The games that people play: Anna, this is Thambi speaking

This is the season for conspiracies and grander conspiracies. Everyone has a take on what is going on in India, everyone indulges in pet farces. So strictly off limits from standard discourse where sensibility is the idea, let me also indulge in a pet farce. Let me explain, as I see, what the hell is going on in India.

First, the actors:
1) Arvind Kejriwal: Magsaysay Award winner, Saathi of AID India supported by Lefties and uber-lefties such as Balaji Sampath
2) Kiran Bedi: Another Magsaysay Award winner
3) Anna Hazare: Gandhian socialist, Care International (Norwegian group with one Rothschild in the Exec. Committee) Award winner -- A socialist (like Gandhi) inspired by Hindu mores, even if his peers are not quite like that
4) Agnivesh: Mediator with the maoists
5) Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan: Defenders of anti-national acts under the guise/excuse of judicial independence/autonomy

To me, the whole set of actors sound like a broken record from a leftie rag. The whole "Jan" specialization only makes it more clearer. Let me make more "Jan"-type examples: Jan Andolan of Nepal, People's Liberation Army of China, People's War Group, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo of Colombia, and so on.

Basically, there is a division in the leftie ranks -- most probably precipitated by the wanton acts of violence perpetrated by the maoists. On the one extreme of this leftist cabal lie the maoists who want to capture power by the barrel of the gun. In the middle lies Team Anna, who also want to capture power, but by satyagrahic means. On the other extreme lies the Government, which derives its agenda from Nehruvian socialism as and when this idea suits it the best. This team already has power, so there is no question of "capturing" it from someone. The jostling for power between these three groups means a steady changing of alliances in the known rank and file that are in the forefront of Leftist politics in India. So it should not be surprising to see Arundhati Roy (who firmly belongs to Camp maoists) kick the can at Team Anna, or to see Aruna Roy of the NAC fame (who firmly belongs to the Govt side) kick the can also at Team Anna.

In this ring-a-ring-a roses that is an intra-Leftist feud, wades the Youngistan brigade probably wounded by the wanton corruption that is India. Rest assured, Youngistan will not see a corruption-free India in the short- to near-term future. The case of BJP and assorted pawns such as Ramdev is even more funnier. It appears that they have a clue that they are wading into an intra-Leftist feud and mucking the waters, but it is even more true that they have no locus standi on corruption given the plethora of scandals that many BJP governments themselves have indulged in. Not to mention the mining mafia-raj of Yeddyurappa, the Commonwealth Games scam initiated by the likes of Sushma Swaraj and VK Malhotra (obviously the bigger cake is borne by Kalmadi, but sports associations are egalitarian affairs for cross-party politics). Not to mention the massive corruption under Pramod Mahajan & co. etc.

So we really have a Joker's Pack here, with an intra-factional feud fuelled by different people who want to derive different benefits when the fire douses itself. Game theoretically, there is only one guarantee with high probability at the end of this mess: anarchy. On any day, I would prefer the prospects of a Leftist Government of India which is answerable in some vague sense to the People than any "Jan"-induced movement that is unpredictable. Stochastically speaking, Expected Risk under Scenario A > Expected Risk under Scenario B with Scenario A being the capitulation of the Govt and Scenario B being the successful implementation of the Jan LokPal Act and the various precedents such an act sets in. Further, of all the three Leftist contenders, the Govt is the most rightist of the Lefties, pardon the pun/innuendo there.

Say no to anarchy. Goodbye Team Anna, your time has passed by. India shall live with its corruption with or without you, please do not ruin the process of uplifting the teeming millions out of poverty. Please go home.

Elsewhere, Prabhat Patnaik makes some good points in this op-ed Linky
barring the following:

Besides, even if a majority of the people genuinely wish at a particular time to elevate a messiah over Parliament, this is no reason to alter the constitutional order, just as a majority wishing to abandon secularism at a particular time is no reason to do so. The Constitution is the social contract upon which the Indian state is founded, and it cannot be overturned by the wishes of a majority at a particular time.

How is that the case? Logically speaking, if a majority so chooses, they can elect their representatives to amend the Constitution as they see fit. Even the supposedly sacrosanct Fundamental Rights allowed under the Constitution of India are not sacrosanct objects. Changes to the Fundamental Rights require a constitutional amendment which has to be passed by a special majority of both houses of Parliament. The bottomline being, such changes are even visualized by the framers of the Indian Constitution.

That is only natural in a democratic polity. The Constitution as was promulgated on Jan. 26, 1950 is not a universal dictum that is to stand the test of time immemorial. It is a document that was viewed to be best fit for that era, and even it has formulations on how a future document shall be formulated subject to a majority's wishes. What Prabhat Patnaik wants is a document that he sees in his personal capacity as the embodiment of a universal virtue (which is perhaps the document as it exists now) should also be a document of universal virtue for long since he has passed, even if the majority decries such assumptions. That is undemocratic, Mr. Patnaik.