Anna's anti-corruption movement inspires the youth

To quote a fan, home-maker Nisha Motwani, 40, he is the Harry Potter of anti-corruption. The "chosen one" to fight and end You-Know-Who. Or You-Know-What, as the case is here. India's Potter, the frail Anna Hazare, naujawan at 74, fights his battles with rustic charm and waves his own wand of practicality, wit, example and philosophy. And also, as his detractors would have it, with wilful blindness and an unwillingness to dilute his stand.The impact of Kisan Baburao Hazare on the India of 2011 is stuff that could inspire more than the seven books and eight movies of the enormously successful Potter franchise. To the young and the urbane, he is India's last hope. And even the cynical and the jaded are charmed by the innate simplicity of the man, despite the skein of obstinacy that borders on arrogance. On December 18, with a Karnataka-Maharashtra dispute over Belgaum simmering in the background, and distancing by an unhappy BJP in Karnataka over his "good lokayukta" demand, Hazare visited Bangalore. This was the first of a three-city whistle stop tour in the south to drum up support ahead of his proposed fast from December 27, and the 'Jail bharo' programme from January 1, demanding the passing of the Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament.This time, the heady spirit of the August kranti was not there. The crowd was thin, the traffic was smooth around the venues where Hazare addressed meetings. When stranded traffic in several parts of the city saw small groups of people carrying banners and shouting pro-Hazare slogans en route to the main rally venue, there was not much interest. But at the same time, no one complained or cursed them for the interruption.Anna Hazare fans rally against the government.In contrast to the acquired massive crowds at political rallies, those that came to Hazare's meetings were the hardcore converts. For them, Hazare is a combination of Gandhi and rockstar. From the starry-eyed, backpack-carrying schoolboys to the bored and stout IT employees, they roared at Hazare's witticisms, cheered his simple homilies and sneered at the political class ranging from P. Chidambaram to B.S. Yeddyurappa to the "good" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's "remote control" to the six Cabinet ministers in Maharashtra whose "wickets" Hazare said he had taken. Hazare gave the 'Jail bharo' call. Several in the well-heeled audience said they would indeed go to jail for the cause.Hariharnath, 32, a BPO worker, who had come with his two-year-old son and wife to see Hazare "live", said, "He did not say anything new, but I am happy to have seen him. If necessary, I am ready to go to jail. It is a now or never situation. If the Jan Lokpal can cut down corruption by even 50 per cent, it is worth it," he said. Veena Rai, 34, brought her 10-year-old son Danush to see the "modern Gandhi". "I don't know about going to jail," she said, "but I will try, in my own life, to ensure that corruption is not there. I will also teach my son that."Be it government official Guruprasad, 42, shopkeeper Shivkant Singh, 28, or mechanical engineer Prashant M.C., 32, the Hazare effect was evident in their plans to fight corruption in their lives. But raising a voice of doubt was German student Mathew Runge-Rannow, 24, who was trying to reconcile the scepticism of his National Law School University classmates with the enthusiasm of Hazare's volunteers. "Anna is not elected. Is it correct for him to make these demands?" he asked. IT employee Satyanarayana, 44, countered: "Our elections are rigged, votes are purchased with liquor and cash. Who are the elected to make our decisions?"Hazare connects to this cynicism of the upwardly mobile youth by dwelling on his self-journey into philosophy, spelt out in chaste Hindi. "At 26, I wanted to commit suicide. We spend our life with one word in mind, mera (mine). I did not want to get into this purposeless cycle. Then I read Vivekananda, and realised life had a purpose, which is seva (service). Now I carry mrityu (death) on my shoulders and am not afraid of anything. I made seva my life's goal," he told a rapt bunch of youngsters at another meet.A volunteer wearing a white skull cap, Sheikh Abdul Razzak, had an obvious problem. "Anna, they say you represent the RSS. How do people like me defend this?" Hazare's response: "Learn to swallow insults. Muhammad Paigambar (Prophet) had to flee. We all know what state Tukaram and Jnaneshwar were reduced to. Jesus Christ had to go on the cross. If those great men could deal with such things, why can't we swallow insults? Responding to insults leads to quarrels and jail terms. Stones are pelted only at trees that bear fruit. We will grow only if we learn to accept ninda (criticism)."There are people like former Karnataka Assembly speaker Krishna who believe Hazare's movement is apolitical and correct in its demands. There are volunteers like engineer Sanjeeva Kumar, 27, whose parents were coolies, who rose to become an IT professional. There are older Hazare acolytes like Sita Ramanathan, 63, who wants women to question their husbands for the source of every extra rupee that comes into the house. There are Bangalore celebrities like dancer Subhashini Vasanth, who says she feels inspired by Hazare to work against corruption.The nagging criticism, however, remains, about Hazare not being able to reach out to the genuinely oppressed. The average auto-driver or domestic worker or mechanic came nowhere near him. "I will work with the Anna movement against corruption, but there are various neo-liberal structures and issues that hamper it from turning into a mass one," said social activist Dr Ruth Manorama, president of the National Alliance of Women, whose NGO Women's Voice has worked for decades with the lower strata of society.Even among the educated, many have reservations over Annaisms like the flippant "Just one slap?" comment against Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and the "flog-it-out-of-them" solution to alcoholism.Hazare's volunteers also have to repeatedly cajole and shame people into contributing monetarily towards the movement. Former Infosys HR director T.V. Mohandas Pai said Hazare himself was aware of this lack of enthusiasm: "He said they all say Anna hum tumhare saath hai (Anna, we are with you), but when he turns behind to look, there is no one."Published By: AtMigration Published On: Dec 23, 2011 00:00 IST--- ENDS ---

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Anna's anti-corruption movement inspires the youth

Hazare's anti-corruption crusade has caught the imagination of the urban youth in search of an icon.

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