Last year, if you remember, all TV channels and newspapers were flooded with images showing a toddler to senior most citizen in India wearing a white cap bearing tagline – ‘I am Anna’. The images projected almost a revolution in the name of anti-corruption campaign unleashed by a former army driver, Anna Hazare. The images intoxicated people in several towns.
The timing of the Anna campaign was interesting. It was a time when a series of extraordinary scams hit India. Even the Supreme Court was disgusted enough to ask in a rare judicial prose, “What the hell is going on in this country?” This ex-army driver used this situation to capture the mood of the nation.
But after a year-long campaigning, finally the anti-corruption movement turned out a hoax when Anna Hazare surrendered by announcing the decision to take its plunge into electoral politics in the name of  a logical culmination of its struggle.
This transformation of social cause immediately signalled process of dwindling support to Anna team. The kind of political scenario which we witnesses today around ourselves makes us believe politics the last resort of the scoundrels. So the decision of leading anti-corruption movement in to the electoral politics is genuinely met with all-pervasive scepticism.
Since it’s premature to comment on Anna’s move, but one thing is clear that political path would be strewn with pitfalls. Corruption is a universal issue and has plagued even the most decent societies in modern times, so sustaining on one-point agenda of uprooting corruption is simply a suicide. The current lot of political leaders suffers from credibility deficit and Anna is now going to sail in the same boat. Thus he won’t make much difference.
While looking back, Anna’s political ambitions became visible when he decided to oppose the Congress in legislative assembly elections held in five states, along with Uttar Pradesh, if the government does not pass the Jan Lokpal bill in the Parliament's winter session.
He first magically launched a massive anti-corruption campaign, made people dance to his tunes and then hypnotised the peoples’ minds against congress. So, Anna’s call against congress at that time was first step towards electoral politics.
But one thing is convincing that he at that time damaged the popularity of his crusade through these political tones. If apolitical nature brought masses on the roads to strengthen his crusade, by swimming in muddy water of politics he invited a malicious campaign against his own self. 
After registering highest economic growth rate in the nineties, we are witnessing slowing down of this growth. This slowing down is directly attributed to the widespread corruption which has dominated our system of governance. Team Anna Hazari has been stressing to see Jan Lokpal bill with strict anti-corruption laws passed in the parliament to prevent corruption in these sectors. But is this Bill really an answer to the menace of corruption? Expert opinions galore that mere passing of bill is no answer to corruption which exists in varied forms.
If we analyse the team Anna’s campaign against corruption, we see the approach itself corrupted. You can cut a diamond with diamond, but cannot beat corruption with corruption. Lastly, I would say this ex-army driver turned social crusader has lost his prospects of becoming a modern Father of Nation. He had vomited his political ambitions a year ago and today he surrendered mutely. But one thing is appreciable; he did it publicly which is uncommon nowadays.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 10 Aug 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 10 Aug 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 11 Aug 2012 00:00:00 IST