The UPA Government, with Congress party heading it, is in a state of daze. It seems unable to face the strings and arrows raining on it, not so much from a weak opposition as from the Civil Society which is standing like a phalanx behind social activists Anna Hazare and Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev.

Their demands are not unreasonable or unconscionable. Why not grant them with some grace? After all, in a democracy which is defined as “a government by the people, of the people and for the people”, the people (civil society) have every right under the Constitution to question the elected representatives when they are not discharging their duties promised at the time of election.

The UPA Government has failed to fulfill two of the most important and critical promises made during the election to our people:
1) Getting back the black money of Indians in foreign banks and
(2) Curbing corruption.

Over two years of a 5 - year term have passed and nothing has been done in this regard. And when the Civil Society monitored the action of the government, it was clear that the government was not serious about tackling these two problems. As for getting back the black money, no steps have been taken in real earnest, about which I had written earlier and many print and electronic media have exposed the hollowness of the UPA Government.

What is wrong if the Civil Society asks the government through the oracle of Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev, why it did not take a single step in this direction?

If the UPA Government is bankrupt of ideas to recover the black money, it could have hired the services of Basel Institute on Governance — to learn governance and to fight corruption. It has a separate division known as the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) which provides capacity building and training methodologies on - site, in the areas of financial investigations, asset tracing and recovery, as well as mutual legal assistance.

Since UPA Government is harping on legal hurdles in getting the black money, why not hire the services of ICAR? Well, when a Police Officer does not want to catch a thief, why will he register a case? Could it be that the members of the UPA have maximum number of secret accounts abroad than others? Why does not the UPA government place the interest of the country above everybody else's? Prime Minister must answer this question.

What about the question of corruption? This helps all the political parties, hence they go - slow on the Lokpal Bill. Even here, the officers who are the fountain heads of corruption are sought to be kept out of the ambit of this Bill? If so, what is the good of such a paper - tiger of a Bill? Which is what the “India against Corruption” of Anna Hazare does not want. It wants a real tiger to keep corruption at bay, at least.

The UPA, in its anxiety to remain in power by following the coalition dharma, should not divide and destroy democracy in our country by tempering the Bill with too much mercy and excluding some who are more vulnerable to corruption.

The strength of a chain depends on its weakest links. Today black money and corruption are the weakest links in an otherwise strong and economically resurgent India. Therefore, we must remove these two weak links forthwith. Since the UPA Government and the Opposition in Parliament are unable to do this patriotic labour of love for the country, the people (civil society) are doing this job for their own survival with the help of leaders like Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev. More power to their voice and more strength to their resolve. Remember, nature resists vacuum. When there is a vacuum in a part of the atmosphere, air rushes in to fill that vacuum creating turbulence. Air travelers often experience this turbulence. Today the Civil Society is experiencing this turbulence. For this, we have only our rulers to blame because they have created a performance vacuum. Listen to Ted Turner of CNN: "Either you lead, follow or get out of my way."

Time UPA gets out of civil society's way by calling for a general election. Let the people decide. No point in the UPA government engaging itself daily in tackling this kind of agitation that cause anxiety amongst our people. UPA seems to be behaving like Libya's leader Quadaffi who says, "My people love me" and is engaged in suppressing the popular uprising.

Tail Piece:
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (8-6-2011) sought amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) to uproot corruption in the country and said: "Today, the Income Tax Department owes over Rs. 40,0000 crore to tax payers towards refund money. But they don't give it. Why do you think they are holding the money, because they want some bribe…”

Bottom Line:
When we have before us the cases of Prime Ministers and Chief Justices involved in corruption charges, why the UPA government is refusing to bring them under the ambit of the Jan Lokpal Bill?

If India loses, who wins?