ANALYSIS It all reads like a script and sounds too good to be true. A 76-year-old anti-corruption crusader decides to begin a fast for passage of an anti-graft bill amended beyond recognition. Within a week of his fast, there is an unprecedented and amazing political bonhomie on the issue. Yes gentlemen, bonhomie, not just agreement which itself has been a political rarity.
The fairy tale continues. In a span of a few hours, politicians-as if born for the very purpose-pass the bill in both houses of Parliament. The bill is now on its way to become law soon. It's a neat happy ending with all parties claiming credit for the passage of the bill, surprisingly amicably.
What do we make out of this? More so since, the issue itself is more than 45 years old: the first attempt to introduce the Lokpal bill was made in 1968. Sometimes, the story should not be read line by line. It might be between them. Let's rewind the clock by 10 days and see the developments in a fresh perspective.
On December 8, the results of the elections in five State Assemblies were announced. While the BJP riding on strong Narendra Modi wave emerged victorious in three of the five states and just fell short of majority in Delhi, the show-stopper who hogged the limelight was Arvind Kejriwal with his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) bagging a record 28 seats in its maiden poll in Delhi.
The two main political parties who kept writing off AAP all through the hunstings were taken off their feet with the unexpected results. Veteran BJP leader LK Advani and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi both conceded they had lessons to learn from AAP's victory.
The man who seemingly regretted being denied a pie of Kejriwal's moment of fame was none other than his former mentor and veteran anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare. Hazare told reports that Kejriwal would have become chief minister of Delhi if he had supported him. An unmistakable sense of regret betrayed the old man.
The new Team Anna which came up in the wake of his point person Kejriwal taking the political route to rid the system of corruption and misgovernment has people who have no qualms hobnobbing with politicians. At least one of them (VK Singh) was seen sharing the political stage with BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Rewari a while ago while one other (Kiran Bedi) advised Kejriwal to take BJP's support to form government in Delhi.
The chain of events seen in this perspective might lead us to an inference of this all being planned.
Was it a match fixed by the new Team Anna to divert the limelight from his former disciple who like Prometheus stole the light from the stage of Anna's earlier fasts in Delhi and encashed it in polls?
The political parties have their own interests in this. The Congress whose Rahul Gandhi has already claimed that the Congress has always supported anti-corruption legislation and several laws, including the RTI Act, has borne the brunt of not touching upon the issue of graft in the recently-concluded Assembly elections. And the party which has faced an all-round flak for various scams during its two terms could not have a better chance of resurrecting itself than this.
The BJP which based its poll strategy on the personality cult this time has sensed a potential danger in Kejriwal's Clean image. In Delhi, its PM nominee Narendra Modi despite his six mega rallies held here could not stop the juggernaut of AAP. AAP has decided to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha polls where it could cause considerable damage to the BJP in various states. The party could not have a better chance to sully Kejriwal's image than standing with his former mentor and accuse him of betrayal.
Anna on his part is leaving no stone upturned to get back the thunder his former chela stole from him. Taking a dig at Kejriwal after ending his fast, Hazare said, "Unlike some others, we did not take any money from businessmen or foreign donors for this fast. We collected about Rs.1.5 lakh from the common people here for this. We spent about a lakh on the dais." The crusader also said, "We don't want the people, those who misuse my name."
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