As I put on the Television today like the entire India was watching, to know anxiously how ‘The Anna Hazare’ campaign was going on in Delhi; I was disgusted to hear about his detention. What was more thwarting was a Congress’ statement” In a democratic nation, Everyone has a right to protest, but there are rules, methods and laws to do so.” Did someone dare to ask ‘who made these rules?’
Just a reminder, Democracy, comes from a greek word ‘dēmokratía’ meaning ‘rule of the people’. If the Government understands that these laws were made by and for the people of the nation, then I am sure it also understands that there is a lot of dissatisfaction and aggravation in the general public due to issues involved in the LokPal bill. This is quite evident with the kind of massive support Anna Hazare is getting from THE PEOPLE - first in April when he demanded the bill to be introduced in the Parliament and now when he feels that the same is not totally transparent and integrated.
So, is it a time that we like cowards under the cover of justice, arrest such a personality and try to suppress the reason behind it saying that the method of protest is incorrect. Or is it the time to understand what the public is trying to put forth through Anna and address the matter. This includes changing our laws/regulations which hinder such meaningful protests.
Anna Hazare , a social activist, believes that our freedom is at the teeth of danger due to corruption and unless it is eliminated, the country will not be free in its true sense. Therefore, a peaceful war has been waged against corruption with the help of immense support from people.
However, the matter in question has instead become ‘Whether the hunger strike started by Hazare confirms to the democracy standards?’ If you ask the Government, they have already answered it by imprisoning this icon who is trying to raise his voice on behalf of the majority nation, for a good cause.
If we come to analyse democracy standards, while there is no specific, universally accepted definition of 'democracy', equality and freedom have both been identified as important characteristics of the same since ancient times. And by no means has Anna done anything to disobey these fundamentals of democracy. He just got a huge public support which did not seem to go well with the few. On the contrary, in fact, steps taken by the Government are completely abhorrent to democracy.
I can recall a quote by Wills Rogers, an American humourist ‘ On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.’ Yes, this strongly brings to my mind that probably that’s what India is doing. It’s high time we use our fundamental rights and our minds. Frankly, we as a part of a huge democracy must be unwavering and aware enough to support wisely who we think is our well wisher – one who recognises our problems or the one who blindly follows the system.
Aristotle once said, ‘Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.’ Do we agree to that? NOOOOO……. And if that’s the case we should all muster up the courage to support Anna Hazare in every possible way. We are neither indignant nor uneducated. We just have to prove it one more time that we have the capability to take the right steps to say the right thing at the right time and tell the world that we know well to conduct ourselves as a successful democratic nation.
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