It was Anna all over India over the last two days and still continues to be so. The massive support for the 74 year old Kisan Baburao Hazare popularly known as Anna Hazare attracted attention of the entire world. Earlier the government which arrested Anna on Tuesday morning had to back down amid protests across the country and order his release. However, Anna agreed to come out of Jail only after authorities granted permission to fast at the famous Ramlila Maidan for 15 days. Many question his stand on the Lokpal bill issue, and Parliament’s power to frame laws is not questionable. However, Anna’s real achievement has been the awakening of the Indian citizen. Thousands of citizens participated in a candle light march at India Gate demonstrating their support to fight against corruption. As I write, people are organizing protests across the country. Suddenly, people found a voice in the form of Anna Hazare, who was awarded Padmashri in 1990 and Padmabhushan in 1992.
The Prime Minister, the architect of the economic reforms in India is well respected, yet government’s handling of the situation should have been better. The Opposition parties as expected were quick to seize the opportunity to corner the government on the issue. It is an opportunity in disguise for the Prime Minister to evolve a strong mechanism to fight corruption. On the other hand, the civil society is expected to act in a responsible manner and utilize the support provided by the people to strengthen Indian democracy. They have to tread with caution as abuse of power provided by the people is in itself, a form of corruption. While honest governance is important to eradicate corruption, we as citizens have equal responsibility to discourage corrupt practices in our daily life.