Secret civil society

Team Anna says that the dispute arose because Qasmi was seen recording the proceedings of the meeting,which created suspicions that he may be forwarding it to the press. And so what if he did,whats to hide? Ironically enough,a movement that harangued the government to make all discussions of the draft Lokpal bill public,now wants,like some paranoid government,to keep its proceedings private. A civil society movement that claims to catalyse the peoples rage against officialdom,now acts like a secret society,where a wrong word or a recording cellphone can get someone expelled. Its language is not that of an open peoples movement rallying for a good cause,but that of military stratagem,of us and them,locked in a war.

With Qasmis exit,the movement has lost one more fig leaf of inclusiveness. Team Anna may not be explicitly anti-Muslim,despite its use of an alienating visual language but it has never been a genuinely representative movement either. It has no ideology beyond easy platitudes about corruption which helps keep many unlikely forces from left and right together,but falls apart at the merest sign of a political belief like,say,Prashant Bhushans view on Kashmir. Its idea of inclusiveness has been gestural so far like having Dalit and Muslim girls help break Annas fast. Qasmis accusations that Team Anna is anti-Muslim and authoritarian indict it more than it will admit.