Nation reach out to Anna Hazare

Anna Hazare is an RSS man, said one apologist of the UPA Government. Another said that he is an anarchist. The third called him a blackmailer. A too- clever- by- half loudmouth on nightly television tried to whip up support for the ruling combine by stressing that Hazare sought to sit over judgment over the Supreme Court judges as well. But all the abuse has failed to dent the popular support for Hazare's fast- unto- death. People, young and old, from diverse walks of life have openly offered support to the cause for which the 72-year-old social activist undertook the fast three days ago in the national capital. Of course, his immediate objective is to empower the proposed Lokpal so that he can undertake independent investigations into corruption charges against the highest in authority. But the easy support that Hazare has gathered reflects the general sense of disillusionment with the incumbent rulers for their failure to check runaway corruption.

A government mired in corruption scams of humongous proportions is least equipped to deal with the situation arising from Hazare's fast. Admittedly, some of the amendments proposed in the draft Lokpal Bill by civil activists spearheading the anti- corruption movement are decidedly unreasonable. But so poor is the image of the Government that even reasonable people are willing to endorse the proposals mooted by the Hazare supporters. Having forfeited its moral right to govern, though it still has more than three years to complete its fiveyear term, the UPA Government is hard put to contain the growing tide of popular anger against various corruption scams. The prime minister who pretends not to know when his own colleagues loot the nation has ceased to inspire confidence in his capacity to punish the wrongdoers.

If A. Raja and a few others are cooling their heels in jail, it is no thanks to Singh who, in fact had persisted with the DMK leader in Telecom Ministry even after he had perpetrated the biggest ever scam in free India. The CBI was obliged to act only after the Supreme Court undertook to monitor the investigations in the 2- G scam. Without doubt, there are many more scams than those which have already been exposed to the public. Despite being the world's second fastest growing economy, India ranks pretty low in the Transparency International's rankings of nations on the corruption meter. A corrupt oligarchy has come to rule the roast in the post- liberalization period, with the rent- seeking class raking it in big while the poor get further marginalized.

Corruption, it should be noted, hurts the poor the most. When the PDS rations are pilfered by middlemen, the NREGA payments are misdirected, it is the poor who lose. But those corrupting the system at the lower rungs of the administration draw inspiration from their political masters who loot and pillage with impunity. Corruption, then, is a vicious cycle in which everyone in the ` system' gets sucked in. By sitting on an indefinite hunger strike, Hazare has sought to focus on this hydra- headed monster. Indeed, if Manmohan Singh means well, and, we believe, he does, he would defuse the grave situation caused by his fast by publicly endorsing the aims for which he undertook it in the first place. After all, financial corruption has never been a weakness of this prime minister. He has nothing to lose if he makes common cause with the iconic social activist and commits himself to root out corruption from his government even if it meant his complete alienation from the Congress leadership.

Having enjoyed the fruits of power for six years, let Manmohan Singh play it by his conscience and stand up for some ideals. Otherwise, he will go down as the prime minister sans any sense of morality. Reach out to Hazare. Defuse the situation by undertaking to cleanse your own Augean stables. And you have a lot of cleansing to do, Mr Prime Minister.