Victory for all

A typically Indian end to a very Indian agitation

India’s biggest lesson to the world has been, and remains, the view that a negotiated compromise is always better than one’s victory and another’s defeat. Once again the elected representatives of the people in Parliament and a social activist who succeeded in galvanising a sizeable segment of civil society, with help from sections of the media, have ended a political impasse through a negotiated compromise that enables all concerned to declare victory. Anna Hazare has called this “half victory” only because some of his advisers and aides seem to have opted for the very un-Indian stance of seeking not just their “victory” but also the defeat of their adversary, Parliament. In rejecting such an outcome Prime Minister Manmohan Singh fulfilled his constitutional obligation to uphold the dignity of Parliament and his high office. In the event, the entire Parliament united to support a sentiment that had come to grip the imagination of the people of India without yielding ground on the principle that all laws in a democracy can only be made by the elected representatives of the people, not social activists and television anchors!

Mr Hazare’s so-called “half victory” could in fact have been a full victory if he had followed the sage advice of some of his greatest and wisest supporters like Swami Agnivesh, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Santosh Hegde, Aruna Roy and Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who spoke in one voice and advised him to accept Parliament’s appeal a few days ago. If Mr Hazare had responded to the joint appeal of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who together assured him that Parliament would take on board his views on a “Jan Lok Pal”, he would have stood taller and could have easily declared full victory that evening. Regrettably, the hot heads around Mr Hazare discouraged him from doing so and prolonged the crisis and the television drama. In the event, the final outcome was no different because the “sense of the House” as expressed on Saturday night, after a daylong debate, was no different from the sense expressed by the Speaker of the House.

Whatever the future course of events, there are many lessons to be learnt by all concerned from this episode. The ruling Congress party has much soul-searching to do about its political instincts; the Opposition must ask itself how it can balance better its role as the opposition in New Delhi and a party in government in one state or another; the prime minister and his government must reflect on their competencies and responses and learn lessons for the future to be able to handle such situations better; civil society activists must come to terms with the limits to their power in shaping public policy; and, finally, the media must introspect about its tactics if it wishes to be taken seriously and wants to preserve the constitutional freedoms it enjoys. Every actor in this saga can declare victory, but in the end it is India and every Indian who must win. That has indeed happened in this case.