It is also possible that some of his more level-headed colleagues like former law minister Shanti Bhushan and the Karnataka Lokayukta Santosh Hegde have played a part in moderating the approach of the activists. Reports that the activists have accepted some modifications of their original version also indicate that better sense has begun to prevail.

However, it is not the activists alone who are moderating their attitude. The government, too, has been on the retreat. Its first draft of the bill showed that it expected no major trouble over the proposed measure. Although there was criticism of its “toothless” character, the government apparently thought that these knee-jerk reactions of the habitual critics could be ignored.

What made the government change its mind was Hazare’s unanticipated resort to a fast-unto-death. Of late, the government appears to have become extra-sensitive about this form of protest. It was similarly taken aback by K. Chandrasekhara Rao’s hunger-strike over Telangana in 2009 and virtually conceded his demand to induce him to break his fast before beginning to backtrack on its own promise.

A possible reason why the government is seemingly more scared about the extreme step is the generally volatile law and order situation all over the country. With the Maoists entrenched in large areas of the countryside and the Pakistan-based terrorists poised to attack at any time, the government simply cannot allow a civil agitation getting out of hand anywhere. A second possible reason is that its moral fibre is now much weaker than ever before. The series of scams have ensured that there is an ethical and governance “deficit”, as has been acknowledged by P. Chidambaram.

A more secure government, which was not being pushed around by the Supreme Court on a range of issues from the turning of a blind eye to the former telecom minister’s shenanigans to the dubious appointment of a central vigilance commissioner, would have been better placed to resist Hazare’s moral blackmail. With even the corporate czars raising the spectre of a flight of capital because of the bad name which India was earning from the widespread corruption, the government simply could no longer adopt a business-as-usual attitude on the Lokpal bill.

The reason why the bill became such an explosive issue is obvious. The very fact that it has been hanging fire for four decades showed that no government was willing to appoint an ombudsman who could call the guilty politicians to account. The result of this reluctance is there for all to see in the increase in the number of MPs with a criminal background from 128 in the 543-member Lok Sabha in 2004 to 162 at present. Not only that, the number of MPs with serious criminal charges such as rape and murder has gone up from 58 in 2004 to 76 at present.

For the average citizen, the steady degeneration has become all the more frightening because he was running out of saviours. After Jayaprakash Narayan in the mid-Seventies, it was Mr Clean, Rajiv Gandhi, who raised high hopes till the Bofors scam derailed him in 1987. After him, it was Mr Cleaner, V.P. Singh, who was widely hailed – raja nahin, faqir hai, Bharat ki taqdeer hai – till the Raja of Manda let Mandal claim all his attention. Even the BJP for a time was seen as the “party with a difference” which would set things right before people like Pramod Mahajan earlier and B.S. Yeddyurappa now dashed all hopes.

It was left, therefore, to a maverick like Hazare to become a beacon of hope for the middle class. But the game between him and the government has just begun. Both are currently in the pahle aap mood of politeness with signs of give-and-take. But the government is not unaware that it still holds several aces. One is, as Hazare has conceded, parliamentary approval. Even if this is granted, the “ayes have it” will most probably be for a diluted version of what the activists had set out with. The other is that the government enjoys across-the-board support from all political parties over the “disdain” for the political class and “contempt” for the democratic system shown by the activists. The latter may have become mellower after these charges were levelled against them.

True, the government is not so unwise as to push through the earlier toothless bill. It knows that the middle class has to be pacified. So, the final version may have a few teeth. But only the naïve will believe that the ombudsman will be the “supercop” which the activists want. Even then, a few teeth are better than none at all. If the new Lokpal is able to rein in the rampaging politicians to some extent, India will be the gainer. (IPA Service)