Opinion A lost sense of proportion

These less-than-effective attempts to kill the mood of the fight against corruption display the gall of their assumption — that such accusations are all it would take. And just so I’m clear at the outset,it’s not the coverage of these accusations that bothers me; it’s the “so these people have no right to talk on corruption” that gets added. Seriously?

A sampler of the allegations:

* The IT department claims Arvind Kejriwal owes the government Rs 9.2 lakh because he took study leave for a year,and signed a bond that he would not quit for another three years,which he did not honour. By the way,for those three years,he wasn’t networking at taxpayer expense over fine wine at Davos. He was fighting for the RTI from Sunder Nagri,a slum resettlement in Delhi.

* Kiran Bedi submitted inflated travel bills to organisations that had invited her,claiming the full amount of entitlement for business class when she actually travelled on discounted economy tickets. This difference was used by her NGO.

* Kumar Vishwas,a poet and visible voice of team Anna,teaches in Lajpat Rai College and is accused of taking excessive leave to attend the anti-corruption protests.

* The funds collected to pay for the tent,fencing,generators,and so on for the Ramlila ground protest were not taken in the name of India Against Corruption (which is not a registered body and thus has no bank account) but Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF). The trust has managed all the Delhi logistics for this movement since its first protest at Jantar Mantar. Back then,too,all payments were made by the same trust. We did not even have enough money to pay for the tent for day 1. Since then,all funds have come directly to PCRF and not “diverted” from elsewhere as some claim.

Then there are other perceptions about IAC that bother many: the poor aesthetics,the shallow symbolism and combative nature,bad skits and terrible histrionic skills,etc.

On the other hand,these are the issues which made all of us join a call for an anti-corruption mechanism:

* CWG scam. Thousands of crores gone.

* 2G scam. Thousands of crores in losses for a public resource sold off cheaply to private parties for personal benefit.

* NREGA irregularities. Too many to list.

* Mining scams and a virtual mafia taking over national resources.

* Adarsh scam.

* Scams in sugar mill sales,defence purchases,SEZ land.

* I could go on till this publication runs out of ink and paper,and we’d still have more corrupt practices to list.

So while a politician has to pretty much milk the country dry to be discredited (if that,since they don’t seem to lose their friends in the media or credibility even then),taking leave and not attending class is enough to discredit the aam aadmi,should he raise his voice against corruption. Just how gullible and apathetic do the status quoists believe Indians are?

So if you have jumped a red light and bribed a cop,you’re crooked — sit back in your seat and enjoy the ride the government is taking you on. What next? If you bullied a weaker classmate in school and ate his tiffin,you are not noble enough to rally for justice for Jessica Lall,shot through the head for refusing Manu Sharma a drink?

If Santa-Banta or Jew-Muslim jokes are your favourite,you can’t rally for justice for those raped and killed in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots,while many in this government were on watch? Are you also somehow on lower moral ground than Narendra Modi,unable to raise your voice against him and the 2002 Gujarat riots?

Is that all it takes to reduce every citizen into self-doubting submission,so we don’t raise our voice against murder,robbery and loot? And this is supposed to find its way into “serious debate”? Are you kidding me? That all you got?

If you have read this far you’ve indulged me more than I deserve — after all,I have cracked community-specific jokes,and faked illness to skip work. You’re too kind to this sinner,but hopefully not too gullible. Change is inevitable,even if brought about by the very imperfect. It’s going to be hard for some to come to terms with that.

The writer,a TV producer,is a trustee at PCRF,which acts as the secretariat for India Against Corruption