The crusade against corruption, like many other good things, got a boost through wikileaks and its dissemination in the columns of The Hindu, a national newspaper in India. Most of them were diplomatic cables routed by the US embassy from New Delhi.Of course they were based on interaction with leading figures in India. It is a wellknown fact that there is tradeoff of information on the diplomatic circuit.Some of the info is damaging, and the response from the Indian side, especially the Prime Minister, has been disappointing.
The leaks served as the spur for a popular movement against corruption, and the fast unto death of a respercted gandhian Anna Hazare. The fast has ended and the main demands of the civic society to be involved in drafting the Lokpal bill have been made.
This has been welcomed as the second war of independence, because the people at large are having a say in this landmark
How far this works is to be seen?
But none can question the uniqueness of the experiments. With no bullets fired, no violence, no conflict, the result has been achieved..
Whatever the outcome, the youth of the country have woken up to the task of nationbuilding, and the eradication of corruption is but a preliminary step.
Scenes of wild enthusiasm were witnessed through out the country and most observers were pleasantly surprised by this show of mass support..
There is the crucial need to sustain the tempo and involvement of people at all levels. Otherwise it will fizzle out the way jayaprakash movement did in the late 1970s.
As an analyst put it, a corrupt government is but an extension of people corrupted in moral values. And if the proposed Lokpal legislation serves as a deterrent to corrupt elements in society , it could be a grand start. And the glory that was India could turn into Glory that is.