Hisar may be the beginning of a direct political confrontation between the Congress and Team Anna. Anna has already announced that he plans to campaign against the Congress in the ensuing Assembly elections in five states including U.P. and Punjab. If Anna wants to sustain the political fight till next the Lok Sabha elections, he may have to plan his moves very carefully as Hisar has already dented his team’s image.

The Hisar polls have created an unusual political interest in recent times. If anything, the satta market, which shows the pulse of the people, reveals it. What should have been regular by-elections have now turned into a battle between Team Anna and the Congress with the BJP, INLD and others on the sidelines. However, this election is not a touchstone as issues are much larger.

There are at least three high profile candidates in Hisar with huge money and muscle power. The first is the former chief minister Chautala, the second is Kuldip Bishnoi – the son of late former chief minister Bhajan Lal and the third is the Congress candidate Jaiprakash Narain. All three are leaving no stones unturned to ensure that success comes their way. The chief minister of Haryana Hooda has put his prestige behind Jaiprakash, even though the candidate is rated as a poor third. Hooda also has to guard against internal sabotage from his own party, as he has denied ticket to his bête noire Birender Singh’s son. There are rivals in the Haryana Congress like Kiran Choudhury, Minister Sailja and Rao Inder Singh, who can easily get Jaiprakash defeated.

The Congress has hit back on Team Anna alleging that it was being used by the BJP and the RSS. The recent speech of the RSS chief Mohan Bhagawat, claiming their support for Anna during his fast, has embarrassed the team. Moreover, by sending out a call to defeat the Congress, Anna owes an explanation as to how his team was batting for Bishnoi or Chautala in Hisar, while both are facing corruption charges? He may not have vouched direct support for either of them, but, when he calls out defeating Congress, the voters have limited choice indeed. If only he had asked the Indian voters to choose a clean candidate instead, it would have certainly carried more weight.

Jumping into the Hisar bandwagon was perhaps a hasty move by Team Anna, which has been claiming that their movement was above the narrow confines of party politics, and that it would not allow the presence of any politician in the Ramlila grounds. However, now the cat is out of the bag and Team Anna stands exposed, with its political face slowly emerging. There is no doubt that Anna’s call in Hisar has made his position vulnerable. It is also pretty clear that their immediate target is none other than the Congress party. Moreover, why is Anna selective in campaigning against the Congress? Why did he not give similar call in Karnataka where there were by-polls recently? As it turns out, there are no clear answers.

Anna should not get confused over the unprecedented public support that he received in August and squander it. In fact, the support was only for anti-corruption issue and not even for the much debated Jan Lokpal bill, which could only be a tool towards achieving a corruption-proof state of affairs. If he launches another movement for electoral reforms or some such thing, the response may not be as good. He succeeded in this instance because the timing then was perfect and Team Anna’s strategy was effective. People responded in massive numbers because they believed the movement to be beyond the petty limitations of party politics.

While the team Anna has been trying to keep up the momentum, Hisar poll came in as a political opportunity. Drunk by the success of the movement, the team has jumped into fringe politics with Kejriwal, who hails from Haryana, wanting to show that the team has a lot of influence on the voters. There is no doubt that the Hisar example has removed Anna’s political neutrality. The haste with which the team Anna has given an ultimatum to the government on the Jan Lokpal Bill is looking suspicious.

Does team Anna have a game plan? If so, are they moving towards that? If Anna’s sentiments are in that direction, they should opt for a party of their choice. The other option is to create a new party with good people with his newfound support from the public. This is not an easy solution but is definitely worthy of an attempt. There is nothing wrong in Anna floating a party or joining a party. But, meddling in politics without an agenda is indeed confusing.

Team Anna should spell out its future plans clearly and reveal its agenda instead of changing goal posts often. Right now, Anna is sending out some confusing signals to his followers. Will he fight from the outside of the political sphere, or, at some point jump into politics? Is Hisar the beginning of such a move? Can one believe the team Anna when it says that no one from the team will fight elections?

Anna has rightly caught the imagination of the Indian youth and the common man and to keep this constituency intact he should not keep his cards close to his chest. One false step and the whole movement may slide off-track. If he is in politics, then people will look at him differently and if he is only leading an apolitical movement, then it is another matter. Hisar has made one wonder what is his real agenda. The Congress is most likely to lose the seat but Team Anna cannot appropriate the credit because it was more than expected. (IPA Service)