FURY OF A HUMBLE MAN

                  Fury of a humble man

       Beware the fury of a patient man, said John Dryden in the 17th century. You replace ' patient' by 'humble' but the devastating effect of  fury remains  same. FDI onslaught may have come a little late in the day but once the Govt has decided to ' bite the bullet'', it is assumed there would not be any roll-back on this and other overdue reforms. Even if Mamta does not show any mamta and some others who have come to its rescue in the past have new ideas this Govt will survive. Somehow. Thanks to a plethora of ongoing anti-corruption agitations, the atmospherics for politicians in India is so hostile at the moment that very few will itch for early elections. 

       For a giant country like India with a humongous and mostly young  population of over 1.2 billion - one sixth of humanity with nearly 300 million living in the sub-human conditions, it is a stupendous task for any government  -left, right or centre -  to do everything for everybody. But the unbridled corruption on a mega scale, sky-rocketing prices of daily necessities, high inflation and massive unemployment have been extremely difficult and depressing for millions in this country for quite some time. And above all, the palpable helplessness of the top man have disappointed his admirers and enraged the masses. His position has become somewhat similar to stalwarts like Bhishma and Dronacharya during the shameful Draupadi cheerharan in Mahabharata.

       In the present context, it is the wanton pillage of  country's precious and  limited natural resources. The roles of Duryodhana, Dushasana and other participants being gleefully enacted by a handful of crony capitalists, sleazy politicians and greedy bureaucrats.  No wonder people are aghast, distraught and angry. The despair laced with ire has turned people in a rebellious mood against the government.

       However, this entire bleak scenario can change in less than two years if this Govt finally decides to take a few firm measures without worrying for the consequences. Because whatever his critics may say the PM's old image of   ' personally honest' is still intact. He has been rightly accused of 'policy paralysis' and 'Under-achievement' and given many unflattering epithets. But just remember he is the same person who till the other day was the darling of the middle class. They trusted his judgement on India's economy and were impressed by his personal qualities of honesty, humility and humaneness rarely seen in the cut-throat world of Indian politics. But what went terribly wrong in the last couple of years. We may hold different views, but there would be unanimity on one word - Corruption.

      Corruption is neither new (a former PM is credited of calling it 'a global phenomenon' in the 1970s) nor confined to a single political party. But what the country has witnessed in the last 3 years from 2G scam to Coalgate is pure loot and plunders on a monstrous scale. The bold talk of reviving the animal spirits in economy is all very fine but if the government really wants to generate trust of common man in this country it would not be enough. If the elections are held in a few months time Congress will be lucky to reach even a pathetic figure of a hundred seats in the Lok Sabha, so low is its stock in public's perception. Unless it takes a huge gamble to revive its electoral fortunes, the downhill journey will continue. That gamble would be a ruthless crackdown on corruption in the coming months.  If the illegitimate beneficiaries who have made "Mota Maal" in the scams of recent vintages can be brought to justice on a war footing, the blue devils will disappear from the depressed public mind.

       For this to happen and soon, the government will have to have   powerful high-level fast- track courts to handle such cases. They will require scores of fearless, competent and honest bureaucrats. These are hard times and it is difficult to get an honest, fearless and competent person in India. But there are plenty of them around. They have to be singled out, assigned and empowered. All the premier investigating agencies should be given a free hand and tasked to assist the fast track courts in order to get concrete results within a time-frame of 6 to 12 months.  Lokpal/Lokayktas, RTI activists, civil society members (without political agenda), Whistle blowers, CAG/CVC, judiciary and media should be natural allies of an honest government in fighting the menace of corruption.

       So while his finance minister takes a shot at reviving the economy with a slew of reforms, Dr Singh personally comes down with a heavy hand on corruption on a scale not seen in this country before. Nothing will please the people particularly the middle class across the country more than watching these crooks being paraded to jails, their ill-gotten wealth confiscated and punishment meted out to them in a transparent manner. Such drastic actions will change the present mood of apprehension and despondency into expectation and hope. For the sake of increase in their TRP ratings, our 24x7 TV channels will ensure it happens.

     In his 1992 budget speech as Finance Minister, Dr Man Mohan Singh quoted Victor Hugo "All the forces in the world are not as powerful as an idea whose time has come".  Hugo is still relevant to our present-day situation. The time to tackle corruption in India has come. Only he can make it possible for the simple reason that people still believe he is personally not corrupt.  We should not forget that   for every corrupt person in this country there are hundreds of honest people. The silent majority should not be let down time and again by well-meaning leaders.  PM will be celebrating his 80th birthday (he shares his birthday with evergreen Dev Anand - a man of action) next week. Such a long and eventful journey, with more than 8 years on the country's hot seat. It would be great to see him in action. A firm resolve to fight corruption will be the icing on the cake of economic reforms.