On Tuesday morning, a group of teachers of the Political Science Dept, decided to take the students across to the Ram Lila Maidan. Would this effort have been made if Ram Lila Maidan was not across the road from where they teach, Zakir Hussain College? Am not sure really.
The students stood around the dais, from where Anna was not visible. news channels sniffed out that they were students and predictably pestered them about why they support and why not. Anna, we were told that, is inside, and today's Indian Express reports that backstage there is a bathroom and a small rest room. So I suppose that's where 'they' were. The team.
The reports which I had heard and read about appeared to be accurate. There were indeed a large number of volunteers. I was led to the women's cordoned off area, where a lot of women, not the university or the activist type, sat. There were a lot of people clowning around too, much to the satisfaction of the media. A 'shiv believer' indulged in an hour long dance. and a man stomped by clanging a plate with a spoon. Buffonry yes, malicious not.
But what surprised me the most, was this unianimous suspicion voiced by my colleagues, in the staff room, in the newspapers, by Pratap Bhanu Mehta who tried so hard to be radical in yesterday's editorial, but no matter how hard he tries, he is as conformist as it gets see (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/fix-the-holes-in-the-house/835536/).
Who is funding Anna?
This does not represent 'civil society'.
The corporates are backing this.
This is 'too middle class'.
What is his agenda?
Does the youth know that Anna believes that liquour should not be consumed (Tavleen Singh in the Express).
Is this 'the people' (Arundhati Roy in the Hindu?)
This is blackmail.
People will start sitting like this for every bill.
The consensus stems from the academic world, who decide to write off this phenomenon which is galvanizing everybody. At this point, it does not matter whether Anna is being funded or not (everybody is funded) or whether he believes in drinking or not (he is not the next Manu, so we need not worry). Nor does this Ram lila maidan protest in any way, belittle the protests and struggles of others. Whether is secular or not. Is shouting Inquilab Zindabad the surest test of secularism. Is the singing of bhajans a blanket indicator that Anna is in arms with the RSS?
The point is that there is a new grammar of politics. and the ancien regime is not learning the new lingo. Sonia, who my plumber believes has 'run away' to the US is not missed. Frankly, I do not see what she would have done either. Nor does her son have much to say about anything anyway.
And in the meantime, after college when I decide to go to Teen Murti library, I am rudely told that its closed, as the Prime Minister is visiting. what can one say to that now?
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