be the fourth such public agitation by Team Anna over the last 15 months. They called it the "final war against corruption". They also changed tactics. Unlike previous agitations demanding that the Jan Lokpal Bill be passed by the Parliament, they zeroed in on the "enemies of Jan Lokpal" who are allegedly blocking the bill. Their fresh demand is to constitute an impartial Special Investigative Team (SIT) to investigate 15 tainted cabinet ministers, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the new occupant of the President's office Pranab Mukerjee.

Speaking to The Sunday Indian, Team Anna member Manish Sisodia outlined the way forward. “There is enough evidence against each of these ministers. Once there is an independent SIT inquiry against these ministers and they are jailed if found guilty, only then can the way be cleared for the passing of an effective anti-graft ombudsman,” he said, explaining the rationale behind the fresh demand.

Given that I am penning this piece on the day that this latest anti-graft agitation is taking off, it is tough to predict how the "final war against corruption" will play out over the next few days or perhaps weeks. Even historical pedagogy gives no definite answer. After the myriad travails faced by Team Anna over the last one year, many are deigning to say that the anti-graft agitation has lost its steam. That only a few hundred people turned up to support the Gandhian activist's fast in Mumbai last December and that the event was just a pale shadow of the thousands who took to the streets earlier in August 2011 supports the contention.

However, it is also a fact that the volunteer organised, poorly publicised, local- level public meetings in the run-up to the June 25 fast generated intense response. Lest we be hasty in drawing conclusions, this reporter walked the streets of the National Capital Region to attend a few of these preparatory meetings over the last couple of weeks. What began as a trickle of people at the beginning soon turned into a sea of people lining up to pick up the printed campaign material. Most sat for hours, bearing Delhi's sultry heat and warm winds, watching the energetic street play put up by student volunteers or hearing provocative addresses designed to prod their anger towards corruption.

We do not know yet whether Team Anna will be able to channelise this latent resentment of the common man towards rampant corruption in public life. We do not even know whether this latest war against graft will result in an August 2011-like mass uprising or will turn out to be another damp squib. But what we do know is that India is finally awake to the scourge of corruption. Young or old, male or female, businessmen or beggars, suddenly everyone has found a voice to protest against the graft that has spread its tentacles in India's political and bureaucratic fabric over decades.

TSI spoke to Sarita Singh, a volunteer, who is engaged with India Against Corruption for the last one year. A Post Graduation student Sarita says she has taken a break from studies for the time being and has been travelling over the last few months to awaken the common man to the cause. "Fighting graft is more important. Our country needs us," she says. Other youth volunteers with Sarita tell a similar tale. Vandana Singh has taken medical leave from work to actively participate in the agitation while Vikas Yogi quit his job at Wipro after the HR raised objections over him taking too many offs to join the anti-graft protests. They are all part of the group of volunteers performing street plays across North India.

Sure, the crowds were smaller. Many of those gathered on day one of the latest indefinite fast still seemed unaware of Team Anna's latest demands. But they did know that they were gathered to root out corruption from public life. In fact, their supportive enthusiasm on the first day was only overshadowed by their angry asides about how the second inning of the UPA government has been spent simply ducking from one scam to the next.

Almost every indicator suggests that economic illegality, fraud and corrupt practices in India have ballooned enormously in recent times. Coalgate, 2G, Adarsh, Commonwealth Games and a slew of other big and small scams has ensured that India's global image on tackling graft has gone from bad to worse. The nation slipped to a low 95 among 183 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) last year. India had ranked 72 among 180 countries in the 2007 Index. Allegations of corruption involving billions in public money, combined with policy paralysis, pathetic growth indicators and increasing inequality have all contributed to this growing rage against the political class.

So if India is angry, she has reason to be. The nation has waited two full decades since the end of the license-permit raj which was accused of breeding graft. But despite promises to the contrary, free markets have instead unleashed a new era of crony capitalism where corporate-led growth has increased economic inequality. Politicians and businesses siphon off billions of dollars during mega events (Commonwealth Games), illegally expropriate land at throw away compensations to benefit industries or freely takeover national resources like water, gas, minerals and spectrum to bequeath to private parties at their whim and fancy.

India seems no longer willing to take this lying down. People are up and about, they are coming together and they are a growing force gradually turning into a flood. Whether Team Anna leads this anti-graft agitation or Baba Ramdev or just another common man, this fire is not dying anytime soon. The seed is sown. It should reap a "cleaner" harvest.