Team Anna: Lost without Anna?

The anti-corruption movement is all but over. Its roar is long gone — in our fast times one month surely is a long time — and the whimper is likely to linger for sometime. It’s not necessarily bad for the country. It needs such movements but with better clarity of purpose, a more practical approach to the cause, less dictatorial attitude and better leaders. The leaders of the current movement still find it difficult to accept that their movement has delivered a lot, although some of it by default and certainly not in accordance of the script they wanted to be followed. That the potential game changers in the country such as the citizen’s charter, the Whistle Blowers (Protection) Act and the judicial accountability bill have been treated with urgency by the government is a contribution of the public pressure generated by the movement. Lokpal was never a strong idea in the first place. It does not matter if it gets delayed. [caption id=“attachment_176802” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The leaders must withdraw now and plan their next move in leisure. Reuters”]  [/caption] The leaders must withdraw now and plan their next move in leisure. Particularly since not everything is going right for them at the moment. The more they press hard on their demands the more they are likely to lose credibility. Indications are that not all is well between Anna Hazare and his associates. There’s reason to believe that the Gandhian is suspicious of his team members and won’t lead the anti-corruption movement till he is convinced about their honest intention. Sample the recent statements and developments: “IAC (India Against Corruption) is 100 per cent a front of the RSS…It is not just the Congress that is corrupt. Slamming it daily has hurt credibility… Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi are taking decisions and making Anna speak for them,” Ashok Sabban, vice-president of the Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Andolan Nyas, was quoted saying in the Indian Express. “The IAC is taking advantage of his (Anna’s) simplicity,” Alauddin Sheikh, a close aide of the Gandhian for over a decade, was again quoted as saying in the newspaper. Arvind Kejriwal, the mega phone of the movement along with Kiran Bedi, has admitted that the movement is at crossroads and any wrong step now would prove disastrous. He has asked people for suggestions on the way forward, a great comedown for a man who could blackmail the government just two months ago. Shanti Bhushan, a core member of Team Anna, has been indicted by a court for evading stamp duty on an Allahabad property. He is the latest member of the team to have been found on the wrong side of the law after Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan. The team was earlier accused of misutilising money collected from the public for the anti-corruption battle in campaigning against the Congress at Hisar. Union Minister for Coal, Sriprakash Jaiswal, has challenged Team Anna to campaign against the Congress in the assembly polls. There has been no response from the team to it so far. There is little doubt that things are falling apart for Team Anna. It has lost popularity, it seems to have lost the cause too. Its mascot Anna no more commands the undiluted respect of the masses. Worse, it is not clear what it wants. It can no longer threaten political parties, the Congress in particular. The BJP, which it banked upon heavily for support, has turned out to be no better than the Congress. It cannot be seen to be supporting the party since it would invite serious questions on its apolitical nature. While the fortune of the team is on the wane, there’s one disturbing question that worries observers. Why is Team Anna so helpless without Anna Hazare? It is supposed to be a well-organised movement with several rungs of leadership in place. When Anna is not well or out of action, it should not hinder the movement in any way. However, as things look now, the team members lack the confidence to face people on their own. That is where Jaiswal’s challenge comes from. “Anna is not well but what stops Team Anna from campaigning against the Congress?’’ he asked, making it clear that only Anna matters to the movement, not his team. The members of the team must re-think their strategy to stay relevant.