Anna Hazare and his team has invigorated a long laid back population of the country beyond any question of doubt. But ever wondered what is it that has made it such a viral success?
Is Anna the superstar of this campaign, or is its success irrelevant of the protagonist?
I gave it a thought, and this is what I found!
Reason # 1
The issue in question touches every individual in the country at the core of his/her day to day
problems. You thought corruption? No... I meant MONEY!
I was amazed by the different ways the campaign was being presented- 'Prices will go down', 'Alcohol gets cheaper!', 'No tax for next five years', 'Low fuel price' etc.
For our aam admi who is used to working hard through the day as cheap labor and complaining about his woes all through the evening over bottles of local liquor, the prospect of getting rid of his financial troubles is more appealing than anything (perhaps not alcohol!) and if there is a movement for that he will be there... at any 'cost'!
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Reason # 2
The immediate target of the attack is The Government and the wider target are politicians across party lines. Everyone hates politicians... because they are meant to be hated! (Politicians and political parties are probably the most consistent villains in India's history- even Amrish Puri and Gabbar Amjad Khan did comedy roles at times! )
And the timing could not have come more worse for this valiant 'Tughlaqi' government that nailed its own ministers and officials recently on corruption charges and exposed their own world-class scams.
(Psst... Is the affected DMK party supporting Anna Hazare's campaign to bring down the government? :P)
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Reason # 3
An old man threatening a pachydermal institution (you can call it an empire) to
fast unto death in Delhi... sounds very familiar eh?
Yes, his Nehru cap (note the irony! It is named after one of Sonia Gandhi's closest relatives) and Kurta apart, many people consider Anna Hazare as reincarnation of Mahatma Gandhi and needless to say, our parliamentarians as their British counterparts a few decades ago.
And in a style that our dear old Viru Sahastrabuddhe said, ' ... and this is World War... three!', Anna goes out to tell the people that this is second freedom struggle. Why would I not want to be a part of it; something that I missed out in its first part and then ended up reading about in big fat textbooks all through my school days?
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Reason # 4
The success of the Middle East uprising has set a lucrative precedent for people to come out and
protest. A bunch of agitated guys with the help of facebook can bring down an entire government... Wow! And there's more... You get noticed and quoted in some of the biggest names in media!
And who knows, 'you' .. yeah you the reader of my blog, could also be India's Wael Ghonim and appear in Time magazine's list of influential people!
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Reason # 5
There is some kind of domino effect here.
-First a group of inspired people initiate the 'crusade'.
-Seeing them, a bigger crowd of people from across the country hop into the wagon (thanks to social media)
-A lot of sensation and buzz is created around the campaign, so the media hops in.
-Media is there and so much of action against the government, the opposition parties hop in.
-So many people, so much of agitation and unrest- time for some international policing and there you have the USA on board! (today they send wishes, tomorrow they send the military- even if that means some more debt!)
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Now you know that Anna's campaign is indeed set to become a blockbuster... chartbuster.... golden jubilee.. blah blah... (I'm lost for words.. i really am!) but we must remember that these are not 'watch now - forget later' scenes from movies!
They have consequences, they have repercussions... So we must think broadly, decide wisely and act intelligently.
It is not about Anna, it is about India!
