India Insight

Anna Hazare: PR superstar?

So it has come to an end for now. A fast by a 74-year-old man sparked nationwide protests against the political class in the world’s largest democracy and forced a government, already suffering from graft charges, even further on the backfoot. While we are on the issue of sporting analogies, let’s ask ourselves, how many of the statements made in media and civil society, about the UPA government scoring own goals and making unforced errors, are justified?

To start from the top, a few days before Anna Hazare started his fast against the government’s reluctance to table his and his team’s version of a key anti-corruption bill, called the Lokpal bill, the government’s PR machinery made one blunder after the other.

It allowed a Congress spokesman to use rather strong language on TV against Hazare. And later statements on record by union ministers Kapil Sibal and Palaniappan Chidambaram did nothing to turn the tide of public opinion increasingly turning against the government at its inability to crack down on rampant corruption.

On the other hand, while Anna Hazare’s protest channelised the frustration of the Indian middle class, it certainly needed more than that to succeed. From the beginning, his close advisers, nicknamed “Team Anna” by the media, proved to be adept at handling public relations.

Just moments before he was detained by the police, Team Anna put up a video on YouTube with his message calling for nationwide agitation and for people to turn themselves in to the police. It was a PR coup, as by the same evening, thousands of people had gathered in protest in front of the Tihar Jail gates.

From then on till the fast ended, the ruling coalition stumbled and exposed itself as riven by a lack of leadership, indecision, poor judgement and out of touch with the concerns of a country of 1.2 billion people. This was maybe a chance for Rahul Gandhi to shine and be shown as bringing the situation under control. But in the end, his statement in parliament was certainly a case of “too little, too late.” Also, the government’s constant backtracking on its talks with Team Anna and contentious points in the bill, showed it to be fickle.

Team Anna called this a people’s movement and perhaps backed those claims. At the main protest venue in Delhi, everything from Anna Hazare caps and T-shirts, to daily “lectures” by Kiran Bedi on the various clauses in Hazare’s version of the bill, to updates on any meeting with the government being provided on stage, to the line-up of activists, writers, singers, movie stars et al. turned it into a people’s movement, a circus and a reality show, all rolled into one.

Civil servants start following in Anna Hazare’s footsteps

By Annie Banerji

He came, he saw and he took the Congress-led government by storm with his 12-day fast against corruption at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi that became the epicentre of a national crusade.

But just a few days later, Hazare’s plea to hundreds of thousands of supporters to do more than just cheer him on and instead change their attitude to corruption looks to be bearing fruit.

Sipping coconut water and honey, 74-year-old Anna Hazare ended a hunger strike on its 13th day on Sunday when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government caved in to the demands of the veteran social reformer as parliament backed anti-graft legislation that met many of his demands.

In the past two weeks, the Ramlila Maidan, a common location for festivals and political rallies, had become a microcosm of the nation when it witnessed a lively gathering on a daily basis catering to supporters from all walks of life during a politically-driven movement.

But now that the grounds lay bare, with the restoration process already underway for upcoming events, suddenly there seems to be a vacuum. Not only school kids, but young professionals and daily wagers who sold “I am Anna” caps may be showing withdrawal symptoms from a busy fortnight as everyone goes back to their humdrum lives.

Even 24-hour news channels have gone back to airing sports and entertainment stories, which seemed to have been on a hiatus during the tense stand-off between Anna Hazare and the government.

RBI chief challenges “group wisdom” on economy

India’s central bank chief Duvvuri Subbarao may not be an established economist or a career banker, but he has a rare set of skills — of an administrator, non-conservative thinker with degrees in physics and economics — who can take on the group wisdom of economists and markets.

While delivering an address on “Role of Economics in Policy Making” at the golden jubilee function of the Indian Economic Service — the career economists in Indian administration — he said they were challenging the wisdom of “celebrated” economists and economic models.

That may be the reason why Subbarao was probably alone in opting for a 50 basis points rate hike in July while the majority of panel members favoured a pause in monetary tightening or at the most a 25 basis points rise in rates.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), headed by Subbarao, is one of the most aggressive inflation fighters among central banks, and has raised rates 11 times since March 2010, though inflation still remains at over 9 percent.

India’s finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is said to have been annoyed by an almost open revolt by Subbarao last year against the setting up of a body headed by the finance minister to regulate disputes among regulators. Later, the RBI governor was also made a co-chairman of the body.

In the last two years, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee may have been blamed for inadequate measures to contain inflation and corruption, but Subbarao has been widely hailed for his “heads on” approach to contain inflation.

His two-year extension was widely hailed by economists and the markets, and was considered a sign of the prime minister’s faith in a person who served under him. Analysts say the finance minister has virtually handed over the task of containing inflation to him. And he is trying his best.

Corporate governance and Anna Hazare’s fast

A few months ago, Kiran Bedi visited the Thomson Reuters office in Bangalore as a guest speaker to mark International Women’s week and also to address us on corporate ethics and governance. It was also the day when some of us heard of a man called Anna Hazare and a bill called the Lokpal.

“A few of us activists, like Anna Hazare, if you’ve heard about him…,” began Bedi. “He’s called the Gandhi of Maharashtra,” and she continued further, enlightening us about the anti-corruption bill and the support and impact this man can provide.

“Anna Hazare is known to be very effective in the past,” she said. “Whenever Hazare has sat on a fast, the Maharashtra government gave in and he got the right kind of laws.”

Days into Hazare’s fast in New Delhi, Bedi’s prescient speech echoes in the minds of those of us who heard her talk about how the bill is being enacted not because the government wants it, but because it was a signatory in the G20 resolution to fight corruption and was bound by it.

“It’s all about governance. The principles of governance are similar whether in finance or in public service,” she said.

But is a “fast-unto-death” the only means, some may even label it a threat or emotional blackmail, to achieve a resolution? Is it soon becoming a silent weapon to ensure establishment of those “principles of governance” that Bedi mentions? If governance is not just about public service but also corporate, what if this silent weapon finds its way into institutions and companies?

In a country where over $60 billion gets soaked into corruption every year, the way out to establish rules may have to be more stringent than quiet sacrifices. The show — corrupt or not — will go on, irrespective of protests, but will right governance only be achieved by not eating or drinking? Even when Bedi transformed Tihar Jail in the mid-90s, her only weapon to make the government agree to her prison reform plans was pressure tactics.

The thin line between activism and hooliganism

Whether one supports the principles of Anna Hazare or not, there is no denying the movement has managed to strike a chord with people from almost every section of society.

The frustration with corruption has breached its maximum level, and that alone awakened the so-called political activism among Indians.

However, a few high profile incidents on the streets of New Delhi may damage the cause of the activists.

Several incidents have been reported across the city which show that for some people, support for the movement is a licence for hooliganism and drunken driving.

A group of Anna Hazare supporters, apparently drunk, clashed with police late on Thursday outside the Ramlila Maidan, after they tried to force their way through the VIP entrance, local media said.

This is the second such reported incident after drunken protesters picked a fight with members of the media on Monday, and police refused to take action against them, citing orders not to hurt Hazare’s supporters.

Every evening, the streets of Delhi are filled with some flag-waving Hazare supporters riding cars with their heads hanging out of the windows, speeding past buses and other vehicles. Also, bikers are seen recklessly riding around India Gate, without helmets.

VIDEO: Reactions to Anna Hazare’s agitation

Anna Hazare’s fast against corruption united tens of thousands of people across India. The social activist is now recovering from the near-two week fast in his home village of Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra. But the government still faces the challenge of passing the Lokpal Bill. Reuters spoke to a few people on the streets to get a sense of what the common man thinks about the anti-corruption debate.

Probable Lokpal Bill: Neither Anna’s nor govt’s version

By Arup Roychoudhury

The events that transpired since Anna Hazare first went on a fast in April, when the word “Lokpal” was embedded in the minds of people throughout India, seem to have given Hazare’s protest a very one-dimensional view — that of black versus white.

The Indian press corps, across medium and languages, may have also contributed to the polarisation. Most seem to have taken a pro-Hazare stand with little or no coverage given to any counterviews.

However, this is still being seen as essentially a political movement, with many angles and viewpoints to it. And, like many political movements, chances are it will probably end in a compromise rather than “victory” for either the ruling Congress coalition or Team Anna.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday that he was willing to engage in open dialogue regarding the bill and that there was a “scope of give and take”.

With the government seen as willing to show a rather belated streak of flexibility, it shouldn’t be long before Hazare starts conceding some ground.

The Times of India reported that Hazare’s group has indicated it is ready to drop its insistence of including the higher judiciary within the ambit of the bill.

Among the protests, India’s poor get on with life

“Shoe polish, sir?” That was a quote your correspondent was not expecting to record as he paced through the crowds protesting in New Delhi in solidarity with Anna Hazare, the 74-year-old poster boy for India’s fight against endemic corruption.

Among the waving flags, painted faces and punched fists of thousands of mostly students and young professionals on Wednesday, were beggars, trinket-sellers and shoe-shiners plying their trade seemingly indifferent to the din around them.

The sight gave pause for thought as to how far the spiralling protests against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s scandal-plagued government have trickled down to an underclass of hundreds of millions of Indians living below the bread line.

Hazare, a self-styled Gandhian activist, has caused huge embarrassment for Singh’s coalition for months, staging street protests and fasts demanding tougher laws against graft.

He has tapped into a groundswell of discontent against the corruption which touches Indian lives every day. Protests have erupted in cities throughout the country, from the hilly northeast to the southern tech hubs of Bangalore and Hyderabad.

But the question remains whether this week’s protests are mostly confined to relatively affluent urbanites who have thrived from two decades of economic boom but are tired of the older, corrupt elites governing their country.

On Wednesday, protesters had gathered at India Gate, a colonial era memorial that has turned into a tourist hot spot in the Indian capital, hence a magnet for those hoping to earn a few rupees or dollars from visitors. Ice cream carts, soda carts and ornaments laid out on mats were still parked next to TV vans.

LIVE BLOG: Anna Hazare vs Indian govt

Defining democracy: the challenge on Independence Day

As India celebrates her 65th Independence Day, a potential spat between the government and members of so-called “civil society” raises important questions about the dichotomy in a democracy.

It is a tough balance between giving citizens the right to protest and making sure those protests don’t impinge upon the very rights a democracy guarantees.

Police on Monday denied permission for veteran social activist Anna Hazare to renew a fast to the death in New Delhi. Police say Hazare, who is campaigning for tougher laws against corruption, failed to meet certain conditions to conduct a mass fast.

While police conditions include ending the fast in three days and limiting the number of Hazare’s supporters to 5000, Team Hazare is relentless.

Kiran Bedi, a former police officer and an activist with Hazare, has said on local television the group is ready to court arrest, but will press on with the fast even if permission is denied.

Indeed, in a democracy, citizens must have the right to protest and make their voices heard. In that respect, Bedi’s argument holds.

However, the government’s arguments are not without credence. Several factors, including crowd control and traffic management, are also the responsibility of a democratic government. The police, therefore, has the right to impose certain restrictions on citizens, if they feel a particular action may threaten safety.