Team Anna seems to be in disarray of sorts. A senior member of the team namely Santosh Hegde has refused to be party to the allegations made by the team against the Prime Minister and 14 of his senior ministers. In a statement Hegde said he was not kept informed of the decision and was not in know of the charges on the basis of which the team has indicted the Prime Minister. He reiterated that in his opinion Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was an honest and upright person and he was not one who would level charges against him.
This is a clear sign of disunity among the Team Anna on vital issues. What has come in the press about this episode reveals that there is lack of coordination among the team members so much so that when such serious a charge like one of corruption is brought against the Prime Minister of the country, all members of the team are not taken onboard. It seems there is a small group of persons who manage the affairs of the team as they like and without inducting the element of democratic approach. People believe that in many vital matters the coterie does not even consult Anna. If that is true then this is no way to claim that the team is conducting its affairs under democratic norms.
Anna’s anti-corruption movement received great support from ordinary people of the country. The reason is that people are fed up with corruption in the administration. They are angry that there is weak rather very weak accountability system in the country. It is the media that brought the scams and cases of bribery to the public gaze. Otherwise nobody would have known anything about these scams in the country. True, Anna got popular support. However things would not move smoothly because there are vested interests in and outside the Government, and in and outside the civil society. Perhaps Anna had not foreseen the opposition his movement would face once things started moving. There were technical and legal difficulties in how the Lokpal Bill would go through. There was lot of bad blood created among the concerned. This was not expected. People said one thing and did another. The entire process was sought to be derailed. The bill did not come.
Perhaps out of frustration caused to Team Anna on account of delay and deferment of the Lokpal Bill, some members of the team lost their cool and decided to assert by bringing charges against the PM and some of his senior colleagues. In the first place anger or hatred or sense of revenge is very negative traits in the character of a politician or a public servant. Any decision taken in anger and haste generally recoils at the end of the day. Bringing allegations of corruption against the Prime Minster is a matter of serious responsibility. It becomes more serious in view of the fact that the Prime Minister in person has been accepted as the most astute and honest leader we have. Nobody is going to buy the story of Dr. Manmohan Singh being of doubtful integrity. Furthermore the statement of some prominent members that they believe the Prime Minister is honest but he is shielding dishonest parsons under him or around him. This is a vague statement which does not go down the throat that easy. We have a democratic system in the country. The Government constitutes of elected persons and there is distribution of power not only among the three organs of the state but also within each organ. A case of corruption has to be processed under given procedure. The party involved is to be given ample opportunity to prove its innocence.
Everybody wants that we should have a clean and incorruptible administration. But wishes are wishes and human nature has to be given its margin. If Santosh Hegde does not read English while the documents the Team Anna claims are in English, it does not mean that owing to paucity of time for getting these translated into Hindi, Hegde should not be provided with translation and a decision was taken by only those who knew English. Hindi is our national language and the constitution lays down that Hindi and English both have equal status in the eyes of law.
Tea Anna is loosing some of its popularity with the masses of people owing to some wrong moves made by the team. There is a tendency among some of the team members that their views need not be discussed and simply carried further. Moreover, Anna has begun to dabble in national issues outside the realm of corruption like elections, party politics, national financial and economic policy etc. Isn’t it going beyond its original mandate? Team Anna’s interference in Hissar elections has led to raising of many eyebrows. We think Team Anna should remain confined to its precise agenda only and desist from making arbitrary announcements. It needs to work with cohesion and unity if it really means to achieve something from the movement it has floated.
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