Who can take Anna Hazares slap-happy political reform seriously? Anyone who thought that Anna Hazare has travelled some distance over the past year,to a greater appreciation of how to influence the agenda in a representative democracy,can think again. When asked by India Against Corruption members whether violence was permissible in their war against corruption,Anna Hazare told them to start scientifically. Begin with administering one tight slap to five corrupt district collectors it will create fear in the minds of other corrupt IAS officers and send out a strong message, Hazare said. Of course,Anna has long believed in the power of the chastening slap. For him,every kind of social ill can be beaten out of people. His solution to alcoholism was to tie people to a pole and flog them till they submitted. When Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was attacked by someone who was unhappy with rising prices,Hazares spontaneous reaction (later retracted) was Only one slap? Weeks later,after watching a film on the anti-corruption theme,Gali Gali Mein Chor Hai,he elaborated on the theory,to the effect: When a mans power of tolerance runs out,then if a slap is given,the other person will come to his senses and that is the only road open now. This is the kind of slap-happy logic that even pre-schoolers are soon socialised out of but it remains a central tenet of Anna Hazares approach. Surely,the scourge of official corruption needs better combatants than this. Citizens who vote by their beliefs,for instance,and who extract accountability from public servants with the tools available to them,who are prepared to undergo the tedium of an RTI application or a legal petition.
