Every system needs injection of new blood for renewal. In the past, may it be the freedom struggle, Indira Gandhi’s battle against the Syndicate, the Jayaprakash Narayan movement, student agitations against reservations, or the intellectual appeal of ideology that keeps some political parties alive at the ground levels- it has always been carried out by new people. Young men and women who believe in change, who have not been suckers to the ‘chalta hai’ attitude.
The Jan Lokpal movement shook India last month. The nation today is worshiping their new heroes. Anna Hazare is the new Gandhi. Arvind Kejriwal, the former IRS officer is the new Iron man of India and Kiran Bedi is the super cop. It is beyond doubt that the team has been successful in organizing a nationwide movement. Never before, had the world witnessed a civil movement so huge yet so peaceful. Never before did democracy win over politics like this.
But let’s not forget the other names, who never showed their faces. Who preferred to do their work and ensured that the movement is on. They were all young men and women. It all started earlier this year…
Supported by Anna and disgusted by the recent scandals and scams, Kejriwal started mobilizing people who had worked with him on the RTI Bill, a team of young and motivated people from NGOs Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF) and Parivartan. Interestingly, the team of volunteers was no bigger than 20.
These 20 young volunteers were successful in organizing a rally on 30 January. The protest was a test of the ability of these 20 young men and women to mobilize thousands from all over the country in a peaceful way. The protest was hugely successful. More than 15,000 people turned up at the Ramlila Maidan in support. Soon afterwards, with support from many other activists, India Against Corruption was formed.
The Public Relations aspect of India Against Corruption was handled by Shivendra Singh Chauhan (34 years old). He managed to take time off from his regular job, handle the online campaign and organize chapters all across the country. Soon, he had to take unpaid time off from his regular job. It even landed him in hospital with a lumbar injury. He voluntarily took discharge from hospital and started working again on the movement. Because he could not sit, he put his laptop on the wall unit and kept working. But soon, nearly 20 hours a day of networking, phone calls and posting interestingly packaged content about the Bill on Facebook started to pay off. The movement had begun.
Between February and April, when Anna first took the nation by storm with his fast, the team of these 20 young volunteers had to learn and perform at lightning speed. Ram Kumar Jha (26 years old) handled all the resources and logistics at the shortest notice. From setting up the tent, sound system, provision for the press to getting permission for the venue from the police. He was the one man army taking care of it all.
Aswathi Muralidharan (27 years old) took up the herculean task of handling the media. A week before Hazare began his fast, she had already contacted TV channels and asked them to book slots in advance.
The April fast of Anna Hazare put an end to funds shortage in the movement. Amit Kumar Misra (28 years old) and a team of volunteers kept track of all the money that came their way and also to parcel it out to team members for running the campaign.
Then, there was Manish Sisodia (38 years old) a part of the core team, who was the strategist and handled the media. There was Gaurav Bakshi (32 years old) the TV-savvy voice of the movement. There was Sneha Kothawade (23 years old) the idealist who was in charge of organising volunteers. There was Santosh Kohli (25 years old) the activist who handled the rural outreach. Neeraj (28 years old) handled negotiations with petty officials and did all the troubleshooting at the ground level.
And then of course there were there were the idealists- Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan, Shanti Bhushan and Santosh Hedge. The movement was planned and organized, and it happened like never before. Crores of Indians participated. Peacefully!
Rest is
history…
But there was a question which each one of us, at some point or the
other in the last one month, have asked ourselves- ‘at the end, will
anything change? what have we gained out of this?’
The crores of Indians who supported Team Anna
were not saints. Most of them have perhaps paid or taken bribe in some
form at some stage of their lives. However, after all that happened in
the last one month, something else is equally evident- that the word
‘possible’ has acquired a brand new meaning.
Anna Hazare is neither India nor messiah. Anna might not be
Gandhi. He might even be a flawed hero. But he inspires us. India
inspired, is not necessarily India committed, nor India responsible.
However, even if a small percentage of Indians pay heed to his broad
message, it is progress for the nation in the larger picture.
And most importantly, it is his team of young men and women that has
proved that ‘everything is possible’. A group of ordinary young people
can achieve extraordinary things if they have the guts, conviction and
resolve. This, my friends is the greater message! These 20 young
volunteers have shown the nation what revolution means. Kudos to them!
Jai Hind!