Two to tango

The New Year dawned on a dismal note for the stars of 2011. After dominating urban mind space for the better part of a year, Anna Hazare and his team looked confused and uncertain as they mulled over their agitation plans, having been outwitted in the battle for a Jan Lokpal bill. Was this the end of the road for the man who had made activism fashionable again, if only for the middle classes? Indeed, did his loss to the chicanery of the political class deal a body blow to civil society, now that its best known face lay bruised?
It would be unwise for the political establishment to gloat over the collapse of the Jan Lokpal agitation and claim victory in the continuous tussle that marks its relationship with civil society .Whatever Team Anna’s fate may be, the need for civil society has never been greater and will only grow as democracy deepens its roots to throw up searching questions about equity, accountability and governance. Political philosopher and director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies Rajeev Bhargava believes that the year 2020 will see more Anna-like movements and he stresses the importance of strengthening civil society. “There is so much discontent on the ground," he says. “There are radical disparities of income and power. And because people have so much access to information today, their aspirations have grown. It is important that this discontent is expressed through civil society organisations , otherwise the only recourse to people would be to go the naxal way."
There is no universally accepted definition of the term civil society but it is widely construed to mean the “third sector" as distinct from government and business. It surfaced in the 20th century as democracy evolved to define the space occupied by institutions and organisations that reflected public opinion and influenced public policies. In India, the most powerful example of the assertion of civil society is the national movement through which Gandhi mobilised public opinion to oust a colonial administration.
The legacy continues even today, as Bhargava points out, and certainly, the last few years have seen activism flourish and multiply, whether in lie-in protests by tribals against the Posco steel plant in Orissa or in anti-nuclear power agitations in Kudankoolam and Jaitapur. All over the country, small activist groups are pushing and prodding the system to demand greater transparency and people’s participation in decision-making on issues that affect them.
Much of the current activism stems from a growing feeling that the country’s political and governance structures do not adequately represent or reflect people’s problems and aspirations. While National Advisory Council member Harsh Mander highlights the manner in which the concerns of the poor get distorted by the priorities of electoral politics, the Anna movement crystallised the resentment simmering in the urban middle class against a corrupt and uncaring political elite. Clearly, there is need for change. But change can only come through public debate and discourse with civil society organisations serving as the interface between the ruling class and the people.
This is the backdrop against which the future trajectory of civil society must be analysed. It is obvious that activism will increase. The question is: will it transform itself into a movement for real change? The answer lies in the extent to which civil society organisations and the political elite are willing to engage with each other. Historically, they have been at odds, each suspicious of the other. Anna’s refusal to allow politicians to share his dais reflects the ingrained hostility among civil society activists for politicians. Yet, just like Anna should have carried Parliament with him through persuasion instead of confrontation if he wanted a strong anti-corruption mechanism, civil society groups will have to overcome their distaste and be ready to interact creatively with the ruling elite if they truly want to make a difference.
By the time 2020 rolls around, this is hopefully where civil society will be. And the expectation was expressed by none other than activist physician Binayak Sen, now a household name as a victim of state abuse. Delivering the N P Sen memorial lecture in the capital recently, he said, “We cannot outsource democracy to a set of people who are elected every five years. Democracy in the form of electoral politics must go together with democracy in the form of people’s participation in governance. Answers to problems of governance have to be found through the process of social mobilisation."