It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us...
— Charles Dickens

The Hindu pantheon has many Gods today as Avatars down the centuries, from the Vedic period. The triumvirate divinity, the Trinity, known as Brahma, the Creator; Vishnu, the Preserver and Shiva, the Destroyer is believed to be in charge of the destiny of the world of man. His birth, his sustenance and death are the responsibility of these three divinities. A beautiful and even believable concept that we experience everyday in our day – to - day life. Then there are minor Gods — like heads of government departments — Ashwini to look after man's health, Venkateshwara who looks after man's wealth and Yama, who handles man's death.

In a democratic country too, there is a Trinity in place, in a manner of thinking. The Legislature, who makes laws to govern the man. The Executive, to administrate the man's affairs through those laws. The Judiciary to destroy the evil of injustice of the Legislature, Executive and the Society.

Now the question is, what our poor man will do if the Legislature makes the law that suits its members, not the man [people]? Remember 1975? What will the poor man do if the Executive breaches the laws and turns venal? What will the poor man do if the Judiciary is dispensing injustice?

Well, we call a Gandhi [Mahatma]; we call a JP [Jayaprakash Narayan]; we call a VP [V. P. Singh] and now we call our Anna Hazare.

While millions across the country are joining Anna, as millions had joined Gandhiji, JP and VP to challenge the moribund, corrupt and autocratic governments, there are those who play the role of Shakuni and Devil's Advocate. I am no great admirer of the "Art of Living" Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar or Baba Ramdev. Yet, I admire them now for their sheer honesty and quiet resolve in openly, yes openly, supporting Anna, being visible to the whole world. This kind of open support is rare among these Godmen, Gurus, Jagadgurus or Matadhipathis with their own vested interests to safeguard because of the vast properties they possess. 'Why take on the government? See what happened to Baba Ramdev and others, including Anna, who were subjected to investigation on charges of this, that and even corruption', seems to be the fear of these men of God. By the way where is our Vishweshwara Thirtha Swamiji of Pejawar Mutt? If he was on the side of Rama, as he was when the Babri Masjid was demolished, he should now be on the side of Anna to defeat the Ravana of corruption.

I am sure Anna's movement would send to the government a stronger message if the heads of all religions and religious denominations express their support to Anna, if not so openly as Sri Ravishankar and Baba Ramdev, at least via a press statement. They should, unless they have something to fear about possible investigation by the government and much to hide. Well, if they do not support Anna for reasons of their own principles or ideology, that is a different matter, we shall agree to disagree.

What, however, had surprised me was the statement of some high profile intellectuals, industrialists and self - proclaimed leaders. They indulge in rigmarole, they are fence - sitters. And there are others like Arundathi Roy, Aruna Roy and Nandan Nilekani speaking through their hat. Hypocrites. Each one seems to have developed a soft corner to a government that is avowedly incapable of delivering a legislation that people [not parliamentarians] want — to end the menace of corruption which is making their daily life miserable.

From looting the State Exchequer — 2G scam, CWG, defence purchase, Adarsh apartments — to harassing the Aam Aadmi in obtaining a birth certificate, death certificate, a college seat, business licence, driving licence and registering a Police complaint, there is corruption. Indeed, as Indira Gandhi said corruption is a 'universal phenomenon' but in this country, it is so deep - rooted, the Aam Aadmi feels suffocated dealing with any government department. How much should he bleed?

And when these so - called Oxford - educated Ministers with many years of legislative experience are not finding a way to end this, either by intention or incapacity, an old ex-Army truck driver and a Gandhian finds a way. He shows the path to liberation from corruption to the people of the country and the people rally round him like one man shouting, "Give us the Jan Lokpal Bill, not the bogus show - piece of a Sarkari Lokpal Bill".

Many silly, stupid arguments are fired at Team Anna like: Will Jan Lokpal Bill end corruption?

I ask: There is Indian Penal Code (IPC). Will it end murder and other crimes? Can you say, we don't need the IPC?

The talk of Parliamentary Standing Committee under the Chairmanship of Abhishek Singhvi, a Rajya Sabha member [They could not find a Lok Sabha member!], is busy vetting the Sarkari Lokpal Bill. And he is blabbering about further discussions and busy inviting others to come to the table while at the same time getting Aruna Roy, a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC), a non - governmental body headed by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, to submit her own version of a Lokpal Bill.

It is obvious Abhishek Singhvi is trying to buy time and ensure the Bill is not brought before the Parliament before 30th of August 2011, the deadline given by Anna. Once this happens, the Bill is as good as dead. The Bill that could not be passed for the last 43 years, will once again remain as an idea while the corrupt will continue to enrich themselves at the cost of the poor people of this country.

Sarkari Lokpal does not want the judiciary to be brought under its ambit saying there is already the Judges (Inquiry) Act of 1968 and there is already the RTI Act under which the judiciary comes. Despite these two Acts, the government says it is planning to bring in Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill 2010 in this monsoon session. Can we believe this government? This Bill has been in the waiting for 27 years. This government seems unwilling to bring any Bill in the Parliament which will not enable its politicians, MPs, Ministers, bureaucrats and judges to benefit from corruption.

Therefore, this time luckily we got Anna Hazare and his team and we, the people of India, should be rigid in our resolve to get the Bill passed by 30th of this month and not succumb to the suggestions that Anna should be flexible.

UPA government [read Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal and yes, Dr. Manmohan Singh] should realise that by passing the Jan Lokpal Bill before 30th August, 2011, it will not be jeopardizing either the future government led by Rahul Gandhi or the Parliament or the Democracy. Any law can be amended, if Parliament wants. Therefore, UPA should either pass the Bill or Quit. Anna should Live. Democracy should Survive. Jai Hind.

Tailpiece:
I was amused to read a report in today's The New Indian Express about the Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bhukari's grievance against Anna Hazare and his movement against corruption.

Saying that communalism is a bigger threat to India than corruption, he wanted Anna to address this problem of Muslims too. He also asked why Anna's team "did not do more to involve Muslims in this anti - graft movement." He also said that the slogan of Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata Ki Jai did not make Muslims any comfortable! He says, according to the report printed in quotes, "When Gandhi took up a cause, he made sure he included in it grievances of every Indian constituency." Including Muslim constituency, that is.

But whoever excluded Muslims, please? I could see some wearing skull cap and beard who should be Muslims by appearance at least. There are many highly educated Muslim youngsters participating. Nobody sends special invitation for a common cause like this. The ever - swelling gathering of people at the venue was spontaneous. Why then this discordant voice? Why did Gandhiji's cause for a united India fail despite Gandhiji including in his cause the grievances of "every Indian constituency", including that of Muslims? One should simply, unobtrusively get into the mainstream of INDIAN society, especially on occasions like the Anna Movement.