by NR INDRAN / INT

Not love but Lokpal is in the air this Christmas. New year may bring in this bill which has developed a lot of hope in the minds of the ignorant and the casual Indian citizens. We all believe that Lokpal is an important bill and a prime national issue. But now its superceding the importance of the basis of our national democratic system.  Lokpal issue is getting stronger than the constitution , then designed by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, who thought it would be a supreme body ruling the country. Team Anna has defamed the constitutional presence and has nullified the existence of parliaments by his slow fasts.

Lokpal  bill will certainly help reduce the magnitude of corruption that is taking place in our country, but a weak Lokpal bill will multiply malpractices and will turn the common man into an experimental specimen. But Team Anna wants it right now. Every channel  shows Anna fasting, Kejriwal screaming his lungs out, Kiran Bedi with a disappointed expression on her face, Medha Patkar still advocating Naramada mishap and a huge crowd witnessing all the drama at Bandra Kurla Complex, the economic hub in Mumbai. Unfortunately, the crowd does not know what “Lokpal ” is all about and they don’t know what they are gathered for.  All they know is that this gandhi dummy will save them some money by some way they don’t care and get them justice if something like it exists ever. On the MMRDA ground today some landed up to be seen on TV or to get a free ” I am Anna” cap to flaunt. The charisma of the Anna Andolan has gone down as compared to the Delhi event.  Mumbai does not showup but showsdown to this fasting game.

Most of the people commenting on Lokpal and the MP’s debating this issue  aren’t aware of the draft as they haven’t read it. Irony is that each one is quite serious about something that is a mystery to many in the system too. Few who understand are confused why Anna is reacting and surprised why the government isn’t acting.  Infact the 3 day fasting has no meaning in the first place when the system is functioning in the direction of concluding this bill. While the government is debating on the bill, anna claims to pressure the government to accelerate the process.  Publicity stunt or power show, whatever you call it but nothing close to what Mahatma Gandhi did decades before. He fought silently for freedom and the team Anna enjoys the freedom to fight silently with cameras around portraying him as the Gandhi of today.

Mr Kejriwal thinks he is the only representative to this nation and Ms Bedi feels that she is the goddess of law and understanding. Anna seems to be misguided, misled and mismanaged. Anna is not the sole spokesperson for civil society! And neither is his team .

We are on way to giving birth to a premature Lokpal and forcing the parliament to be a parent to an abnormal body. We will surely be Iraq or Egypt in future and will be ruled by America. Any country when portrays that it cannot handle itself is taken over forcibly  by the supreme power. We seem to be the next. Another freedom struggle on its way. In the process of getting a Lokpal, we may lose India.

If Mr.Subramanium Swamy can put number of ministers behind bars with existing laws, we actually need to learn to implement the laws that already prevail before making new regulations. Its not just about making laws, its about implementation also. And who does the implementation, team Anna ? Who becomes the lokpal, Team Anna ?  Sounds like Lokpal is a personal affair and not a national post.

Megalomania means deluding yourself that you are the world & the world is you! This is the illness that team Anna is suffering from. Anna needs to wake up to the manupilation around him.

Let’s not lose our very beloved India for the sake of an unknown Lokpal.The above is the opinion by Dr. Swapna Patker. / [email protected]

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