What I find astonishing is the fact that the rigid Indian gvt. had to bow to this one man who dared to raise awareness on an issue that has been eating up India, the issue of wild, rampant corruption. I did not think the Indian gvt. esp. the old guard would succumb to this old man's demands. In the beginning the PM was not willing to even have dialogue with this man, and adopted a wait it out approach. However, it was the awareness that this old man raised in the masses that lead to enormous public pressure and the Indian gvt. had no choice but to deal with the issue of corruption which was not even on their priority list. The anti-corruption bill that Anna Hazare and team want to pass has been making the rounds of the Indian Parliament since 40 years. Anna Hazare with his anti-corruption agenda not only awakened the middle class and the masses to the EVIL's of corruption but he also awakened the moral consciousness of the nation. The fight against corruption is not only about the wealth of the people being stolen by only a certain few&mighty but also about raising a moral consciousness of the public. Its about saying NO to the wrongs, its about doing the right thing, its about saying ENOUGH is ENOUGH, I've had it with the exploitation and stealing. Its about JUSTICE.
Its about what Dr. King said " the moral arc of the universe is long but it bends at the elbow of justice".
This anti-corruption bill in India was loooooong overdue. In a democracy, the status quo cannot be corruption.
If one looks at India, sure in the past 10 years the country has achieved alot, they have billionaires like the Reliance industry family on Forbes top ten list but the country's poor are more poorer. The rich got richer, more new elites came up, but life got hard for the middle class and the poor. Daily groceries got more expensive, prices of sugar, onions, fuel etc. went drastically up. Education got more exclusive and expensive, one had to give bribes in order to get a placement in college.
So in reality the country has not achieved that much. If in a democracy the disparity between the rich and the poor just keeps growing than there is something wrong. It was the right time for Anna Hazare to step in and give this country's rigid power elite a jolt.
