MOVEMENT- THE EVERYDAY SCENE

‘Parents bring children to witness “second” freedom struggle.’ This was one of the headlines of The Hindu, page 10, dated 22^nd August. This is what the Nation has come to. India, which has the largest Constitution in the world, has taken the utmost care to see to it that none of her citizens feel any agony and pain at any point of time. Due to this, 64 years ago the Constitution was drafted with a view that everyone would share equal rights.

NATION:

A nation is an area which has a fixed territorial border and a certain cultural and ethnic background. India has always had a fixed territorial demarcation with a certain exception to the ever disputed Kashmir and the now POK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir). India has always been horded with a huge array of cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity. Due to this a dictionary meaning of a nation is satisfied in this case.
The idea of a nation also comes from the people living in it. Hence the concept of society and community take a very strong upfront. When a community which comes out in the number of tens of thousands on streets and protests for a certain reason, it becomes a major concern for the government. Government which is an important part of a nation helps in protecting the rights of its citizens and keeps things under control. But what happens if the same government loses control? Who are the citizens supposed to turn to?
It is under these circumstances that the idea of a nation is the strongest. India being a democratic country gives its citizens certain rights. To raise a voice against the violation of the rights becomes a duty. Under the current scenario, where there is a huge nationwide protest to free the country off its corruption is a right that every citizen holds.
The movement lead by Kisan Babu Rao Hazare or Anna Hazare, is a huge movement comprising of various sects of people and sees the inclusion of political institutions like ABVP. It is for the first time that the opposition parties have bonded together to bring something very important under one roof. Everything in the power of citizens is being done to get the Lokpal Bill passed by the Parliament.
When talking about a nation, especially one like India which has a high population of youth and the most varied cultural ethnicity, it is a difficult idea to get people together. A place where discussions are made on every orthodox community and there is always a resent between them, a term like corruption becomes a binding factor.
But with the right to stage a protest also comes the duty to hold complete knowledge of the subject and to understand what is being fought for. Unfortunately in a place like India where people are given a limitless amount of power, the ego and the authority to do anything comes naturally to them. Due to this the current campaign sees its own problems. Assuming that at a given point of time there are about 2 lakh people in an area assembled to support the movement. If 10% of these people are taken into consideration and asked at least 5 points in the Lokpal Bill, they wouldn’t be able to answer all of them. Also how many people or supporters as they would like to call themselves, know that 16 conditions of the 20 have been accepted by the government and only 4 remain to be accepted?
The idea here is with power of the right, the responsibility of a duty is forgotten due to which people move on to terms like fasts for which the government has to budge and all this because India as a nation is a democratic country. Form this comes the idea of a nation as described in the notes where a nation is any place which has a fixed territory and holds its own governments, national emblem, national symbol etc.

QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT:

The most dramatic and large scale movements of India at the time of freedom struggle, the Quit India Movement was started by Mahatma Gandhi and turned out to be one of the most bloody and non violent movement, completely against the Gandhian principles. The Quit India Movement went bizarre due to many reasons. The absence of a leader (as the leaders were arrested as soon as the movement was put into force), the frustration of people due to the British and to see the country free against colonial rule made the movement bloody.
India is facing its second “freedom struggle” not against any foreign rule but against corruption which has been piled up by her own country’s politicians and bureaucrats which has gone so far that the margin between the rich and poor divide of the economic strata has widened beyond measures. The recent decade has seen a huge number of scams which got before the public a humongous amount of money that jaws had to drop and the need to raise a committee to keep a check on the unthinkable and extreme collection of money was needed.
When an ordinary social activist raised a hue and cry against this corruption and for a committee he had to face the sentence of the very same government who was so fiercely involved in spreading the corruption to every single corner of the country. Though different people hold different opinions about the movement, there was more than proof enough to see that something was hugely amiss with the current system of pattern of work and governance.
This movement has a leader and such a strong one that somewhere people have forgotten that there is a need to support the movement and not only the leader. The shout of slogans in support of Anna Hazare is not non ethical but the mention of his name which has become synonymous with anti corruption had gained more popularity. As a result of this any and every statement or talk by the leader is followed and are considered words of the wise. A leader who wishes to alter the boundaries of a certain system of democracy must know how he is altering the chain of thoughts of a huge mass of people and what is he leading them into. This becomes immensely important because the presence of a strong leader provides a huge communication barrier between people and the government and every word said by the leader(s) is only paid heed to.
Under such dire circumstances, a negative impact on people can also be put due to which the masses can be turned against the government in a negative way. The currengt campaign though against corruption is valid, but the disconnection between the citizens and government or the connection via the leaders of the movement is unethical as all the valid and ethical information is not being shared.
a country where democracy gives immense power to its people is where they misuse it and due to this disparity between the citizens continues. The campaign against corruption maybe right but its execution is wrong and its followers more so. The government can’t see its citizens dying and forcing the government to do so is just the biggest misuse of a right and the most horrendous abuse of a duty.