Anna's agitation is anti-Constitutional- where constitutional methods are open, there can be no justification for these unconstitutional methods.

Anna's agitation is anti-Constitution(One more point of view by a Supreme court Judge of America...we must abandon the bloody methods of revolution. It means that we must abandon the method of civil disobedience, non-cooperation and satyagraha as well.

IBNLive

Joseph Story, former Judge of the Supreme Court of America, had this to say about the Constitution: "The structure has been erected by architects of consummate skill and fidelity; its foundations are solid; its compartments are beautiful as well as useful; its arrangements are full of wisdom and order; and its defences are impregnable from without... It may, nevertheless, perish in an hour by the folly, or corruption, or negligence of its only keepers, THE PEOPLE."

Mahatma Gandhi, the proponent of Satyagraha died in 1948. His tools of Satyagraha were never used against the British to achieve his political ends. He did not consider the British his enemies, Gandhi's enemy was within and he used fasting as a method of exorcising those evils. Anna Hazare, who fashions himself as a Gandhian through his statements and that of his followers, makes it explicit that the elected representatives are the 'they' that 'we' (Team Anna) have to fight against.

The Constitution was enacted in 1950. Dr BR Ambedkar, while addressing concluding address to the Constituent Assembly, before it adopted the newly written Indian Constitution on November 25 ,1949, said: "If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must we do? The first thing in my judgment we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives. It means we must abandon the bloody methods of revolution. It means that we must abandon the method of civil disobedience, non-cooperation and satyagraha. When there was no way left for constitutional methods for achieving economic and social objectives, there was a great deal of justification for unconstitutional methods. But where constitutional methods are open, there can be no justification for these unconstitutional methods. These methods are nothing but the Grammar of Anarchy and the sooner they are abandoned, the better for us."

In the days of eye-ball to eye-ball confrontation, Team Anna asked for a referendum on the Jan Lokpal Bill. Referendums then ought to apply to all issues - reservation for Gujjars, validity of Khap Panchayats, Kashmir.

We are a people who have no confidence whatsoever in the Prime Minister, Ministers and MPs we have elected. We have no confidence in our Judiciary, IAS, IPS and other officers whom we have selected. But, we have immense confidence in the Lokpal we will choose sometime in the distant future!

It has been repeatedly said by IAC (India Against Corruption) that the Lokpal Bill has been held up for 43 years. How appropriate is to hold the 15the Lok Sabha responsible for the combined and perceived failure of as many as 10 Lok Sabhas?

In our country, an average legislator has to enjoy the majority of votes cast by as many as 2.5 lakh voters and an MP as many as 12 lakh. In this context, in a country of 125 crore, the couple of lakhs, who gathered at the Ram Lila Maidan, matter for very little, except that they had the backing of the media. If the media has so much strength to propel a movement without the support of the intelligentsia, it does not augur well for democracy.

Anna Hazare does not have much formal education to speak about, therefore it was a wonder that Om Puri was permitted to express his disdain about the "anpadh ganwar" that represented the people of India in Parliament. He gains acceptability by the fact that a former IPS Officer Kiran Bedi and former IRS Officer Arvind Kejriwal think the world of him.

The middle class gains further confidence in the fact that other people like Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan offer their complete support to him. One question that rankles the mind is, what is the constitutional bar that Team Anna has cleared to hold the position of being able to speak the mind of the people?

Anna has promised a series of fasts on various subjects including that of electoral reforms. This was his 16th fast. It is important to register strong reservations over Parliament bending over backwards to accommodate the interest of a person who says that he will commit suicide if it does not! This may well mark the end of constitutionalism as we know it.

While there is no doubt that long-pending issues are being raised by Anna that requires our urgent attention. USA gained independence in 1776. How many years did it take for American women to get the right to vote? It took 144 years.

These 43 years the IAC speaks about to bring about a Lokpal is not a long time in a republic's life. A republic must mature progressively, it must factor all its people into consideration and indeed keep all of them in mind. This process of keeping all cross-sections in mind is indeed annoyingly slow. However, the alternate method of "holding my breath till you give in" is akin to using chemicals to ripen a mango.

It is bound to have serious repercussions. Anna's agitation is middle-class oriented, media-driven and senseless in nature. Worse, Anna's agitation has mainly upper castes participating in large numbers. Groups such as the OBCs, Dalits, tribals and minorities are virtually missing, save for some ornamental figures. I do not believe that this group is representative of our country. People, who hold the Constitution and the freedoms it provides close to their heart, can only watch these happenings with trepidation.

The moot question however is the euphoria generated by the Sense of the House resolution. What really does it amount to?