As always Aijaz Z. Syed, in his article “Corruption-hit India awaits its own Arab Spring,” was articulate and pointed in highlighting the scourge of corruption, which has not just become a part of life, but is rather the way of life in India. He has eloquently summarized the uncountable scams stretching across the length and breadth of the country in a few lines. I remember what my father always said: “From where would we bring angels to run the affairs?” and given our bitter experiences from leaders across the party lines and beliefs, it will take a very long time to understand the true intentions behind what seems now to be rhetoric by Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal.
As I finished reading the very engrossing fiction, In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh, who has beautifully intertwined the naivety and ignorance of the masses in Egypt and India and they fall an easy prey to the exploitation by the politicians and bureaucrats. I sincerely hope that Mursi will prevail in rooting out corruption from Egypt and that will have a ripple affect across the Third World countries including India.
Although, the Indian masses did revolt against the tyranny of Indira Gandhi and shocked her out of power in the late 1970s and many local leaders were made to bite the dust when they failed to deliver the goods, yet, there has never been a mass movement to eradicate corruption and bribery from the face of the land. Like what happened in Egypt with the likes of Ahmed Ezz, the ministers, politicians and businessmen in India who are known to have amassed wealth by unfair means using their clout be tried and jailed through special courts. This would only be possible when the masses will unite and bring a total revolution on the scale of the movement for freedom from the British Raj.
Safi H. Jannaty, Dammam