Ipaidabribe.com's stand on **********'s detention
This morning, Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi were taken into ‘preventive custody’ by the government. The battle-lines are clearly drawn now, between a movement led by a 74 year old Gandhian and a fidgety and insecure government.
What a tragedy! Team Anna’s movement has not been violent at all even though their words have been strong. Yet, we are now seeing the authoritarian side of the government. The batons are out; we are back in the pre-independence forties! What a shame!
Everybody is right, and wrong too. Team Anna is right, in wanting a strong Lokpal bill. Yet, politicians, however despicable they might be are right too, we have a parliament and the draft bill is now before our elected representatives. It is for them to decide and beyond a point, they ought not to be pressurised by fasts unto death.
But persuading parliament is not an easy task. The Aruna Roy group agitated for seventeen years to give us a powerful Right to Information Act. They too faced the wrath of the government, sat on dharnas, but eventually mended fences and worked with the government to enact the law. They have a very good draft of the Lokpal bill too.
Ipaidabribe.com has supported the Janlokpal bill in many ways, by taking part in protest marches, engaged in discussions and public meetings, given interviews and sound bytes to support the cause, put up information and links on our site and exhorted other citizens to lend their support. We have also given informed and balanced comment on the actual content of the Lokpal bill.
Even in this situation of grave provocation, we believe that we must not forsake any opportunity to fight corruption and remain focused on our strategy. We use citizens’ experiences to analyse where we are going wrong in the delivery of government services and suggest process reforms to reduce corruption.
However, individuals need to carry this effort forward. Each one of us needs to clean up our daily transactions of corruption. Faced with this silent but potent resistance, corruption will come down. This process will be gradual and will not attract front page headlines, but will be a real and demonstrable improvement.
Sadly, people still hesitate on the brink, when choosing between good and evil. The experiences of young Indians on ipaidabribe.com reveal that many had firmly resolved not to bribe for their driving licences, passport verification or flat registration, but were often persuaded by their parents and mentors that it was a sensible and practical thing to do.
The biggest battle is fought internally. We have to deal with the shadowy Rajas, Kalmadis, Kanimozhis and Reddy Brothers within ourselves. We have to discover our internal Mohandas Karamchand.
Freedom is never granted - then it is not freedom - it is always snatched. Freedom from corruption must be wrested from our corrupt countrymen.
So shame them!
Next time you visit a government office, look the criminal demanding a bribe in the eye. Tell him that as a free and proud Indian, you are not going to bribe him. The battle against corruption is won when you say, ‘No’, loud enough for everyone to hear.