Imagine what would have happened if Mahatma Gandhi was dealing with Hitler. He would probably have been executed in 30 seconds. End of freedom struggle for a few decades.
Or if Martin Luther King was dealing with Hitler and wanted equal rights for the black race?
Well, we know what happened to the Jews who wanted to be treated as human beings.
Luckily, Mahatma Gandhi dealt with the British – who had a conscience and listened to the voices of those who had no seats in their governing councils. No seats in their Parliament.
Martin Luther King’s blacks had no seats in most government bodies. But he dealt with people who could reason, who could understand the desire to improve the state of a large minority population. Hence, he succeeded.
The woman fighting for the chance to get elected had no seats in Parliament – the men sitting there had to change it. And change the rules they did.
What chance does an Anna Hazare party – with no access to corporate funding, with no ability to give gifts to win votes – have to win an election? To win enough seats in Parliament to change the laws?
An Ancient Chinese emperor, on hearing that the peasants could not afford to buy rice to eat said, “Why don’t they eat meat?”
Or the great French princess who – on hearing that her subjects had no bread – said, “Why don’t they eat cake?”
Over the last decades, I felt happy that the Congress was elected back into power – even though with coalition partners.
But are our political leaders – across parties – getting arrogant?
Even if 1.2 billion Indian are not present in the maidan, is there any doubt that a majority of people of India are fed up with corruption?
True, Anna Hazare’s mission may start attracting media-hungry god men and film stars but that does not dilute the desire to get rid of corruption.
The fight against corruption does not stop.
Extract from an article by Ajit Dayal:
http://www.equitymaster.com/ht/detail.asp?date=08/17/2011&story=1&title=The-arrogance-of-the-powerful