The Force is with us, the people of India. Our overpowering hunger for an end to corruption is our greatest strength and, supported by the Force, we can only win in the end

It would be worth everybody’s while to revisit the first three movies of the ‘Star Wars’ series made in the late seventies and early eighties—Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi.

The Force (the Life Force that pervades the Universe) is with us, as ObiwanKenobie and Luke Skywalker and other heroes in the films keep repeating to their followers. The Force is with us, the people of India. Our overpowering hunger for an end to corruption is our greatest strength and, supported by the Force, we can only win in the end.

And the politicians have made the hazy battle lines clear. They have lined themselves with and identified themselves as the people on the Dark Side of the Force, which supports and buoys up the villains in the Star Wars series.

Our friend Ricken Patel, founder of Avaaz, the worldwide organization, sent me an email today, an email which also went to hundreds of thousands of activists all over the world. Mr Patel said in the email:

“Something big is happening. From Tahrir Square to Wall Street, from staggeringly brave Avaaz citizen journalists in Syria to millions of citizens winning campaign after campaign online, democracy is stirring. Not the media circus, corrupt, vote-every-five-years democracy of the past. Something much, much deeper. Deep within ourselves, we are realizing our own power to build the world we all dream of.”

“We don’t have a lot of time to do it. Our planet is threatened by multiple crises—a climate crisis, food crisis, financial crisis, proliferation crisis... These crises could split us apart like never before, or bring us together like never before. It’s the challenge of our time, and the outcome will determine whether our children face a darker world or one thriving in greater human harmony.”

Ricken Patel did not mention the endemic, epidemic corruption that has crept into the body of India like the viruses that weaken, maim and even kill people. Corruption is our prime concern, though the other crises that Ricken mentions are equally important.

So, people of India, let us prepare ourselves for a long battle against corruption. The Mahabharata war ended in 18 days; our war might last 18 decades and our children’s children and their grandchildren will be fighting it long after we are gone. But the Force is with us. The people of India will win.

I must admit I was one of those cynics who thought nothing much would come of the Congress promise to introduce a strong Lokpal Bill, giving life the “sense of the house” which emerged when Parliament discussed the Lokpal idea.

But even I am appalled at the transparent plots and conspiracies that torpedoed the already weakened Lokpal Bill.

I now throw a gauntlet to all political parties. The ruling coalition ducked voting in the RajyaSabha since the Lokpal Bill had been scuttled by poor floor management and the stabs in the back by coalition partners and the opposition.

Though I am not sure what the technical position is, this amounts to a moral defeat of the government. If he is an honest man, and he is touted all over as being one, prime minister Manmohan Singh has no choice but to submit the resignation of his government to the president and call for a mid-term general election, with the main issue being corruption.

The politicians will be against a mid-term election on the excuse that there isn’t enough money to fund an election within three years of the previous election.
If money were the only hurdle to a mid-term election, there is no problem: Let them bring out all the black money earned through bribes and kickbacks, the money stashed away in foreign bank accounts and use it for the elections.

At least, part of the money squeezed out of an unwilling people will go back to some of the people.