The Anna Phenomena

Some sections of society may call it “mass hysteria”, some may call it “blackmail of government” as well, but the essence of the movement against corruption led by Anna Hazare clearly lies in the fact that when the political masters of this country fail to establish themselves as the true champions of the common causes of citizens, whether it's good governance or justice for common man, then a huge vacuum is pushed into the political silos where someone like Anna tries to fill in, not because that Anna is the only messiah of desperate citizens who are fed up with issues like corruption, but because the hidden aspirations of common man somehow strike the right chord that Anna fairly understands even without having a grandstanding political acumen. And that's the USP of Anna as a champion of causes.

There is no denying the fact that Anna's movement against corruption is people's movement which should have been driven by politicians; however, after 65 years of Independence, this political class irrespective of shades has miserably failed to connect with people's expectations from them. Eventually the hiatus between people's aspirations and political commitment has gone increasing over the years and at this juncture the fault lines have even significantly become susceptible to deficit of trust between them. In effect the people of this country have found someone objective to their imagination of a hero promising a Utopian world, which might be possible in letter without spirit, but the public mood at this point of time is even more porous to capture the rhythm that Anna has composed – a corruption-free India.

Well, the transformation of Anna as the idol of youth power or the champion of anti-corruption movement is somewhat a choreographed version of electronic media that in all probability for a better TRP and in the name of breaking news have reduced to ghetto-blasters of pre-Independent era when message was more important than the messenger. And that message is Anna's passion for cleansing a system that has deliberately marred the aspirations of citizens. When the carcinogenic systemic corruption has affected every section of society, neither any government nor any political party has substantially attempted to address the real issues in a democracy, rather they have drifted away from the ownership and accountability that the citizens of this country often imagined a prerogative of those in the corridors of power.

Now that after 65 years of Independence, the people of this country are experiencing a deja vu of events that were a phenomenon of colonial era when the voices of people were suppressed by the highhandedness of British rulers. And the irony here is that being in the largest democracy of world, the fundamental rights of people are snapped when the whims and fancies of the government undermine the very essence of democracy. The rise and rise of Anna in the public imagination is a consequence of grave mistakes committed by the politicians of this country. Anna is no more just a popular mass leader of this country, he is a phenomenon derived by the collective conscience of a nation that's seriously experiencing a trust deficit in political leadership.