Lokpal Bill: It is about changing the status quo

We are passing through a historical moment. I was at the Anna Hazare protest in Ramlila maidan yesterday. There were people from all walks of life- young, old, rich, poor and even some foreigners. People have a sense of purpose. They want to do some thing to change the system. Scale and extent of corruption in scandals like commonwealth and 2G shocked people.

To be sure Lokpal bill is not every thing. We need a series of reforms to stem the rot. We need a root and branch examination of the current system.


We need police reforms so police can do their job without interference from their political masters. We need electoral reforms to take criminal elements out of politics. We need internal democracy in political parties. So we need whole lot of reforms to change the system.

I hear and read different arguments against this movement. One argument is that the people who follow Anna Hazare are naive, that they expect too much and that they don't understand what they want and that they don't know that they are going to fail. It is a convenient argument for doing nothing. It is very simple. Either you are happy with the current set up or you are not. If you are not, what you are doing to change it. Anna Hazare is doing some thing about it, here and now. To be sure Lokpal bill is not every thing and even Jan lokpal bill may not achieve much. But it is a step, first of perhaps many we have to take, just like the RTI Bill.

The second argument is that Anna and team can't impose the will on the nation. If it is only Anna and team, government wouldn't care. The fact is that millions of people support and want tougher legislation to fight corruption. In a democracy, citizens have every right to demand changes when things go wrong. Corruption has seeped into every root and branch of government machinery. It is about time we took steps to stem the rot. If politicians and bureaucrats are too comfortable to make changes to the cosy set up, then the citizens have no choice but to take to the streets to voice concerns and demand changes. And that exactly what is happening. To argue that, people should not demand changes and let the parliament do the job is to let the status quo continue. That's what people want to change.