Anna Hazare's agitation against corruption has caught the imagination of the youth not only in India but abroad as well. His message and non-violent protest to press for its acceptance seem to be highlighting a new path for the civil society. It is worth examining the reasons underlying its success in the Indian context.
In stark contrast to the role it played in the freedom struggle, the middle class had remained, since Independence, a mute spectator of the turn of events in the country, from elections to socio economic reform, from financial crises to communal disturbances and labour unrest.
Barring the anti-Mandal protests in the early 1990s, there was hardly any significant expression of challenge by the middle class government's actions or inaction. The middle class just did not count in politics because of its small numbers and poor vote bank support. Low voter turnout in urban centres during elections was taken as an indicator of apathy to politics.
Political parties could afford to ignore the urban public opinion, given the large rural vote base. Hence, they vied with one another for the rural vote almost to the exclusion of the urban one.
Swift metamorphosis
A socio-economic feature after the economic reforms from 1991 has been the growth of the middle class. In the urban melting pot, the caste system based on birth has begun giving way to a class system based on education and entrepreneurship. The widening economic opportunities have been seized by the educated and the enterprising leading to the emergence of a dynamic middle class, different from the earlier risk-averse, closed, static entity.
This development marks the metamorphosis of a hitherto silent section of the society into an articulate and assertive force in India's public life.
The massive shift of India's economic base from agriculture to services and industry has swelled the urban headcount immeasurably. The concentration of economic activity, particularly of the services and construction sectors with their large employment potential, in urban areas which now account for close to 40 per cent of the country's population. In some States, the figure is even higher.
By 2030, as much as half the population of the country may live and work in urban areas. In any future delimitation of electoral constituencies, the number of seats in urban areas is bound to increase challenging the traditional rural vote bank.
Along with the rise in its political stature, urban India has been reaping the fruits of the demographic dividend in the form of a large, young work force. This advantage would continue to be available well into this century.
Youth to the fore
A predictable, strong economic growth in the years to come with its promise of employment opportunities and steady incomes has instilled a sense of confidence in the young. Hence, more than anyone else, the youth are the people most keen to ensure that the opportunities are not wasted away either by themselves or taken away by those responsible for the political and economic stewardship.
Corruption is being perceived by them as one single factor that may stand between them and their dreams. It is in the above context that one would like to view Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption among public servants, including politicians and members of the judiciary.
The campaign, run by relatively young people, has garnered a huge following. Sporting jeans and T-shirts, they are willing to brave the sun and the rain and the fatigue of prolonged cheering and waiting.
The predominantly urban youth seemed to be waiting for a chance to make its collective debut in active politics and having got a chance, seized it with alacrity.
To many at Ramlila Maidan or Azad Maidan or on the Marina, the finer points of the debate between the government and Team Anna may be elusive and esoteric. They may not be well versed with the provisions of the Indian Constitution or of legislative procedures.
They find graft at any level, high or low, distasteful. They read newspapers and tune in to TV news channels that feature reports of bodies such as the Transparency International relegating India to a sorry position in the honesty table or in the ease of doing business or in obtaining judicial redress. They perceive corruption as a major drag on the country's advancement and their personal development. The Anna Hazare-led protest is quite different from what one witnessed recently in Britain or in yesteryears in the US.
The protests abroad were the outcome of social and economic deprivation and despair over the future and partly of withdrawal of state-run welfare measures. They were not the outcome of plentiful opportunities. It is this feature that makes the Indian protest unique. Given the persuasive and non-violent conduct, they deserve sympathetic treatment by the government.
On its part, Team Anna needs to get down from the high horse it rides now and anchor its feet on solid legal and constitutional grounds and above all keep in mind practical compulsions. Its campaign has just begun and has a long way to go before even a modicum of control over corruption can be achieved. The Team must realise that politics is the art of the possible, not of the absolute.
(The author is a former Secretary, Environment and Forests, Government of India)