"Gandhigiri" means to use non violent means to express dissent, get your point across and have your demands met. It is a pun on Gundagiri which means rowdyism! At times there is a very thin line that separates the two. Seems like it is a summer of discontent - worldwide. People everywhere are agitating sometimes using guns as in Libya or using Facebook to organize looting parties as in England . In India people are asking to be heard by going hungry and skipping a meal! This is meant to shame the government already inundated with countless fiscal scams and worst kind of malfeasance . At the time of writing no government including the Indian one was about to give in.
Why is change for the better so hard to make? My theory is that it is because we always look for a Messiah to come deliver us. Both collectively as a society as well as in our individual capacity. We need Jesus to pay for "our" sins so we are absolved. We need Muhhamed to intercede for "our" behalf and soon as we read the kalma our place in heaven is guaranteed . We need Gandhi to get "our" freedom and now we do not need to do anything to preserve it. Messiah have taken care of it. We hide behind them and refuse to take responsibility . Always hankering for one Messiah after another. If we do not find one, we create one. As long as we can avoid taking charge! Until we start bearing our own crosses things won't change.
Human society probably can never be entirely free of corruption . Greed for power and money is a human weakness. That is why governments, laws and systems of governance were invented. Biggest tragedy is that those nations which can least afford it are beset by endemic corruption. Where limited resources and poor development requires that every last available penny is used for public good; sees the severest form of systematic institutionalized loot of public funds. Several of African nations easily come to mind. Lots of Latin American and Asian one's too. Pakistan is reportedly led by a "Mr. Ten Percent", meaning one tenth of all resources are pocketed by him. India of course is miles ahead and seemingly her government is also a "Ten Percent" government. In their case ten percent is used for the public . Only ninety is siphoned off!
We have known it all along. We have experienced it everyday in our daily lives. Each one of us has seen this monster grow many times faster than the economy ; eat away at progress ; corrode governance; rot our society and widen the gap between haves and have not's. We have even participated in this madness by paying bribes here and there and even accepting them here and there. Some times brazenly , some times in the garb of "Diwali sweets". Have we done anything to arrest this slide? Well we were waiting for a Messiah to come deliver us!
Man Mohan Singh is an honest man ! He will change the face of India! .....I was one of those fools who believed in it. We made him an icon of honesty . Yes he will do it and we kept our eyes closed! Lo & behold ! He takes the prize for heading without argument the most corrupt government in India's recorded history. This messiah failed too. Even foreign invaders who made us slaves and exploited India were not half as bad. Some of them made Taj Mahal . Something beautiful and substantial to show for our ancestor's toil and their tax money. Some of those foreign rulers laid railways across the length and breadth of the nation. Iron railway bridge over river Yamuna in Dehi is still standing after hundred odd years. Compare to what we know happened when this government made Asian Games village! And who can forget the pedestrian bridge in front of Nehru Stadium which collapsed even before a single person could use it. India was shamed in front of the world but these thick skinned people carried on as if nothing happened.
We did not do anything as we were waiting for a Messiah. In came Baba Ramdev. We all thought he will do it .Long story short government did succeeded in throwing a lot of mud at him and cane charged him ..... so people lost interest. And now we have Anna. Will he do it ? Mind you he has made the government blink but only because people came on the streets. People took charge. Once his fast for fifteen days ends what will happen next ? Government is pretty sure public fatigue will set in by then and everything will be as it was. They are counting on our lethargy , disinterest and passivity.People will not disappoint them ! They know election is far away and by that time they will pull some other gimmick to come through again. Even if there is a short fall in seats they can throw money at it. Afterall that's why 2G and CWG scams took place. To create an election fund!
We can all say "Lage raho Anna Bhai. Carry on Anna! It is up to you . You are our Messiah". And that will be a strategic mistake once again. Anna will fail if we do not take charge and carry this forward till the end. As long as it takes. Or else wait for Godot. Forever.
