Sniping at anti-corruption crusaders will not save Congress Party

A sustained campaign of sniping at the leaders of the anti-corruption movement by senior members of the Congress Party, speaks of policy confusion and lack of leadership. What is it designed to achieve?

Kejrival, Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi & Swami Agnivesh
Who will guard the guards?

Two members of Anna Hazare's campaign team were found to be guilty of fiddling expenses (Kiran Bedi) and diverting donations (Arvind Kejriwal). That gave the Congress Party opportunity to ridicule the anti-corruption campaigners. 

Civil rights lawyer Prashant Bhushan, another key member, suggested that the people of Kashmir should decide whether they wished to stay in India, be independent or switch to Pakistan. That is a 'sacred-cow' issue with most Indians. He was assaulted in his office by thugs believed to be members of an extreme Hindu fundamentalist organization.


Team Anna are on the back-foot and divided. That does not absolve the Congress Party of corruption in government. A corrupt government smearing anti-corruption campaigners does not win sympathy from a public fed-up with civil servants and politicians who abuse their positions. 

Bhushan attacked 
by goons

My hands are clean

The weak Manmohan Singh, out-manoeuvred by powerful political warlords, signals administrative dysfunction to voters. 


There is no one in the driver's seat. This is a lame-duck government which will be turfed out at the next general election.


Corruption works for everyone except the dispossessed


The victims of India's systemic corruption are the powerless masses who can't get relief from policemen, government clerks or elected representatives. 


The middle classes are annoyed that they have to grease palms at every turn. The rich leverage it to bend the system to their benefit. 


State legislators and parliamentarians see it as their ticket to amassing wealth by exerting influence on government contracts. Corruption works for everyone except the dispossessed.


What incentive for Parliament to pass Jan Lokpal Bill?


None. About 25% of sitting parliamentarians are convicted of crimes or pending charges. A larger proportion manage to pilfer without legal trace. More than US$1.4 trillion of India's 'black money' is stashed in Swiss Banks. Up to 40% of India's GDP is estimated to disappear from the economy into the pockets of civil servants, politicians and colluding businessmen. 


The last thing India's political class wants is public scrutiny of its methods of enrichment from public finances.


Thanks to the Right to Information Act (RTI) which was forced on the government in 2005 by an earlier public campaign, activists can request sight of documents, memos and contracts which were previously inaccessible. That data can be quickly distributed through social networks to name and shame the guilty. The politicians deeply regret passing the RTI Act.


Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently floated a trial balloon saying the RTI needs to be reviewed as it inhibits civil servants from appending notes and comments to proposed Bills and projects. It slows down the normal functioning of government. That brought a torrent of protest from social activists, amply magnified through TV talk shows and press commentary.


Taking lessons from the effect of the RTI Act, the political class has no incentive to rush passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill lobbied by activist Anna Hazare. It is a severe tool designed to rid India of its Neta-Babu (politician-bureaucrat) nexus through swift justice meted out by a citizen's Ombudsman and his avenging angels. 


It gives corrupt judges, ministers, civil servants and legislators little legal privilege. It is punitive and extreme to a political class used to distorting legal process to escape responsibility.


Hazare warns Congress Party of election risk


Anna Hazare has warned that if a strong Jan Lokpal Bill is not passed into law by the Winter session of parliament, he will tour all the states where by-elections are due and re-ignite public anger against Congress Party candidates. That is no idle threat. 


The public fury that was triggered across the nation by Anna Hazare's fast in August has not gone away. India's voters are restive. And the game has gone well past the stage for the  government to invoke security as a cover to lock him up.


Congress Party strategists are toying with parliamentary process and legal punditry to water down the Lokpal Bill and starve budget allocations for the ambitious central and state anti-corruption machinery. 


By a clever combination of toothless legislation and budgetary under-provision, politicians of all parties hope to escape dismissal, seizure of assets and jail.


What is the point of getting elected if you cannot leverage your position to become a millionaire?


ENDS