Anna Hazare & IAC – Return of the Flop Show!

After a week of fasting by some of the prominent members of India Against Corruption (IAC) like Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and later joined by Anna Hazare himself, Team Anna has predictably made a U-turn once again by deciding to call off the fast. A movement that seemed to appear invincible just about a year ago, has lost all its steam. It did not even make front page news and all the high sounding words like ‘fasting unto death’ was merely done to gain media attention. Now they are talking of launching a political alternative, clearly a face saver and trying to aim at the 2014 General Elections.

As was analysed in all our previous articles on the whole Anna Hazare led anti-corruption movement, the links to big corporations and corruption within the movement itself, has brought all sorts of internal contradictions to the fore and has in turn contributed to its dismal performance. The fact that the mass of the Indian working people like the Daliths, the minorities, adivasis and other oppressed sections of the populations did not join, even when the movement was at its peak, showed its limitations. Now with its upper middle class supporters deserting them in droves on what they clearly see as a lost cause, the whole show did not resemble even a shadow of its former self.

What Went Wrong?

The so called leaders of the movement clearly went overboard believing that an Anna Hazare or even a few of them fasting could achieve all their stated goals. With a support base very clearly amongst the upper classes/ castes and absolutely no touch with the real issues faced by the working people of India, the leaders of the movement were clearly aiming at cashing in on the anger of the people against the ruling classes.

The second mistake was their definition of the term “corruption”. By putting corruption as the root cause of India’s failure to develop into a modern economy and projecting a draconian Lokpal Bill (Ombudsman bill) as a solution to everything, they completely missed the boat. The root causes of corruption in India is linked to policies of capitalist globalization and the feudal remnants that still hold sway in the large parts of the countryside.

Their third mistake was believing that the media would once again come to their rescue and make a big show of it all. And this did not happen. One, its political masters clearly forbid it and the other there was hardly anything worthwhile to cover, about Arvind Kejrival or Manish Sisodia fasting, to boost their TRP ratings!

The other thing which the IAC will never acknowledge but also contributed to its success last year was the favourable nudging the ruling Congress party (for its own political reasons) deviously displayed towards the movement, first by inviting them to be part of the drafting committee of the Lokpal Bill initially and later making Anna Hazare a hero by jailing him during the August spectacle of the 12 day fast. And last but by no means the least, the IAC had clearly lost its political backers in the RSS and the Sangh Parivar, whose cadres were in their full numbers the last time around.

The reason for the rupture between IAC and RSS/ Sangh Parivar was every bit competitive politics. The RSS needed another face apart from the BJP (which it saw as totally enmeshed in corruption scandals to lead an effective anti-corruption movement) and thus the secret understanding with IAC that almost saw the RSS micro-managing the whole campaign last year. But with IAC clearly developing political ambitions and links with the RSS clearly problematic in terms of projecting a secular image, this marriage had to end sooner or later.

What Now?

The flip-flops and the antics of the IAC clearly spells doom for the whole movement unless their former political benefactors in the mainstream parties decide it otherwise. Nobody will take the movement seriously any more as everyone can see as clear as daylight that the whole Gandhian antics of Team Anna such as ‘fast unto death’ were simply empty threats to begin with and the whole thing was a stage orchestrated play.

The new element that has now been added is their desire to enter the political arena. While the details are yet to be spelt out, but after carrying out entire monologues for over an year about theirs being an apolitical movement, we are now being told that that they wish to form a political alternative! Either their political astrologers must have read the wrong stars or they must be clearly out of their minds given the present state of their movement. If they think that the anti-incumbency factors against the Congress will work in their favour in 2014 elections, this can only be wishful thinking. With absolutely no support base to begin with, this will turn out to be another flop show, unless otherwise skilfully manipulated through the support of the mainstream parties.

Even more ridiculous is their aim to project a civil society -type, clean candidates for elections and a secular alternative. First, is the stupid notion that in-corruptible elected representatives can ensure a corrupt free system, without going into the root causes of corruption which is linked to capitalism and landlordism. Second, is what type of a secular alternative are they talking of. If tagging with one or the other of the so called mainstream secular parties that have powerful vested interest with big corporations or feudal interests in the countryside, then this is no different from the trap the left parties have usually fallen by opportunistically aligning with Janata factions or Congress in trying to keep the communal BJP out of power and thus ending up supporting the anti-people policies of these governments. With the likes of Baba Ramdev’s making periodic appearances with IAC, their secret understanding with the Sangh Parivar last year and Anna’s own sympathies to the likes of Narendra Modi or Raj Thackeray (which goes with his village patriarchal mentality), these are merely indications of what kind of secularism or opportunistic alliances that can be expected from them in the future.

Secularism has always been the refuge of the ruling Congress party that has been used to manipulate the Indian electorate and skilfully hide the real reasons for the rise of communal politics in India that is linked to Congress covert and sometimes open support to communal politics. Moreover, it is the policies of the Congress linked to capitalist globalization that has created a favourable ground for communal politics as well as fundamentalism, in the absence of a genuine socialist alternative.

What then is the alternative?

As we have stated time and again, there can be no corruption without capitalism. There is absolutely no way that corruption can be solved with a draconian Lokpal Bill. Unless the struggle against corruption is linked to the struggle against capitalism and landlordism, corruption will continue to leach on the wealth of the nation as a parasite bound to its host body. Only on the basis of a socialist alternative, where the means of production and the day to day running of the society is in the hands of the working people, can the issues such as corruption as well as other ills plaguing Indian society be first of all addressed.