Fight between democracy and demagoguery

Following the controversial and much-hyped campaign against corruption led by septuagenarian social activist Anna Hazare, the phased polls in five Indian states have begun. From people on the streets to analysts in research centers, all are keenly watching for impact of this movement on the results of the assembly elections.
No doubt, Hazare has brought corruption to the fore and sooner or later the government of the day has to take effective steps to rein in this monster. But at the same time the movement has left many pertinent questions unanswered.
India ranked 87 in Transparency International's index on corruption in 2010, behind rival China and polls show corruption vies with the high cost of living as the No.1 issue of concern to general public.
All the more so when hallowed national institutions have come under a cloud, especially after former Supreme Court Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, currently heading the National Human Rights Commission, has been implicated in numerous corruption scandals.
The anti-corruption movement has snowballed into one of the biggest challenges in decades not only for the ruling Congress party, but also to others who are championing it - now. Some call it India's own Arab Spring and parallels have been drawn between Delhi's Jantar Mantar rallies and Egypt's Tahrir Square, but things are quite different in India.
No doubt, Hazare has touched an emotional chord of an angry and frustrated India. But remember, Indians have routinely voted out governments and in that sense the anti-graft movement is different from those sweeping the Middle East.
While no one expects an Egypt-like overthrow in the world's biggest democracy, a galvanized and frustrated middle class and the mushrooming of social networking sites combined with an aggressive private media may be transforming India's political landscape.
"Democracy means no voice, however small, must not go unheard. The anti-corruption sentiment is not a whisper - it's a scream. Grave error to ignore it," Anand Mahindra, one of India's leading businessmen and managing director of Mahindra Group, wrote on Twitter.
This tweet has substance, in that any reasonable and rational voice in an elected democracy needs to be heard. And Hazare's rallying call against the most venal of action has hit home into the hearts of every Indian, who has at some time or another been a victim of graft. The government too realized the seriousness of the issue after weeks of protests. Their fervent hope that this was just another flash in the pan and would disappear without a trace was misguided. The Parliament finally gave in to the demands of Hazare.
The lawmakers agreed to incorporate the three main demands of the anti-corruption activist of bringing the prime minister, lawmakers and bureaucrats under the purview of the proposed anti-graft law.
This is without doubt a huge victory for Hazare, who has been eagerly embraced and lustily cheered on as the "second coming" of Mahatma Gandhi by the media and the middle class. The fact that it is the "second coming" of Gandhi is debatable.
The public sentiment on the issue of corruption has been so overwhelming that political parties, including the Congress, would have resisted the activist's virtual diktats at their own peril. Though people worldwide have taken to the rallying call of this modern-day Gandhian, there are skeptics who believe Hazare has set off an alarming precedent.
They ask, whether any rally that can bring in the numbers be worthy of their support. They also ask whether this bulldozing tactics of twisting the government and people's arms into believing in "their" cause is correct.
A call against democracy or against the country's secular fabric by a horde of citizens and netizens could be the next step in this "collective uprising." Will mob rule be the only pivotal point in pushing the agenda, or will the rule of the land prevail. Support for personal causes could then be the next move in the changing Indian "democracy."
No doubt, Hazare and his fellow travelers successfully and shrewdly tapped into and exploited public anger over inaction on graft. The fact that the campaign was urban driven, with many people from the minorities and Dalits failing to be impressed by the "collective call," was due to the fact that graft being a problem that is further removed from them, as they battle their own devils in India.
The fact that babas and yogis joined the Hazare bandwagon reveals the type of people trying to gain political and personal mileage from the anti-corruption movement. Theirs is a single-point agenda - promoting themselves.
The media too played a singular role in this whole saga. All were quick to praise the Hazare movement without delving into the deeper cause of the malaise. That should have been their job. Also, ironically, when the babas and yogis were out in force, not one of the media - both print and digital - had the gumption to look into the sudden thrust to limelight of these babas, both in their personal capacity as well as their business capacity.
The Hazare show raises other troubling questions. Even if the much debated anti-corruption law and the institution of Lokpal comes into being, is it really going to prove the magic wand that would rid India of the cancer of corruption gnawing at its vitals? Many doubt it. Graft runs like blood in the system. One watchdog, however powerful, cannot cleanse the body politic.
What India needs, or for that matter any other country, is an all-out, long-term, effective and sustained national movement to fight the scourge. In a country where nothing moves or happens without a bribe, it's naive to assume that populist antics demanding instant solutions and results would deliver the nation.
The most disturbing aspect of the whole business is the tendency of a handful of people to force their "solutions" and laws down the throat of a billion strong democracy and its representatives, using emotional blackmail -hunger strike - and political coercion by using the mob.
Remember, what distinguishes India from many of its neighbors is its amazing democratic experience defying great odds. The Indians must not allow anything or anyone to undermine this extraordinary achievement.
The Hazare hysteria had its own disturbing aspect. It literally had turned into a circus. Both the Congress-led government and civil society groups perhaps should share the blame for this state of affairs.
Their daily and hourly slugfest under the constant media glare, accusing each other of all sorts of conspiracies, chicanery and treachery left a billion plus nation baffled and bewildered - whether it needs democracy or "mobocracy"? Is it fight for democracy or demagoguery?