Here are some of my thoughts on the "Anna" phenomenon:
I start with a quote from PM's 'statement' on Anna's arrest. He said ,"there are forces who do not want India to have the rightful place in the commonwealth of nations" The statement while being absurd in the first place, shows how irritated politicians become at the slightest thought of people power.
The statement was also not surprising since MMS spends more time in Washington than in Delhi. The leadership of India seems so hopelessly unaware that millions of Indians living in abject poverty, millions of Indian looking for jobs, even millions of Indians working night shifts at call centers don't give a damn about this 'commonwealth of nations' All they want is a country where they have respect, dignity and peace. In fact, I don't even think the poor are expecting to get rich given the hopelessness drilled into their heads through centuries of discrimination. All they hope for is the someone to listen to them.
What this government has done is gotten away with scams on a grand scale. It is ironic that this very PM who is so concerned about India's image abroad could not deliver a successful Commonwealth Games. They have ended up pissing of the middle classes with such massive scams and the pooris pissed off that none of the growth is helping them due to a failed government machinery.
The government ministers are so filthy rich that they have forgotten basics of politics, they seem to have taken voluntary retirement of sorts. But what's with this weak governance? All over the world we are hearing the same cry, the governments are ineffective. Why is this so? well you can read Chomsky for that.
However, the corporates made one mistake. India is not America or Latin America. Gandhi is still printed on every currency note and forever Indians will have greater respect for him than Warren Buffet. No matter how you package capitalism, the ideas of democracy, of self determination are so ingrained in the Indian psyche that the whole 'customer is always right' bullshit is never gonna work here.
The leadership of India today seems frankly ill-trained to handle people. Yes they would be awesome at receiving Bill Gates and negotiating deals with the World Bank but they have forgotten how to practice politics. It is astounding how little coverage any government official has got since Anna went on fast. Astounding it may be, but it is not surprising.
