Dr Sen will walk free today after Dec 24 last year while the Chhattisgarh government is preparing to exploit loopholes of Indian legal system even more and has challenged Dr Sen's acquittal in 'waging war against Nation' allegations. Outrageously ridiculous as earlier said but it tells to prepare for the long battle ahead. We all need to be there, in whatever capacity we are, to sustain and strengthen the civil society movements like the 'Campaign to free Dr Sen' or 'Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption'. Let's be there!
Also, we need to be very, very cautious in our approach because we are fighting for a change; a change that is bound to have antagonizing results for most of the power elite. Let’s try to read some symbolic yet powerful messages out of the recent civil society movements.
Like I wrote (and certainly I was not alone in thinking so) on the day government agreed to Anna Hazare’s demands for the ‘Jan Lokpal Bill’, the controversy to put the father-son duo of Bhushans was avoidable. Here I am not questioning integrity of Bhushans, yes, but we needed to present every move of ours in as puritan a way possible; we needed to do away with even an iota of the spark that could create controversy later on. Civil society movements are about creating the highest possible order of congregating ideals when we propose and fight for masses with support of masses and decide to follow a Gandhian path for it.
So the energy that should go in preparing an all comprehensive draft (we have only two months!) is being drifted to tackle the petty politicking of CDs and allegations like nepotism. Politicians always wanted it this way but we need to see, as an awakening civil society, that we don’t let this rare opportunity that could be a building block for the days to come, simply go down the pages of the history, due to something which was easily manageable.
We do not have time; in fact we never had time. We lost the track when we started on the path to get free as dignified individuals way back in 1947. 1947 was just the beginning of a long journey. And, we derailed!
Since then, it has been occasional endeavors of the civil society movement with public figures like Vinoba Bhave, JP, Lohia, Sunder Lal Bahuguna, Anna Hazare, Binayak Sen. Off late, we have started witnessing the mobilization on a larger scale with more and more middle class and youth volunteers coming to form a vital support base. It is an important indicator for India of the moment—that previously had a largely alienated, fractured, aimless youth base and an almost insulated middle class, always wary for earning some easy way to secure life in monetary life, and, in-turn, everything got monetized, commoditized, and corruption became a way of life—that it is yet another turn now to make and see the change creep in—to change the ways how we think, how we administer and how we get administered.
We need to capitalize on these symbolic factors. We need to factor in how the power elite are flexing muscles, be it Dr Sen’s case or be it Anna’s campaign, to derail whatever little gains that we seemed to gain. We hope for good things to come but history tells us to prepare for the worst. We need to closely watch the High Court’s observations on Chhattishgarh government’s plea to reconsider the acquittal of Dr Sen and two others under Section 121 A of the IPC. We need to cautiously watch the conditions of the bail for Dr Sen as the Chhattisgarh government has requested to put in a clause that would debar Dr Sen from entering Chhattishgarh. What rubbish!
We need to watch and we sincerely need to move ahead in a planned way. We need to capitalize on the gains that we have made in recent days. And we all need to be there with commitment that innocence and conviction in voices of Dr Sen and Anna deserve. Let’s be there! It’s never too late to begin again!
