At the first Time-Out in the Fight Against Corruption : The Game so far.

This whole anti-corruption movement has been rudderless from the very beginning. It has looked promising but that is all about it!

For a broader understanding let us collect a few points about which there can be little disagreement (we hope so!).

1. Corruption is a big problem in India. Almost anything can be done by paying bribes. People in high places or those with connections can get away with rape, murder, sedition, you name anything!

2. Anna is a decent man (not so sure about his team though). However, being decent does not necessarily imply that he (Anna) is a very intelligent man (on this front, about his team, the less said the better!). In our opinion, Anna, and more so Team-Anna, like the RSS (SP = Sangh Parivar) etc., is a case of "heart is right but the head is empty"; though we must add that his team is possibly much much worse.

3. Congress has been just marginally better than Islam, and deserves, not merely to be defeated but rather decimated. All the political parties have had to toe the Congress methodology owing to our sick electoral system. Thus, unfortunately, at the present moment there are hardly any politicians who are clean.

4. There is utter lack of leadership in the country. The society as well as the polity are on a cruise mode with neither a driver nor any definite direction! The general drift being "whatever happens happens!".

The result of this has been:

1. A general, ubiquitous, and almost all pervasive loss of trust in, and unadulterated disdain for, the politicians and the political system.

2. A growing realization that something needs to be done and thus a willingness to rally behind and around any one who is willing to provide a rallying point.

The Problems with these movements:

1. Notwithstanding the fact that even a Jan Lokpal Bill can not be a panacea against Corruption, this anxiety and passion amongst the masses, should be (should have been) harnessed for not only dealing with the problem of Corruption, but rather bigger problems like Secularism and Socialism (read Mohandasism and Jawaharism) as well. However, these movements seem to desire a reinforcement of these two poisonous ideologies!

2. There must be a realization that the causes are leadership-crisis and bad politicians; and therefore the solution would come through effective and coherent leadership and cleaning up of the political system. However these movements managed to have, what might be termed a pandora-box leadership and a spite for politics. Thus on the one hand each member of the team is busy making a buffoon of himself, and on the other each is competing with the other in establishing himself as the most apolitical person!

Thus, as the unavoidable consequence, we now have a non-stop comedy show offering us rib tickling entertainment, while the atmosphere is permeated with looming perils of dire tragic outcomes for all of us as a nation. The strategy, in our opinion, must be:

1. Using the energy and passion of the people, the effort must be directed into achieving bigger goals, e.g. dethroning Secularism and Socialism from their crown positions), and towards drafting of a new Constitution rather than drafting of mere new Bills.

2. Instead of discrediting politics and scampering to appear - the fashionable - apolitical, discredit bad politics (and politicians) and more importantly encourage and push good people into becoming good politicians.

If there is failure in doing this, then the inevitable result would be:

1. Anti-Hindu forces will hijack anti-corruption movement.

2. Apolitical "politicians" will end up becoming the next generation of "dirty politicians" or worse still we will have a rudderless ship for much longer exposing us to the dangers of dire consequences mentioned above.

As is often said: To fail to plan is to plan to fail. Let that mistake not be committed.