In the early days of April a septuagenarian civil society activist Anna Hazare started a fast unto death crusade against mounting corruption in India. His demands were (i) immediate passing of Lokpal (Ombudsman) Bill and (ii) recasting of the existing committee that was drafting a new anti-corruption law. He insisted that the existing committee was not acceptable as "some of its members (ministers) known for corruption should have already been in jail."
The nascent movement at Delhi's Jantar Mantar soon gained momentum. Crowd swelled as many joined from far flung states to give a day or two to his crusade. Support venues sprang into existence in cities and candle light vigils were brought out at different places of India.
While these activities were visible through electronic media, a parallel invisible movement was making headway. Support blogs were floated in London, USA and Beijing with unprecedented spontaneity and activists sent thousands of SMS messages through mobile phone networks inviting people to rally behind Annaji. The SMS calls, crisscrossing India, ignited the masses at thunderous speed. Yours truly, who was traveling in India during those days, received such messages in his cell phone from unknown senders and witnessed supporting processions in Delhi and candle light vigils taking place even in the wilderness of Himachal Pradesh.
The prime minister appealed to the 73 years old activist to break his fast, assuring government's immediate action. Sonia Gandhi said there were no two views on corruption and government would do everything. But Hazare stood undaunted. Nothing short of forming committee with equal numbers from the government and the civil society would satisfy him. It was, the activists said, not a movement against government or party/parties in power, nor was it aimed at giving any mileage to the opposition, albeit, opposition leader Sushmita Swaraj backed Anna Hazare's cause and appealed to him to break his fast.
The government ultimately yielded to Anna Hazare's demand and the peoples' power. A 10-member committee would be formed with 5 members drawn from government side and 5-members from civil society with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as chairman. Hazare broke his 99-hours fast on the morning of April 9 after government issued official notification to this effect. It was a moral victory for millions of Indians' ardent desire to rein the monster of corruption.
Indeed, civil society cannot be a substitute for politicians. The latter are the prime movers of democracy and have a much bigger role to play. But there comes a moment in the life of a nation when someone has to rise to the occasion and give a wake up call to arouse its members against an evil that threatens to destroy the fabric of a society. Since politicians and bureaucrats have indulged in corruption, it was argued that framing of any anticorruption law must involve representation of civil society. No person would voluntarily part with alluring perks and enormous unearned gains that come with public position. The crusaders declared in Churchilian echo that corruption had become too important an issue to be left to the politicians alone.
The Gandhian non-violent approach is not new to India. But what astonished all was the velocity with which the call could reach and inspire people sitting in distant houses which otherwise would have taken weeks or months in a vast country like India. In fact, it was made possible by exploiting combined powers of peaceful demonstrations, cyber science, digital technology, mobile phones and involvement of the print and electronic media. The latent power of digital technology has been unfurled with amazing results.

Bangladesh Perspective:
In Bangladesh there is no dearth of man-made issues affecting lives of citizens. The latest ones to mention may be; all pervading corruption, extra-judicial killings, Grameen Bank debacle and the share market scam.
Ours is a country where institutions have been dismantled one after the other without creating better substitutes. Rules have been flouted with impunity, laws have been bent to benefit individuals and government refuses to make public names of persons associated with share market scams. We have seen our history distorted and national heroes maligned or deprived of their rightful place in history. We have seen how a personality who brought name and fame for the country, the man who has made Bangladesh known to the world by winning Nobel Prize, has been maligned and become a victim of orchestrated character-assassination campaign. The old adage that no good work goes unpunished has unleashed its ugly face in all spheres of our national life.
Bangabandhu played his historic role in 1971. Have we not yet reached another point of time when a man or a woman will rise to the occasion and loudly speak out the unarticulated desire of the masses? In around 2000, an eminent person was offered the position of ombudsman in Bangladesh. While politely declining the offer he maintained that if the spirit of the constitution was upheld, laws of the land were applied without let or hindrance and if the government genuinely committed itself to good governance, the country did not require an ombudsman to set things right.
Our civil society is quite active and a section of politicians favour arriving at consensus on national issues, though in a feeble voice. Our print and electronic media are no less pro-active (barring a few). Internet-use is growing, digital technology is proliferating, at least as seen in meteoric rise of mobile phone use. But with all these modern and powerful tools of mass communication available at hand, we could not see the civil society taking an issue to the people, generating support in its favour and ultimately making a difference by using those tools. Can the success of Anna Hazare's crusade be an eye-opener for many of us?

The writer is a former civil servant.
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