Democracy derailed...

Banal is what the bored bourgeois would describe the brouhaha of the blarings between the two sides of the "Anti-Corruption" bill. Billowing steam and exchanging rhetoric is what seems to be happening between the two from ages now. A simple chart would show how levels of excitement peaked and are now visibly waning.

I'd like to make two distinct points which can be simply inferred from the above graph:

• Clarity of objectives and a focused approach when protesting are a must.
• Social media campaigns do not correlate with actual public groundswell. It simply reflects what is "cool". "Hey, that girl I like has a FaceBadge against corruption; let me get one as well."

Let me clarify from the outset, my stand on the whole "Anti-Corruption" morcha(Campaign). I am totally against this sort of "Blackmail politics". It is a very valid point that if two public personalities hold two fast on opposing sides, it is impossible to come out without being the bad guy. This was exemplified recently when two public figures related the Telangana statehood and United Andhra(If my memory serves me right) fasted to death until their demands were met.

In short, fasting, though typified Gandhiji's Satyagraha, is not a very useful tool in modern times. The "Anna camp" had an opportunity to rise and strike when the iron is hot(Around April 2011 as it appears from the graph), but then again, this would have set a very bad precedent shaking the very ideal democracy is based on: Government by the people i.e. the government is a reflection or a cross-section of the people. Instead of arm-twisting a lethargic government, a better option is to introduce a bill for MP recall, similar to what US politics allows for, and is currently being pursued in Wisconsin against Gov. Walker. This keeps the politician on their toes and not take their "gaddis" for granted, without needing to resort to blackmail.

Another spectacular failure(or on the way to failure) is the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Again, here too the demands and reasons are genuine, but lack of clear demands, and a strong united voice, allowed the movement to be derailed too easily.

What the organizers/participants need to understand is one simple term: Attention span, which brings me to my 2nd point: Social media campaigns are only as useful  as long as they fall within the attention span of the common public. That means the general urban populace, as the intricacies of the Lokpal bill would be lost on the rural masses(or instead to put it correctly, there are more graver things affecting the rural population). A very interesting research paper by Nicholas Carr, Wired magazine, May 24, 2010 12:00 pm. seems to suggest how neural pathways have been "rewired" with mass bombardment that the Internet yields us. But that's straying away from the main point. Basic funda: If you want to go outside of the constitution, try to finish your business before the movie gets too long. Like how the Egyptians did in removing their monarch swiftly. Too bad they went from jumping out of the frying pan to the fire.

Moral of the story: Make it quick & clean. But bear in mind, the long term repercussions of such unconstitutional fasts can be more harming than the short term illusionary benefit of a Lokpal.