Mee Anna Hazare: Mumbai rallies against graft

‘Mee Anna Hazare’ in Marathi means ‘I am Anna Hazare’. Everyone gathering at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan on Wednesday had caps that highlighted this statement.

This statement is fast becoming a philosophy. It means corruption is now unacceptable.

Yes, Anna Hazare is not Mahatma Gandhi.

But, he is certainly doing his bit to capture the imagination of  the people. This is because the philosophy transcends religion, age, gender and political lineage.

It is not surprising that the NGO organising the campaign, India Against Corruption (IAC), was upset that there were red communist flags hoisted next to the pandal that had activists backing Anna Hazare. “This is a people’s movement. We do not want any political party to hijack the cause,” said one IAC activist.

Students wore tags that called for an end to corruption, carried placards that criticised the incumbent United Progressive Alliance government and called for people to unite to save the nation.

Whenever there is a political rally, people are brought in buses by political parties, often for good money. Here, participation was voluntary. Journalists, doctors, children, television actors, the middle class walked into the Azad Maidan ground and joined the chanting that hailed the country.

“I have joined the campaign today,” said Sharad, a business consultant. He said he was helping people register to participate in rallies to be held in suburban parts of Mumbai.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA), a group of professional doctors in the country with 220,000 members across India, announced their support for Anna Hazare.

Listen to one of them speak here .

A businessman pointed out that he was tired of corruption. He said that people need to be told that if we stopped spending time and money on bribing corrupt officials, there is a clear tangible benefit.

“India’s GDP could go up to 12% from current 8% if one does not have to pay bribes,” said Chiranjiv Mehta, a businessman. He said he is speaking to all the people he knows in the business community to urge them to rally behind Anna Hazare. Mehta believes there is a need to communicate to the business community that there is a clear gain in this movement that can remove inefficiencies in the system. Listen to him here.

The government and the mandarins in Delhi have to act quickly.

As the Economist pointed out today: “the government desperately needs some bright ideas: first on how better to respond to Mr Hazare; and more importantly on how to show it will crack down on graft rather than those who complain about it.”