So much has been written on corruption, so much on Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption. So many articles, so much quality stuff, that it is not possible to write on this topic without being repetitive. Writing on this was far away from my mind. I was a happy soul writing on management and generating healthy discussions. Thilak Rao the community manager at Silicon India invited me to write on this topic. And well you know, we cannot say no to these people.And (between ourselves) I was bribed literally to write against corruption.So I disrupt my stream,corrupt my thinking and write on corruption.

Corruption is an unsolicited adds on, we got from British along with the Independence in 1947. And ever since the relationship between and Government and corruption has like that between Kaya & Chaya (body & its reflection or shade), or beyond, may be, it is embedded in the soul of the Government.

We did have few upright politicians like Lal Bahadur Shastry, Gulzarilal Nanda, Ram Manohar Lohiya, and a few others. Acharya Vinoba Bhave & JayPrakash Narayan were not politicians, but they fought for sanity in political life, and for equitable distribution of assets among the people through their Bhoodan movement.

The most unfortunate aspect of this fight against corruption is that, the people fighting against corruption are not able to keep corrupt people out of their camp and movement. Some of the people who addressed the Anna Hazare rallies had cases of Income Tax evasion against them. The biggest joke was of course a Karnataka ex minister with corruption and illegal mining cases against him, fasting in support of Anna Hazare. Jay Prakash Narayan fought against corrupt congress and brought it down in 1977, but what use? The government installed by him was so corrupt politically, that it did not last more than 19 months. Same was the problem with V.P. Singh whose honesty was beyond question. Vajpayee was the only non Congress PM to complete his term.

A soldier fighting against corruption needs strong arsenal to back his fight, quality weaponry in the form of honest support and viable alternatives in the political system, which is not there. All the crusaders have had this problem and Anna is no exception. Jan Lokpal may at the most replace one corrupt politician with other probably less corrupt politician. But even he cannot produce honest politicians.

The solution lies in producing honest politicians, and not shuffling between the dishonest politicians. Honest politicians can be produced if you work towards the goal.

It is the system that produces dishonest politicians that needs to be changed. Children who are future politicians have to be imparted values right from the school stage. Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has been doing a silent work in this direction for almost a decade, and the results are already showing though in the form of a small trickle, the augury is good, & so is the direction. The tickle will transform into an avalanche in due course. I know it because I have had the exclusive privilege of working under Dr. Kalam for his Lead India 2020 movement as Chief Administrative Officer.

Anna at the most will end up being part of the history books like JP and others. Corruption cannot be fought top down; it has to be fought bottom up. The children who are future leaders have to be imparted values of life from school stage. So that the emerging generations of future leaders are clean honest and upright. Anna should send his soldiers to the far flung rural areas of the country to work silently in the schools, madarsas, and village communities to impart human values to children so that at least a decade & half from now we will have political leadership that presents a clean India to the world.

Anna may not be there at that time, but the future generations and posterity will remember him with gratitude for achieving what even Mahatma Gandhi & Jay Prakash Narayan failed to achieve.

Finally, I end my article with my hindi poem about politicians that was published Navbharat Times blog.

आज के नेता, भारत भाग्य विधाता.

I am writing a few introductory lines to test your patience. 


कविता क्या खाक हम लिखते , 
बस तुक्बाज़ी से गुज़ारा करते हैं. 
ये तो नव भारत टाईम्स की भूल थी, 
जो कविता समझ प्रकाशित किया 
हम तो बस बेझिजक विचार प्रकट करते है 

भूल से भी न पसंद कर लेना इसे, 
गलती दोहराने की हम क्षमता रखते हैं 
राजनीतज्ञों को तो सह लेते हैं आप, 
बारी हमारी हैं, तो क्यों उफ़,करते हैं 

हो सके तो कुछ लाय्केस, 
हमारी झोली में धर देना 
दुश्मन ही सही, 
आखिर, आपके कुछ तो लगते हैं 

Now please read 

आज के नेता, भारत भाग्य विधाता.

http://readerblogs.navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/Capacity-Building/entry/%E0%A4%86%E0%A4%9C-%E0%A4%95-%E0%A4%A8-%E0%A4%A4-%E0%A4%AD-%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%A4-%E0%A4%AD-%E0%A4%97-%E0%A4%AF-%E0%A4%B5-%E0%A4%A7-%E0%A4%A4

Ready for Bouquets & Brickbats,

Shyam