The vision of India Against Corruption: the choice is yours

Image via WikipediaLook. The choice is yours. You can allow the country to fritter away this opportunity to tackle systemic corruption if you get distracted.

To me, the fight against corruption defines everything we should stand for. We should welcome every citizen, even ex-bribe takers and givers.

This is the moment to show the government they cannot take us all for granted, supporters or non-supporters of UPA, whatever we may be. Please demonstrate your wisdom by not allowing anyone to divide you on religious grounds. There is no such hue in this movement. Remember this. Try to understand the games those in power play with you. The government wants to shift the discourse away and sweep it all under a rug. Please don't assume you know how IAC supporters vote. OK?

It is beyond ridiculous to twist yourself into knots trying to find an intellectual argument against a people's uprising in a free democracy. You may not feel the same way but pouring scorn on the sentiments of fed-up protesters doesn't show you in a great light, now does it?

I see a lot of people are unable to make the link between IAC movement brought to you by RTI activists and the death of RTI activists like Shehla Masood (@shehlamasood) in Bhopal today.

IAC movement is not just about one bill. The whistleblower bill is also under consideration in Parliament. The system does not protect truth tellers. If you allow yourself to ignore the brute politics of the matter, you fritter away this ONE chance to change the direction of the country.

You need to know when and how to shift between macro and micro focus during a movement. This is a moment for the macro, not micro. Regardless of what you think of IAC, this is a moment to consider what the government is doing today with the citizens who elected them.

I ask you again, please tell me, which party should I vote for? Please come look at my ballot and help me pick a politician who represents me.

All of y'all can keep twisting and turning struggling to find a way NOT to give in and support the man you know you should have from day one.

The only people who oppose IAC are the government drunk on power and people drunk on ego who boxed themselves into a position early on.

Lets call a spade a spade, shall we? Anybody can voice support for me. That does not mean I support them back. Please unite, don't divide. If you are not with IAC simply because you don't want to be on the same side as "communal" parties, please dare to dream beyond the normal UPA-BJP ping-pong match.

Many have betrayed their illiberal streaks over all this. It's good to know who is truly for building a better India and who only outrage.

If you support the anti-corruption cause, I fail to see why you won't work with the IAC which is a multi-faceted team with a lawyer, a former law minister, a former cop, a former soldier, and a former income tax officer . You can engage them at any level you like.

IAC has been building a movement from the ground up accepting every gesture of support while clearly explaining they do not support back.

I am always wary of people who use big words that mean nothing in the real world.How is it anti-national to want to build a new clean India?

IAC has always asked "what do YOU, the people, want?" That is why Kejriwal immediately asked for a poll when the joint mtgs broke down. Aren't our elected reps, in a free democracy, supposed to be asking "what do YOU, the people, want?" Have u ever seen them in between elections? Have you ever even met the elected reps DURING canvassing? I don't happen to fall into anybody's votebank. So I never have.

If you want to change the system tomorrow, you have to remove the people who won't let you do it today.

We are stuck in a whirlpool. We go round and round with our two top national parties. How do we jump out before we slip down the drain?

So many of us want to do something meaningful with our lives. We don't know where to direct our effort so that it will not be wasted. If the people who are not interested in taking up arms find a unique proposition to channel their energies, why would anyone stifle them? There is nothing academic about this moment in time. With every presser, I'm more amazed that the government is so clueless.

Why is it necessary for you to run down IAC which is trying to build a public movement? You can do whatever else you like for the cause. Why is it necessary for you to mock and taunt IAC for trying to speak to different parts of the country through visuals and slogans? Why can't you just understand they are not speaking to you, the well heeled urbane set, the way you understand it when politicians do it? How can you allow yourself to get distracted so quickly and forget all about the previous misdeeds of govt for random hypotheticals?

Twice now, the government has cracked down on peaceful protesters who REMAIN peaceful. Yet, you still side openly or implicitly with them.

Think about it. If you oppose everyone on the scene, who are you supporting? Where are your energies directed? Anything constructive?

What chance of success do you think any other anti-corruption campaign will have if we allow the govt to neutralize this one? It's all very well to take up your own counter IAC anti-corruption campaign. Go right ahead. Just know you won't get very far. There are so many of us who are intelligent or energetic or care enough to start ngos or movements. But we lack the grassroots connect.

Please try to remember that till date, govt has not explained just WHY PM and judiciary and MPs and junior IAS officers cannot be investigated. Any Income Tax officer can issue notice AND penalize any judge. The Lokpal investigating officer (of either draft) does not even have the power to impose a penalty. He can only submit a report.

Look. I've said it before. I've worked in non profit. I've worked in government. I saw very little impact of my work. I see a chance here. From research to program design to implementation to monitoring to evaluation to output to actual freakin' IMPACT. I see a chance here.

By the way, did you know that there is a time period expiry of 7 years to bring up a case from the time of corruption in the govt's Lokpal?

To all constitution lovers, I'd like to check with you. The constitution is still man's law, not nature's law, right?

The constitution is a piece of paper written by the learned men of that time based on prevailing notions of justice and fairness and equity.

I really resent anybody calling peaceful protesters who are trying to raise the moral consciousness of society through fasts "anarchists".

If Anna Hazare is an anarchist, what is Arundhati Roy? If Anna Hazare is an anarchist, what is Dr. Binayak Sen? If Anna Hazare is an anarchist, what of people vying in the past or present for an independent state in UP, MP, Bihar, AP, Kashmir? IAC wrote letters. IAC met with government. IAC managed to get the anti-corruption bill in Parliament after 41 years. Everything was and is peaceful.

I really worry for the people who think nobodies coming together to raise an apolitical voice against corruption is "anarchy".

If you have no use for the voices of the people, I have no use for you. I am not interested in anything said by people who make a living out of railing against the regime but dismiss popular apolitical opposition.

A lot of people have a very narrow understanding of events because they see things as they are. The rest of us see things as they could be. The word you're looking for "vision".

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