26 April,2011 08:44 AM IST | | BV Shivashankar
When you are leading a mass movement, it is not enough if your integrity is above board, you must also be shrewd enough to know the nuances of the issue you are handling. Otherwise interested parties will hijack it and the very movement will be derailed.
This is what the new anti-corruption icon Anna Hazare is underlining with being caught in the web weaved by the circumstances followed by his historic fast-unto-death demanding an effective form of the Lokpal Bill. His folksy innocence has not helped controlling controversies distorting the focus of an important issue. And he is looking pathetic, while his team in the draft committee of the bill is a bit defensive with a particular member facing serious allegations.u00a0
While the whole country seemed to have thrown its weight behind him, Hazare gave scope to the people like Mayawathi pinpointing the shortcomings in the draft committee. And a father-son duo in his team is big eye sour.
Justice N Santhosh Hegde could have been the real brain of Hazare's team as he comes with a strong background of legal experience. After all he is the retiring judge of the Supreme Court and has created enough notice in the state of Karnataka by cracking whip on the corrupt folk as the Lokayukta. He could have proved himself as a Sachin Tendulkar of Hazare's team, but he turned out to be Sreesanth, falling fry to sledging on the field. The Congress leader successfully did a Ricky Ponting and Hegde lost cool and his flip-flop on resigning to the committee reduced him to the level of a jester.
He looked valiant, when roared against Digvijay Singh and offered to resign to the committee and gained screen space on prime time news and leading space on front pages. Although his backtracking had also got equal publicity the tone was distinctly skeptical.
This is not the first time that the people of Karnataka have witnessed his summersault skills. He had resigned as the Laokayukta owing to the government intervention in protecting corrupt officials, creating tumult in the state politics. While the common man adored him as the messiah, they pleaded him to rethink on his resignation. Hegde then took back his resignation at L K Advani's insistence. However, the people who had backed him felt disappointed when Hegde called the BJP leader 'father figure.'u00a0u00a0
One can't question honesty and sincerity of the front runners fighting for the Lokpal Bill, but their lack of skills in handling the political sledging is failing them.
