The inept, lacklustre and lethargy-struck Manmohan Singh Government has pushed itself into such a corner vis-à-vis public mood and opinion that any dart thrown at it from any individual or institution is bound to find its mark.

Following the near-somnolent state of the government and the eruption of mega scams under the UPA's seven-year reign, Anna Hazare's fast on the corruption issue in April drew an electrifying response that really shocked the government out of its complacency. But as the fragile and yet steely Gandhian soon found out, politicians and babus can make the most spirited of protestors run around in circles.

And so we've been going back and forth on the draft of the Lokpal Bill. First, it was the controversy about the Prime Minister being brought under its the ambit, and now the former Chief Justice of India, J. S. Verma, says the higher judiciary should be kept out of it too!

Considering the kind of corruption we have seen from those august stables — Justice Dinakaran first and then Justice K.G. Balakrishnan — the aam admi would be fully justified in shooting down this suggestion.

Milking corruption

Yes, corruption is a major issue in India, not today or yesterday, but for several decades. As corporate India's earnings have assumed mega proportions, so has the growth of speed money and other kinds of corruption. Hence, the series of scams involving hundreds of crores of rupees in ill-gotten wealth. Seeing those numbers and juxtaposing them with the kind of misery and deprivation that continue to afflict hundreds of millions of Indians is bound to cause public outrage.

This is why Anna Hazare's April fast, begun with neither planning nor pre-conceived publicity, caught the imagination of thousands of Indians, who spontaneously went to Jantar Mantar to encourage him and endorse his cause. You wanted to give him a hug when he so disarmingly said in a TV interview: “ Yeh movement kaise bana, isko kisney chalaya, yeh mujhe nahi maloom (How this movement started, and who ran it, I don't know)”.

When Baba Ramdev, as different from Anna Hazare as chalk from cheese, joined the campaign and added his voice, a few eyebrows were raised. But at that point of time, when the UPA government was pleading with Anna Hazare to end his fast, the public mood was to accept anybody who lent support to the movement as a hero.

Later, though, the yoga guru wanted to become a hero all on his own and launched his indefinite hunger strike at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on June 5 to put pressure on the government to bring back black money stashed abroad. Police swooped down upon the area at midnight, fired teargas shells and used lathis to end the protest.

Now the yoga guru is back in Delhi, daring the government to investigate his assets and seize them if they are found to have been acquired through illegal means. Meanwhile, Anna Hazare, fed up with the dilly-dallying on the Lokpal Bill, has announced one more fast from August 16.

The vital question is if Mr Hazare will allow the Baba to join his fast. On Monday, Anna expressed his willingness to do so provided Baba Ramdev agreed to certain conditions. Apparently, Anna Hazare, who firmly believes in the Gandhian credo of non-violence, is upset with Baba Ramdev's threat of raising an army of 11,000 young men and women to strike back if, this time too, force is used to evict him.

Vital difference

The vital difference between Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev goes beyond their personalities. While the yoga guru is a firebrand, dazzling his supporters with fiery statements — he accused the police of trying to kill him and assaulting his female supporters during the forceful eviction on June 5 — Anna Hazare can devastate his opponents with a benign smile which, as those who matter in the UPA know only too well, is far more dangerous than Baba Ramdev's hyperbole.

Another major difference is that the latter evidently harbours political ambitions, whereas the former is a Gandhian in the true meaning and spirit of the word and has gone on record that if he were to contest an election, he would lose even his deposit! Also, Baba Ramdev runs the Patanjali Yogpeeth Divya Yog Mandir Trust and has Patanjali clinics all over India selling Ayurvedic medicines worth crores of rupees. He also had to proclaim at his Delhi press conference: “I am not a mask for the BJP or the RSS. If I were one, why did Prime Minister Manmohan Singh write a letter to me and why did four ministers come to the airport to see me? The government doesn't want to see Ramdev alive.”

Who's the right man?

An interesting aside. During my trip to Europe last fortnight, I told a European friend, who adores India and has a collection of at least 300 Indian books, about Anna Hazare's fight against corruption firing the public imagination, particularly of young Indians. Obviously, I spoke in glowing terms about Anna.

Like any westerner, he had a problem in getting the name right, and the next day, when I met him again he said: “I googled the man you spoke about but am puzzled at some reports I read. You said he is a Gandhian, but how come he flies around in big jets or helicopters, travels in big cars and runs a multi-million dollar business? Are you sure he is good for the India of tomorrow?”

Well Google had given him dope on Baba Ramdev as, in the second week of June, he was the most current Indian icon to protest against corruption and black money! Now it is for us Indians to ponder and decide who the right man for us is!

(Response may be sent to >rasheeda@thehindu.co.in )

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