Can 1.2 billion Indians achieve a revolution?
Tonight, riding home from the BBC offices in central Delhi, I saw scores of young Indians, some waving flags (bizarrely, some wearing devils' horns - maybe to represent corruption) as they marched towards Jantar Mantar, the 18th century observatory where Anna Hazare is holding his fast. All day, Indian TV channels have been showing angry, motivated Indians, from movie stars to students to grandmothers, marching in Delhi, Jammu, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and other towns and cities, demanding an end to corruption in public life.
Anupam Kher, the veteran Indian actor, looked visibly upset as he told supporters how his head hangs in shame when he travels abroad because his country is so often associated with shambolic infrastructure, poverty, corruption and incompetence.
A schoolboy in Jammu, who couldn't have been more than five, became almost hysterical as he shouted, "Anna, we are with you!"
A grandmother in Bangalore told a TV reporter, "From today onwards, if someone asks me for a bribe, I will slap them. I am Anna Hazare."
There is absolutely no doubt the aging soldier and social activist has set a powerful example for millions upon millions of Indians stifled by the endemic greed and graft in this society. He's given them all a voice, as well as a rare, incandescent hope that they can change the abysmal status quo.
New Corruption Laws?
So what are Mr. Hazare and his supporters seeking? Broadly, they want an unelected ombudsman (ie not a politician) to head an anti-corruption body which would have the power to charge and try any public official, including the Prime Minister, for wrongdoing. Convictions could carry sentences of up to life in prison. He wants, at the very least, for the government to include non-politicians on the advisory board which would help draft the new law.
But while he may have the support and encouragement of millions of his countrymen, it's also being argued that what he's suggesting violates the Indian constitution by creating an extra-judicial body which could end up being unaccountable to anyone and outside the current legal system.
Tahrir Square?
I have no doubt that hundreds of millions of Indians (the ones who don't even own a roof above their heads, much less speak English or tweet) would join the demonstrations if they could afford to. I suspect they will do so in limited numbers given that they can't afford to leave their children at home alone; can't afford the transport into city centers and can't afford to take a day off the meager jobs that keep them one step ahead of starvation.
That alone makes a revolution unlikely.
And unlike Egypt or Syria or Tunisia or Yemen, India's protestors are so far not calling for their government -- tainted by several extremely big corruption scandals -- to resign. They are not marching on the grand colonial bungalows of ministers, who never suffer water shortages, power cuts, crime or lack of income. At this point, their own expectations are pretty low.
Rare Unity
Even so, no matter what the outcome of this campaign, it's fascinating for one reason alone: he's brought together Indians from different castes, social classes, political persuasions and religions onto the streets united by a single, epic cause.
If that's all Anna Hazare's fast achieves, it would be a shame. But he'll still have achieved something utterly rare and valuable in India: a moment of unity in a deeply and perpetually self-segregated society.
