Covering Anna 2

Season 3 of IAC – season 1was Ramlila maidan’s first rally and season 2 was Jantar Mantar. I call it so as I am sure, there would be many more seasons before any concrete results are seen – was different right from the word go. 

The spontaneous response from the people to join Anna Hazare at Rajghat on August 15 set the tone for the agitation’s August episode. It was wonderful to see government commit one mistake after another, one blunder after another and team Anna proving a step ahead every time. Anna Hazare’s decision to continue fast even inside Tihar and point blank refusal to come out if he was not given a venue to continue his fast surprised the best of political editors too.  

I was present myself to witness how scores of people waited in pouring rain to receive their hero at the Ramlila maidan on August 19. The numbers swelled by the evening and the ensuing weekend only helped the gathering. But Ramlila maidan was no Jantar Mantar. 

Anna Hazare was sitting far away on a high pedestal. There were no other anshankaris and the backdrop had changed from Bharat Mata to Mahatma Gandhi. The texture of the crowd had changed and so had the tenor of the agitation. In fact, at one point of time, I even smelt a little arrogance in Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal’s address to the gathering.  

But in all the hustle bustle of the sea of humanity, one good thing had happened. Strangers came forward to feed people, provide free water and even distribute snacks … something that was quite unheard of in the metropolis of Delhi, something which I thought people had forgotten yet something which came naturally to donors and consumers.   

By sixth day, Anna Hazare, the charisma, had taken over with a very dangerous possibility of sidelining the issue of Lokpal. Electronic media’s non-stop coverage added to the dilution of the issue. The crowds were going berserk and the whole agitation was threatening to go out of hands. We in the media were hoping the deadlock between the government and team Anna ended soon. I can now admit, a major reason for this fervent prayer was that we were running out of ideas to fill pages every passing day. 

But I for one had not expected the way the agitation ended. That Vilasrao Deshmukh, reportedly involved in the Adarsh scam in Mumbai, would turn out to be Anna Hazare’s favoured mediator!!! Was it a real proposition from the government that convinced team Anna or was it a compulsion of some sorts to pause the agitation and then resume at a “suitable” moment? Team Anna already knows the answers, I am sure.     

In the whole agitation, Anna Hazare has come out to be the most favoured person and I hope no one is offended, least of all the elderly gent, when I point out one of his peculiar habit. I know, he is a simple man and does not mean to brag about himself. But Anna Hazare telling about himself from the stage how he has kept his character spotless, how he has not submitted to any temptations at times drawing comparisons to the Vishwamitra Menaka episode, how he has not visited his own home, does not know names of his nephews et al … made me wonder, why should he say all such things? The onus lies on the other members of team Anna to introduce him or tell about him, not he himself.

Also, next time team Anna hits the campaign trail – and we all know, it is a given – it should make arrangements to engage the public into some activity. It can be anything, some solid constructive activity, through which people can have a sense of ‘participation’, sense of ‘contribution’. Otherwise, rest assured, next time the crowd would be even bigger and an opportunity would be lost to channelise this energy.

Second, there was a lot of drama this time round vis-à-vis choice of venue. Next time, team Anna hits the road, they should accept Buradi grounds as the venue. It will be a test for all connected with the campaign, even the media covering it. If people reach there anyways, it would should shut up the naysayers. But if the people do not come to Burari ... and so forget the media … it will put the agitation in right context. It will clear all confusions about ‘why people are here? Because metro station is near’.

My suggestion to team Anna is: Say yes to Burari. Let the people prove that they really want to end corruption and are ready to go the extra mile, literally!