With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Dear Prashantji

I write here to sincerely appreciate and to congratulate you and your stellar team headed by Annaji for all that has been accomplished for this country. You are all patriots of the greatest Order.

Further, Facebook and the internet certainly played a pivotal role in bringing together, unprecedented number of people to support your movement. I think, at some level, the world that we were quite used to is changing rapidly and Facebook and the internet are hastening such change – for the better.

We now look forward to a law of your liking shortly.
Having said so much, I just wish to share here, my thoughts on where we might be headed:

It is said that the uprising of the masses tends to have a life of its own. The learned and the wise men say that gifted leaders have always harnessed such energy for the benefit of their country. Now, I would like to remind you that you have the responsibility to channelize all of the energy that has been generated over the past week by the people of this country in a desirable direction.

You certainly know that the making of a law is only an incremental step in curbing corruption. The most critical step in reducing corruption is also the hardest – to ensure that citizens elect individuals with integrity, intellect and honesty to political offices.

I know that you and your team shun politics. It was encouraging to see that politicians were heckled and chased away from Jantar Mantar in the past week. It was enchanting to see the masses in India develop an intense public dislike for the politicians over the past week. But you certainly are aware that so long as we elect underserving men to our political offices, your task of reducing corruption in this
country is going to remain ever elusive.

So, what am I suggesting really? It is simple. I remember what the famed Spiderman said to himself in his film – ‘With great power comes great responsibility’.

You and your team now enjoy enormous power – deservedly. You could use up all of this power in merely giving to this country, a grand law which could eventually head in the same direction as many of our other ambitious laws – to languish amidst exotic wrangling in Courts while criminals walk away scot-free. Or, you and your team could use up this newfound power to ensure that deserving men are elected to political office - by endorsing worthy candidates in future elections and by supporting the candidature of individuals who appeal to the conscience of you and your team comprising of yourself, your father, Sri Shanti Bhushan, Sri Anna Hazare, Sri Arvind Kejriwal, Smt.Kiran Bedi, Sri J.S.Verma and Sri Santosh Hegde.

By the way, it is so heartening to note that nobody in this country seemed to ask for ‘the caste of Anna Hazare’ to determine whether to fast with him. But our politicians tell us that the people of this country primarily consider ‘caste’ to decide on who they will vote for in elections that matter. Most of the youth that came out in support of Anna Hazare might have a vote to cast in an election in the near future. What are they going to weigh while casting their vote? In the absence of somebody to direct them on what factors to consider and weigh, they will end up assuming that they must simply vote for the person of their caste or for the one who talks the most in their neighbourhood. Would it not help if the millions who stood up for Anna Hazare and his team were offered some guidance on whether there is a contesting candidate whose credentials elicit the endorsement of Anna Hazare and his team? I am assuming that the individuals comprising your team have labouriously and painstakingly acquired the skills to sniff a corrupt candidate from a distance. With such an assumption, I would be justified in saying that the voters of this country would immensely benefit should they be offered a choice to vote for a candidate who has been intensely scrutinised by Anna and his team.

I could write some more. And I would, in the days to come.

In the meanwhile, let me tell you this much – I would like to vote for a candidate who could show that he has merited the endorsement of Anna Hazare and his team of men.

Regards

K.V.Dhananjay
Advocate
Supreme Court of India
+91 9902909390