The Anna Hazare episode raises several interesting questions: Why did the government send Anna to Tihar jail? If Anna was posing a threat to public order then why was he released the same evening? Would Heavens had fallen had Anna sat on his fast at J P Park? Didn't the government and Congress Party expect the huge outpour of public reaction that Anna Hazare's arrest would evoke? Did the government decide to allow Anna to hold his fast in Ramlila Maidan after witnessing the widespread public support? It appears that the government, as usual, had to face both ends of the stick.
In 1975 when Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency to quell Jayaprakash Narayan's movement, it was JP who said: "vinashkale viparit buddhi" (when one faces disaster, the gods make one mad). Anna Hazare was arrested because there are too many lawyers advising it on political issues. The battle that the Congress was supposed to fight politically was being fought with the help of Criminal Procedure Code and police.
If one is ready to accept the logic given by Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram after Anna Hazare's arrest, then the corollary would be that the Congress henceforth will have to follow chief minister Mayawati's diktats whenever it decides to launch any agitation in Uttar Pradesh. It's Mayawati who will then decide how many activists of Congress will participate, for how many hours and in which locality. If Congress has to stage protests against Karnataka's former CM Yeddyurappa, it will be the chief minister Sadananda Gowda who will decide how many Congress activists should stage protests on which date and in which locality. To seek permission, laced with conditions, in order to express dissent, or to stage sit-ins is a loud joke on democracy.
I feel people sitting in the government had hardly an iota of thought about the vast public reaction that Anna's arrest would evoke. Large number of commoners came out on streets, mostly young men and women who had nothing to do with politics. This is going to affect Rahul Gandhi's brand of politics too, because Rahul was projecting himself as the leader of the younger generation. Congress leaders had no idea as to how much the common people were fed up of all-pervading corruption. The series of scandals that broke during the last one year, particularly the 2G scam and the Commonwealth Games scam, helped in provoking people to express their anger. Anna became the medium. And there lies Anna's power. That's why you find so many people out on the streets, expressing their anger over pricerise and corruption. Anna is merely a symbol of popular dissatisfaction. That is why you find common people shouting 'Anna, Anna' at India Gate, at Jantar Mantar, outside Tihar jail and in major metros and small towns of the country.
Coming back to the original question: Would Heavens have fallen had Anna Hazare sat on fast on Day one? Why did the government become desperate? I think the reason lies behind the arrogance of some ministers in the government. The very people who were bowing in front of Swami Ramdev and Anna Hazare , suddenly felt that they have done the wrong thing by talking to these two men. Since the arrogant believe that government imposes its authority through the power of the stick (danda), it opted for the policeman's stick. When the stick failed, the media was blamed. If you listen to Kapil Sibal, it was the media which made Anna a hero. "Had there been no TV channels, no live cameras, the agitation would have ended with a whimper", he meant to say. My take is that, had the people not been dissatisfied, had the people not been fed up of pricerise, had Kapil Sibal not shown arrogance, live TV cameras would not have brought out the desired effect. The difference being: live TV cameras are showing to what extent the people are in pain, and the voluble ministers of this government were trying to hide that pain.
What could be more shameful for a democracy than the fact that Anna was kept in the same jail, where the likes of A Raja and Suresh Kalmadi are cooling their heels for the last several months. Anna is no criminal, he didn't break any law, he didn't hurt anybody, sending him to jail could have been legal, but in political lingo, we call it ‘self goal'. The least govt could have done was to detain Anna in some guest house.
The most amusing part is that after doing all this the government is now saying: it was the Delhi Police's decision to arrest. Who is going to believe this? Can it ever be that the Delhi police arrests Anna and sends him to jail without the Home Minister's permission? Chidambaram cannot feign ignorance about where Anna was being kept. Even a child in this country knows that the Police Commissioner of Delhi cannot even breathe without the Home Minister's permission. So far, there hasn't been a Police Commissioner till date in Delhi who could keep a leader in jail for five hours, while keeping the Home Minister in the dark.
The Congress had to bear the loss of this flip-flop in government’s decision making. Decisions were being taken, and then being changed at random. At one point of time, five senior ministers sit with Anna Hazare to draft a bill, and then the same party levels serious allegations of corruption against Hazare. They send him to jail in the morning, and by the evening they tell him with folded hands that he was free to go. At one point of time, they describe Anna as a threat, and then they themselves cower in front of him.
Anna effect is that all the major opposition parties have begun to join hands. Left parties joined hands with BJP to seek answers from the Prime Minister. Chandrababu Naidu joined hands with Mulayam Singh. Mayawati too issued a statement Anna’s crusade against corruption.This prospective unity of opposition parties could be dangerous for the Congress. Major allies of Congress in the UPA are upset. Sharad Pawar had conveyed to Congress leadership that they have been kept in dark about governments plans to tackle Anna. UPA allies consider this a battle to be fought by Congress alone. This is not a good sign for the ruling alliance. A joint opposition in Parliament and the people out in the streets -- whom is the government going to stop?
With the arrest and curb on Anna's right to protest, the issue is no more confined to the Jan Lokpal Bill now. The issue now is: will there be democracy in this country or not? Will the aam aadmi have to take permission from the government for raising his or her voice? Will ministers drunk with the arrogance of power continue to label everybody raising one's voice as corrupt? If that be so, then this country is destined to repeat the JP movement of 1974. The youths will then sing Ramdhari Singh Dinkar's poem : "Singhaasan khali karo ki janata aati hai" (Vacate the throne, hear the footsteps of the people)
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