Image source: wikipediaThank God. The red in the map does not look black. But I think it is a better color since it explains what is happening to my country: Bleeding Corruption. And the country of concern is India.
Is it something to be proud of? News from home seems to get more dirtier by the day. Almost every page in all newspapers, blogs and tweets blare about the disgraceful situation on corruption. My rants on a blog read by a few is not going to make much of a difference either. But I write this since I just could not digest it anymore.
For the past 6-7 months, I have followed almost every movement happening against Corruption in India; from the spirited campaign of Anna Hazare to the protest chain in the Indian Silicon Valley. I have rambled about it drunk and discussed it over coffee; so much for all these things, I do not see a point in its direction. I get lots of questions like: Where is the movement headed? What will happen to this symbiotic devil called corruption? Is Lokpal the right solution? What will happen to this movement if Lokpal bill is passed? If we make a fresh start from Lokpal, what will happen to those who have been let off? Where are the holes in the system? etc etc.
For all reasons, I respect those who made the laws of our country. For all their shortcomings, they almost look like the Fellowship of the Ring nowadays. If they were so intelligent, then how come a system created by them become so bloated nowadays? What mistake did they make? The answer could be found in the idealistic portrayal of the leaders themselves. A leader in India, especially those associated with the freedom struggle are so idealized; almost to the extent of communist states. We do not entertain debates on human side of any of them: to communicate that they made mistakes too. We may have to revisit their interpretation of the society and the best way we can do it is to massively upgrade the laws written eons ago. Keep the best, trash the rest.
But this is not the only solution, nor the best, it is one of those hats thrown with the rest.
For a country of a billion people, everybody acknowledges India can improve in many fronts. One of the front is something called "Political Leadership". The times of the British Raj seem like the golden age for leadership in India. Leaders came from all fronts and all walks of life, starting from the Mahatma to Netaji to Lord Mountbatten, you can almost feel the nation was filled with no one but political leaders. Today, a few from those lines have died, the rest have their sons/daughters in the pipeline. I think, this has created a sort of lack of political ideals because, a new political leader brings a lot to the table. By new, I mean someone truly new (not a pureblood political family guy). It offers a lot of opportunities and opens avenues that are not tested. It gives rise to a new class of political ideals and ideas (those that have more chances of including accountability). As far as I see, the only new class of leaders today are people like Arvind Kejriwal who have infused a tingle of fresh blood into the pantheon of Indian political leadership.
Are these signs of change? May be yes, may be no, but one thing that is likely outcome of this movement against corruption (or the new political awareness culture) is likely a new class of leadership. This class will have to shed the skin of freedom struggle and look at things that we need to fix now and going forward. They should make India a decisive nation. The change should be like the one Dada brought to our beloved cricket team.
Let the phoenix phase begin...
But still, this is just a rant...
In writing this article I found something new: http://www.wikiprogress.org/
