Yes. The protest is simplistic. Anna is a symbolic (though flawed) leader. People need symbols. The Congress botched it up badly. People elect representatives not CEOs of corporation who actions are driven by commercial interests. Hence it is rightful that their ire should be directed against the politicians.
An aside fact, Manmohan Singh (who is rightfully the butt of jokes in the whole debate) has never won a Lok Sabha seat. He is also the only PM after Nehru to return to power after serving a full term. Democracy and electoral politics still ? Seriously people, come on. The head of ruling party, Mrs. Gandhi is ill - no one know about her illness. Her son - the Prince "Rahul" and heir apparent plays safe all the time and does not comment on issues of public importance. In times when decisive action is needed, one gets only platitudes from the Ruling coalition in the name of "Coalition Dharma". This movement underline the total lack of leadership and thoughtfulness of national politics as much as corruption itself. The movement should be looked at such and not in isolation. This is also a protest against profiteering by privatisation of public goods (Think 2G scam, various mining scams) in which corruption acts as a conduit. Not directly related, but I would recommend reading this piece by Ramchandra Guha in the Telegraph http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110702/jsp/opinion/story_14107197.jsp Regards Vinayak On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 12:28 PM, Dinesh Venkateswaran <[email protected]> wrote: > > > On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 7:40 AM, Sruthi Krishnan <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Warning: it is a long post. >> >> I know there is corruption in our country but there is a process and a >> procedure, which is democratic. This fast is subverting democracy by >> not letting procedure take its due course. It in fact helps >> delegitimize democracy. > > 64 years, 8 attempts for a lokpal bill to be passed. 8 parliamentary > standing committees. procedure surely doesnt have a minimum stipulation of > 100 years duration. and scam after scam. and who is questioning democracy, > btw? by electing some MPs, we are not surrendering our brains to them. they > are supposed to act in public interest. If they are not, protest is a > reasonable thing to be undertaken. all else does not follow. because we are > not delegitimising democracy in any way. > thanks > Dinesh
