The defining moment of Anna’s movement was the day he was arrested and sent to jail. It was then the fight had moved from Lokpal bill to citizen’s right to protest, which gathered him enormous support. The one telling picture of Anna sitting in Rajghat also added to Anna’s cause. His popularity increased manifold and he became a larger than life persona because of the way he was arrested. The electronic media has built him overnight as one comparable to Mahatma Gandhi and Jayaprakash Narayan and his movement against corruption is now likened to freedom movement.

It is now clear that the Government leadership has no clear policy on Anna. The official negotiators have been continuously sifting stands and giving up to Anna’s demands one by one. Finally, the Delhi Police have agreed to allow fast by Anna for fifteen days at Ramlila Maidan. Could the Government avoid his arrest? Yes, this could have been avoided and the issue could have been tackled with more sensitivity. If his arrest was a surprise, his release too showed how tactless was the functioning of the administration. There is a view among the seasoned observers now that the gene is out of the bottle and it can not be put back again. The UPA regime has to pay its price for its mistaken measure.

Arresting Anna was not the first mistake the government had committed, From April last when Anna sat on his fast in Jantar Mantar against corruption, it had committed one faux pax after the other. First of all, when he emerged talking about corruption, it was the government, which gave him legitimacy. As the NDA convenor Sharad Yadav puts it, while the opposition had been raising corruption and price rise, the government gave him credibility by talking to him and his civil society activists. The Prime Minister met him, Sonia Gandhi made her appeal to Anna not to go on fast and the government in a knee- jerk reaction, in an unprecedented manner, invited the team Anna to participate in the joint drafting committee of the Lokpal bill with the ministers. The government went all out to engage the team Anna, perhaps to show the NAC its place. When the government did not agree to the provisions of Janlaokpal bill proposed by the team Anna after engaging them for over thirty hours, the government came out with its own version of Lokpal bill and presented it to the Parliament. Instead, the government could have simply told the team Anna to come before the Parliamentary standing committee and give its proposal to the committee.

The next mistake was not handling the whole thing as a political issue but treating it as a legal issue. Political problems have to be tackled with political approach. Those ministers in charge went about talking in legal terms while the Anna team had gone ahead and mobilized public support. While the government tried to project it as the team Anna dictating to Parliament by setting time limit, the opposition saw it fit to side with the team Anna by raising it in both houses of Parliament. Now to the dismay of the government, the focus has been shifted from Lokpal bill to that of a citizen’s right to protest peacefully on issues. The opposition is also united in blaming the treasury benches for mishandling the Anna issue.

The third mistake was the government’s failure in not being able to communicate to the public about its actions including the arrest of the Anna team despite having a high profile group of ministers put in charge of this job. On the other hand, team Anna is not only media savvy but also used the latest information technology including tweets and face book. The Anna team smartly recorded a message of Anna in U tube even before he was arrested and televised the message as soon as he was taken into custody. In fact, the team has won the media war to a large extent by its anticipation of events.

The fourth mistake was perhaps after engaging the team Anna and involving them in the drafting of the Lokpal bill, suddenly the government and the Congress party realized that he was corrupt. They suddenly brought out the 2003 Justice Sawant report and alleged that Anna was also corrupt. Why did the government not discover this aspect while engaging the team Anna in drafting the bill? This personal vilification of Anna has backfired to a large extent with the result Rahul Gandhi had to step in and make sure that there was no personal attack on the Team Anna.

The fifth was that after arresting Anna, the government could have released him instead of allowing him to the court for bail. Since Anna refused to seek bail, he was lodged in Tihar jail along with those against whom he was fighting like Suresh Kalmadi and A. Raja side by side. The government ultimately released him but if this had been done sooner, then the government could have saved its face. The government should have also allowed the opposition to talk it out in Parliament, which is session.

With the government not willing to yield and the team Anna, encouraged by the huge response from the public on Anna’s arrest flexing muscles, will there be any movement forward? Anna has caught the imagination of the youth with the result they too have entered the fight against corruption. Facing such upsurge from the public, can the government and the Congress party find a way to deal with the Team Anna? Is the team Anna willing to be flexible? The government is in a trap. Anna team also does not know how to convert its success into a face saving formula. Anna has won the first two rounds- the first time by getting into the joint drafting committee and the second round forcing the government to release him from jail.

The prime minister has thrown up his hands saying he has no magical wand to root out corruption, but as BJP leader Arun Jaitley said in Rajya Sabha, what is needed is the political will and he should make the pubic believe that the government is serious in tackling corruption. Anna has won the second round hands down and has mobilized the country’s support asserting citizen’s right to protest peacefully. Only by a give and take attitude and flexibility the Anna issue can be tackled. The government has to rebuild its credibility to ensure this. (IPA Service)