Passing the bill or the ball

Much have been talked or written about Anna and his team. There is no doubt that every Indian wants corruption to end. Does team Anna know how to end corruption? I guess the answer is yes and no. Yes if we all support the team and no if we withdraw oursleves from it. Yes the team has made mistakes. Recently they were thrown on the headlines of all news channels for some decisions they have taken. I think it was a mistake primarily because the decisions were not discussed with all Indians! I might sound ignorant, but the purpose of forming Lokayukt is to have a representative for the common people, the 'aam janta' so to speak, where decisions taken by the team representing Indians would be on getting the concurrence of the nation.

Interestingly, taking this cue, the 'opposition parties', which is Team Anna v/s all political parties, are condemning the very formation of the team. Mr. Digvijay Singh has said openly that Anna's team members are not his well-wishers. Attempts are also made to highlight that Mumbai was much less of a success than Delhi because of the 'number game'. My question is, if it is not Anna and his team, then who is it? It was Anna who for the first time raised his voice against corruption and 'genuinely' wanted to do something for the nation. However, they have made mistakes. But just because they have made mistakes does not mean that the team is not a valid one. What I am trying to say here is that team Anna should be encouraged by us Indians. Team Anna is a solid and robust team with some extremely good and well-meaning people. However, my appeal to Arvind and Kiran Bedi is that they should listen to the critics and constantly try to develop the team instead of being defensive.

There are people like Shekhar Gupta, Barkha Dutt, Pronoy Roy, Narayan Murthy who are constantly helping the team by sharing opposite points of view. A very sensible discussion that came on NDTV with Shekar Gupta, Pronoy Roy, Narayanmurthy [the self-acclaimed small man - well sir, nobody thinks you are a small man, you are one leader that Indians need] and Arvind trying to look at the very purpose of team Anna. It might sound a little disconnected, but the discussion reminded me of the film 'The Sound of music'. In the film, the nuns were discussing whether Maria, another fellow nun was fit to be in the order. All the nuns were giving their different opinions on the topic. While everyone thought they were fighting, the Reverend Mother looked at it from a different perspective - she said, all the nuns were trying to help each other by sharing opposite points of view. Now this was exactly what Shekar, Pronoy and Murthy were trying to do. This is what team Anna should remember. See when Shekhar is saying that flogging cannot be considered as a license to rehabilitate anyone in a democratic country, it does not mean he's trying to say that team Anna has to dismissed, he's trying to enormously help you by finding perhaps an alternative way to end corruption. Or when Pronoy or Murthy are urging you to only focus on 'ending corruption', it has some purpose to it. Please do no let yourself convert into a machinery you are fighting against.

In the programme 'The buck stops hear' concerning the failure to pass the bill, I was amused to notice that all the speakers were busy discussing where who did wrong. When the blame game starts it means only one thing; that corruption is here to stay. Ask Nandan Nilekani or Naraynmurthy - they are exponents of Peter Senge's Systems thinking! You start the blame game means you accept the situation. Nobody including Barkha, who was wearing the 'blue hat' wanted to discuss on how to end corruption. I do not mean to criticise Barkha. However, she according to me, should rise above her role as a journalist and help team Anna find a way. Every Indian, by default, belongs to the team. Let's all sit together, do a problem map and discuss 'only', like a paranoid, on how to end corruption, we will find out a way. However, a humongous task, even if temporarily, has to be addressed first:

We have to resolve our conflicts first. I don't want to sound like a spiritual guru, but I can definitely lay bare what I feel. Conflict amongst parties, Advani, Manmohan Singh, Rahul, Mayawati, Mamta, Budhhadeb, Lalu prasad Yadav have to work together. Conflicts amongst channels, we want Pronoy, Rajdeep and Barkha to work together. Conflicts amongst organisations, both public and private sectors. Conflicts between families, if any...for example, Rahul, Varun, Maneka and Sonia have to work together. My message to the Gandhi family is that if you are to at all resolve Indian conflicts, resolve your family's first. And my message to all political leaders is, please stop fighting, get out of the child ego please. We are thinking of our smaller roles and forgetting the bigger role that all of us have in common. At the end of it all, we are all Indians, and it is our nation's shame, as Kabir Bedi rightly pointed out stating that our inability to pass the bill is maligning India's brand image. You see these people are all great people and they are all India's well-wishers. More than passing the bill, the bigger picture is about ending corruption. If we don't discuss it now by making ending corruption our fetish, the bill, whether passed or failed will just be another bill.

I am sure if we discuss for some days on how to end corruption by drawing a problem map, we will have a much better understanding of the virus that has spread its wings in all sectors and 'functions' of society over time without showing any signs of leaving. Once things are back to normal, we can go back to our respective parties, assume our respective roles and start fighting again, but here we will fight in a state devoid of corruption. And the day we are able to end corruption, we will free all prisoners from every Indian prisons, for we know that all of us, in some way or the other, were guilty of being in the viral system.

My simple and perhaps an ignorant message for all the people who matter is

Do not blame or fight.

Unite

To see the light.

Disclaimer: I have not used salutations for anybody. I am sure you could hear them. If not, my apologies.