“India against corruption” was a non-political social movement that was established in India around the year 2007 consequent upon some serious allegations of corruption charges against the ministers, government officials and other public servants during the period of Congress rule from 2004-2009. With the re-election of the UPA led by the Congress in 2009, the charges of corruption against the central government headed by the Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh got multiplied. There was a barrage of charges that was raised against the government by the opposition, media and some NGOs around the year 2010. The most prominent among such active players and organisations was the NGO named ‘India against corruption’ (IAC).
It was particularly prominent during the anti-corruption protests of 2011 and 2012 in Delhi. The key figure of the movement was Arvind Kejriwal who introduced a senior social activist and reformer as the mentor of the movement against corruption in public places. While Kejriwal, a former IRS officer, led from the front, Anna Hazare, the octogenarian social activist, provided the movement a moral face as a believer of Gandhian ideals. Anna Hazare, a former Indian army soldier, had earlier led movements to promote the cause of the rural development, increase government transparency and also probe and punish corruption in the public life in Maharashtra. He frequently organised hunger strikes to further his causes in the Gandhian style and was also successful in a number of cases.
Anna Hazare lived a very simple life in a village called Ralegaon Siddi in the, Parner taluka of Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. He successfully contributed to the development and structuring of Ralegaon Siddi and showcased it as a model village for others. He was awarded the third highest civilian award, Padam Bhushan, by the government of India in 1992 in recognition of his efforts to establish Ralegaon Siddi as a model village for the nation. Arvind Kejriwal sought the services of Anna and made him an iconic figure in the movement against corruption.
Since 2010, the opposition parties in India, media and several other organisations highlighted the monetary scandels of the UPA regime and brought them in the public domain with a very high pitch. These scandals included the 2010 Commonwealth Games scam worth Rupees 70,000 crore, Coal mining scam worth Rupees 1.86 lakh crore, Adarsh Housing Society scam, Cash for votes scams and Mining scandal in Karnataka. All these developments during the UPA government virtually shook the conscience of the right thinking common people of India and they started leaning towards the social movement called IAC.
The movement gained extra momentum from 5th April, 2011, when the then iconic figure and the moral face of the movement, Anna Hazare, began a hunger strike at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. The movement aimed at to relieve and alleviate corruption in the government through the introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill. It was considered as a milestone in the political and constitutional history of the nation forcing the government to accept civil society’s demand to have a say in even drafting the stringent anti-corruption law, the Lokpal Bill.
This caught the imagination of the people throughout the length and the breadth of the country and they started to identify themselves with the movement irrespective of their ideological, political and regional leanings. Interestingly, the movement led by Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal successfully galvanised public support and converted it into a mass movement against corruption. It was reminiscent of the JP movement of 1974-75 leading to imposition of Emergency by the Indira Gandhi regime and putting the whole opposition behind the bars. A major ingredient of the movement led by Kejriwal was the involvement of the urban educated youth and the prominent public figures in the movement.
The movement became a new normal in the social trend when it started organising its huge programmes from the Ramlila Maiden in New Delhi. People from all walks of life embraced its appeal and responded to it positively. It also exhibited the shift in the nature of the social movements in India from being predominantly rural to now including the urban citizenry. The celebrities from all walks of life associated themselves with the movement that lasted for almost two years. This movement in essence with the educated and conscious youth at the centre demanded accountability and the reforms in the governance in order to make the democracy more inclusive, participatory and transparent. Former judges, Cinema celebrities, retired IAS/IPS officers, veterans of Army, Navy and Air Force, intellectuals, writers, teachers, student and youth leaders besides common people joined the campaign against corruption.
When the movement was at its peak and finding ways to move ahead, Arvind Kejriwal, contrary to the views of his mentor and the icon of the movement Anna Hazare, mooted the idea of forming a political party. Divisions among key constituents of the IAC eventually led to Arvind Kejriwal leaving to form the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP). It was finally founded on 26 November 2012 by Arvind Kejriwal and his the then comrades in arms following the 2011-12 massive anti-corruption movement against the then central government led by the Congress. There was a mixed reaction of the people involved in the movement towards the establishment of AAP. Some called it as a betrayal of the public while others called it a design to wind up the cause of the social responsibility against corruption. However, some welcomed it and called it as the dawn of a new era in the socio-political scenario of the country.
The movement got dismembered, activists were left with meagre opportunities to choose sides and a lot of public figures who had come closer to the movement distanced away from the AAP. Anna Hazare and thousands like him were left high and dry. Kejriwal along with his lot of committed companions went on to tread the new political path, slowly & strategically, but simultaneously also getting rid of those who didn’t agree with him on issues of political ramifications.
With the passage of time, AAP fought the elections and assumed power in Delhi government with the support of its arch rival, the Congress party, against which it had fought the movement against corruption. What happened thereafter is history, Kejriwal became the Chief Minister of Delhi three times and took AAP to various cornors of India though with a minor success. However, it achieved some major successes beyond Delhi including the formation of government in a state like Punjab in the latest assembly elections.
“Social movements are understood as organised collective efforts working towards achieving change. All social movements have an ideology to identify what is wrong with the present and what needs to be done in the future”, legal luminaries say. But here Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the offshoot of a movement called India Against Corruption (IAC), distanced away itself from its core ideology of transparency, accountability and clean governance. It is facing serious and severe corruption charges against it and has been seen as an accomplice of corruption and the corrupt politicians and people in the country.
The Liquorgate scandal is not an ordinary allegation against the AAP Government led by Arvind Kejriwal. Around 25 people are in jails in this case including high profile politicians from various hues including the AAP Chief Minister, Ministers and MPs, businessmen, brokers and agents. Cases regarding corruption, money laundering and misuse of official position are filed against them by the ED, CBI and NIA. The courts have put them behind the bars on the basis of the evidence produced before them by the investigating agencies. They have even been refused bail by the courts. Arvind Kejriwal is the latest who joined his colleagues in Tihar Jail on Ist April 2024. With this comes to an end the promise that was made by the IAC movement in Ramlila Maidan in 2011-12 that none from the movement would succumb to the pressure of corrupt practices in public life given the opportunity to participate in the government.
On 31st March 2024 in a rally, the so-called stalwarts of the anti-corruption drive in 2011-12, currently in AAP, were seen hands in glove with the people and politicians with serious charges of corruption in the same Ramlila Maidan in which they fought against corruption with great vehemence, commitment and promise. All promises made by them to the people stand shattered by them and as on date they are identified as the new ‘models’ of corruption and corrupt practices. Liquorgate is only one of the cases of corruption listed against the AAP, the others include water scam, swerage and medicine deals besides other such doubtful deals done by the government.
Rise and fall of public figures due to the victory or defeat in elections is a normal thing for politicians but when a public figure falls in the public eye due to the issues connected with corruption charges and corrupt practices, it is surely presumed as a serious moral upheaval. From Ram Lila Maidan to Tihar Jail is the story of the rise and fall of Arvind Kejriwal and the movement against corruption he led and ultimately exploited to his own benefit and to the benefit of his immediate family, colleagues and party.
His double-talk, deceitful behavior and doubtful actions as a public figure have disappointed his mentor and guru, Anna Hazare the most, who already disowned Arvind Kejriwal publicly. As on date, Kejriwal is considered as a new “Lalu Prasad Yadav” and his wife, Sunita Kejriwal as “Rabri Devi in making” with only one difference that despite being sent to the jail by the court, he announced that he would continue as the Chief Minister of Delhi and wouldn’t resign on moral grounds. This indeed is a new low in the Indian politics, unfortunately. This is the story of ‘India against corruption’ to ‘Everyone with corruption’…..!
