Joining politics has never
been so cool. It’s like the new ‘in’ thing. Politics for long in India has been
perceived largely as a corrupt bastion, a space that did not belong to you and
me. Political activism by the huge apolitical class has mostly been limited to
bashing up of politicians and their policies. Politicians have so far
represented the lucrative yet untouchable strata of the society. Things have
all of a sudden started to change. Names you hardly imagined to be associated
to any form of active politics have started coming under political
affiliations. Is it then the beginning of a new dawn? Or is it, like a wind,
just a passing time we’ll soon be done with?
We don’t know that yet. What
we do know however is that it is a collective pent up manifestation of decades
of the ‘them and us’ syndrome. They’ve been the rulers and we’ve been misruled.
The anti-corruption movement in the last few years hasn’t been an ordinary
movement; it’s not been spearheaded by a galaxy of star politicians; except for
occasional guest appearances on stage by some popular names, the movement has
self-sustained, without big people and big money. It’s been a vehicle for
people who for decades have been unheard, unattended to, and whose plight has
been anything but humane. The elected governments have only been ‘by the
people’, not ‘for the people’ and definitely not ‘of the people’!
Every night – however dark it
is – ends and is followed by sunrise. The night we’re in is like a tunnel; it
is so long we don’t remember when we got into it, and we don’t seem to know how
far the end of it is. We’ve however seen occasional rays of light. The new
government in the state of Delhi is just a catalyst. It doesn’t matter whether
it succeeds or fails, sustains or perishes, delivers or fizzles. What matters
is that it is possible to dream big, challenge the conventional, scare
organized institutions, and make a difference. People have suddenly woken up
and realized that the real power lies with them. The cry for transparent
administration and clean governance is here to stay. This movement has
shattered the doubt we have had for our fellow humans with respect to their
honesty and integrity. We’d started to believe that everyone is corrupt and
dishonest. It’s now been proved that the majority wants to still live a life of
uncompromising dignity. It is the ‘system’ we ourselves had built around us
that started questioning our intrinsic humanly attributes.
I don’t believe I’m
stretching the truth way too much and I also don’t think I’m amplifying the
significance of this movement when I say that it’s a victory for the common man
and woman. Today’s voter is here to not only vote, but also participate,
question, scrutinize, demand, and if necessary, call back the elected
representative.
As a citizen of India, I want
to heartily congratulate everyone involved physically or ideologically with the
recent anti-corruption movement. I wish to thank all of them for re-instating
my faith in the power of the masses. The movement has not been limited only to
the Ramlila ground in Delhi or the Freedom park in Bangalore. The movement
truly has penetrated deep inside you and me. It has harped the right chord in
all of us who believed in endless possibilities and triumph of the right over
wrong.
I’m glad niceness again is
nice and cool!
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