Who Will Guard The Guards?

(I know I may be heavily bashed by a lot of people who support Mr. Hazare, but after reading SO MUCH about this issue lately, I just couldn't help but express my views on it. All you Hazare supporters are more than welcome to bash me, but first please read this article carefully WITH AN OPEN MIND, and please correct or enlighten me wherever I am wrong, because I would love to know how and why I SHOULD support the Lokpal Bill)

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? - Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis (Juvenal)

Which literally translates to, "Who will guard the guards themselves?"

It’s an old saying, and in a way is a paradoxical question, because if we keep a guard to guard the guards, then who will guard these new guards?

Which is what brings me to this much talked about issue, “Jan Lokpal Bill”. I have read the explanation of the Jan Lokpal Bill, read a lot which has been written about it, saw Mr. Hazare’s video where he explains and promotes the bill and himself.

My personal opinion about Mr. Hazare is pointless and irrelevant so I will keep it to myself, but people have been comparing him to Mahatma Gandhi. I am not the biggest fan of Mahatma Gandhi, but I can say one thing for sure, that Mahatma Gandhi and everyone who fought for independence (through violence or non-violence) had one thing in common, they asked the people to first look within, and then come out to protest.

Bapu always stressed the need to “be the change”, before you can ask others to change. As John F. Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country”. Keeping that in mind, how many of you self proclaimed responsible citizens updating your fb status and going on “march pass” can honestly say that:-

• You have been doing everything in your power to make this country a better place to live?
• You have never tried to save your income tax by using some loophole in the system?
• You have never bribed a government official or a traffic police when you were caught breaking traffic rules?
• You always dispose of your garbage in the correct manner, and not on the road?
• You have never tried to cross a platform without buying a platform ticket, or tried to travel without buying a travel ticket in public transport?

If any of you have answered “yes, I can” to all the questions above, then my heart goes out to you and I respect you from the bottom of my heart. Anyone who answered yes to all the questions asked above is TRULY a responsible citizen.

For all others, who answered “no, I can’t” to any of the questions asked above, and STILL shouting about how you are a responsible citizen by going on march passes and showing your support for Anna Hazare, well, sorry fellas, but you do not have the first clue about what you’re talking about, as the “corrupt system” which you are claiming to fight against is made of people EXACTLY like you.

Now, coming to the main issue, the Jan Lokpal Bill, before you read any further, I would ask you to kindly read the link I had provided for the explanation of the Jan Lokpal Bill.

Assuming that you either visited & went through the link for the explanation of the bill or you already knew about it, I will continue.

First of all, let me make it clear that I am NOT supporting the Jan Lokpal Bill, which inspite of what you may like to believe, does NOT mean that I support corruption. Being anti-corruption does not mean I automatically should support the Jan Lokpal Bill, and here are my reasons for the same:-

1) The bill is extremely vague about the appointment of the members of the Lokpal committee. It states that they will be appointed by Judges, constitutional authorities, and citizens. Who is going to take the guarantee of these Judges, who by the way are appointed by the President, who is a............That’s right! Politician again.

Who is going to take the guarantee of these constitutional authorities who have failed to maintain the decorum of our constitution in the last 64 years of independence?

As far as citizens being involved in appointing the members, how are we going to do that? If this will be a close knit of influential private individuals, then aren’t we making the same mistake as America did with the Federal Reserve, which became heavily influenced by involvement of influential private individuals who have their own private agendas?

And if the citizens will be involved through a voting system, then isn’t that a rape of our democratic system? Are we creating a dual democracy? And most importantly, doesn’t that ONCE AGAIN make the lokpal members politically motivated when voting is involved?

2) The bill gives way too much power and authority to one committee, which includes members not elected by our democratic system. Which personally, I take as a violation of my civil rights.

The bill states that the Lokpal committee will conduct trial against any corrupt minister or bureaucrat within 1 year, and provide justice in 2 years. Now, first of all, if after the trial, the accused is adjudged not-guilty, then what will be the solution after that?

The bill states that the solution to this is complete transparency, but that is already available in our current system through the Right to Information act, that doesn’t really help, does it?

And what if the trial is not over in 1 year? I mean what will be the difference in Lokpal investigations which will make its trial get over within one year, something which is not done in our current judicial system? Why can’t the Supreme Court, which is not influenced by the government, take care of these cases within a year now? Why do they need a new bill to expedite its trials?

3) India is a country which has attracted a lot of foreign investment lately, it has a lot of money flowing in. The ministers are having a gala time having a piece of this ever increasing Large Pie. Anyone would be tempted to have a piece of this pie, and my biggest problem with the bill is exactly that.

By adding more people into the democratic and judicial system, we are only adding more people to the list of individuals who are to be bribed by large corporate companies in order to get their work done smoothly.

The government can accommodate only as many ministers as the constitution allows it to, right? But the pie is increasing ever so quickly and has become so large that there are many more who want in on this action. Who is to say that the members of the lokpal bill will not end up as corrupt as our politicians? and in turn increasing the number of people who will have a share of the aam janta’s hard earned money.

When these lokpal members get corrupt, what are we going to do next? Appoint another committee to monitor the lokpal committee??? As I said at the beginning, “Who Will Guard The Guards?”, its a never ending paradoxical question.

A few years back, there was a huge debate circling around the implementation of a new law called P.O.T.A. to fight against terrorism. I remember a statement made by Mr. Javed Akhtar, who had a very simple point that, our current laws are more than capable of handling all our problems, we do not need new rules, rather we need better implementation of the current rules.

The same applies to this situation as well. I understand the sentiments of all you people who support anti-corruption, but if any of you are genuinely serious about fighting corruption and bringing a change, then the first thing to realize is that there are no easy and quick fixes to wash away corruption.

Some of you may say that I am just another pessimistic/negative fella, but people, we have the largest democracy in the world, and yet we have a divide and so much corruption, so when I don't sound convinced by the idea of adding more people to the "decision-making process" and just making the democracy all the more larger, then am I really pessimistic/negative or just plain realistic?

We cannot be influenced by the stand taken by the youths in some of the middle-east countries. There situation was much worse and much dire, and they had nothing else which they could have done.

Instead of creating new laws or bills, we need to strengthen the current system. We need to build a society which encourages following rules, which discourages the “chalta hai” attitude, which encourages our future generations to be as enthusiastic to join politics as they are enthusiastic to join IIM or IIT.

We ARE the system, we first need to change ourselves, be responsible and honest citizens, pass on the same values to our kids. Politicians do not fall from sky, they are ONE OF US, so the people who come out of us to become the next Chief Minister, Sports Minister, Defence Minsiter, Prime Minister etc. will also have the same values as we do. Thus it is important to change ourselves for us to envision a supremely powerful yet responsible India in the future.