Anna, Corruption and Government Servants

My daughter does not like Anna. She knows that Anna fights against corruption, he is committed to cleansing the society of the ills, and he has dedicated his life for the betterment of the people. Still she does not like him for the cap he wears. To her Gandhi cap is synonymous with hypocrisy and corruption.
Things were different during my childhood. I was born twelve years after India had attained her independence. Freedom fighters were seen moving with Gandhi caps on their heads, and living with their Ganhian principles. The persons in Gandhi caps were respected. Teachers in the class spoke of Gandhism and preached that the man should live for others, do something for improving the society. They cited the examples of the dedicated leaders, freedom fighters who had sacrificed their comforts for the nation, neglected their family and children for the country and its people.
They wore Gandhi caps.
Mahendra, my friend once said, “When first time I came to Bhubaneswar, after I got down from the bus, I took a pinch of Bhubaneswar dust and smeared on my forehead. Because, the great persons-MLAs and Ministers- has walked over the earth of Bhubaneswar. Then, most of the MLAs and Ministers were former freedom fighters. I had heard from my teacher, a minister was going to the Assembly and to the Secretariat riding a bicycle. A former Chief Minister after demitting office was seen riding a bicycle. The earth of Bhubaneswar I considered as sacred as Gangajal.”
Mahendra was disillusioned soon after he entered into government service in the later part of eighties of the last century. He joined forest service and found there nexus between timber mafia and the forest people. The forest mafia thrived with active support of the politicians. Being a man of principle, he could not tolerate the loot of the jungle and tried to enforce law. He did not get cooperation from his own people and on the other hand, he was threatened by the mafia. He only created enemies. At one time, he perceived the danger to his life and saw he could no longer work there. He approached the forest minister. The minister had learned about him from his own sources and said, “I shall transfer you from that place. But I cannot help you always. You have to amend your ways. You are an honest officer. It is okay; but that does not mean you should try to prevent others from becoming dishonest. That’s as simple as that. You will be always in trouble, if you enforce your principles and honesty on others. Don’t try to become a second Gandhi. Gandhi was killed when he was old, you would be killed young.”
He was transferred as Assistant Conservator of Forest coincidentally to the place where I was working as Treasury Officer. We were happy to be reunited after our university days. We would engage ourselves hours together in small talks over cups of tea; go with our families on picnic at least once in a month. But he looked most of the times depressed and absentminded. He would often say, ‘I should not be in this job.” But he also could not do anything else, considering his family background, he could never risk for anything else at that point in his life. At that time also his wife was expecting their first child.
When we met he told me about his office matters. The forest range officer, subordinate to him, had unofficial and informal relation with the DFO, his senior. He had scant regard for him. The Range officer was also on intimate relation with the local MLA. The local MLA, formerly a jungle mafia, earned his wealth by timber-smuggling. One day Mahendra seized a vehicle carrying smuggled logs. The MLA intervened, but he did not listen. The DFO ordered him to release the vehicle without booking a case. The DFO told that the Chief Conservator had telephoned him to tell him in this matter. He had to release the vehicle.
After this incident, one day the MLA called Mahendra to meet him at the PWD bungalow. When he reached, the MLA told him to sit in front of him. Without saying anything more, he opened his briefcase, took out a revolver, checked the bullets, cleaned the revolver with his handkerchief and put it back in the briefcase. Then he said, “Mahendra Babu, you know, our paths are different. You were a brilliant student, otherwise you would not have qualified PSC exam to become an officer. But I was a school dropout. We have different backgrounds, we play with different toys. You have just seen the toy I play with. Your toys must be different. If we play with our respective toys, I need not explain, you know what would be the consequence….”
Later, Mahendra described before me the way the MLA spoke and laughed. He remarked, “The MLA must be an action movie buff.”
But after some months, he went mad. He thought everybody who went to him was conspiring to kill him. He sat with a loaded rifle, supplied to the forest department by the government, and threatened to kill if anyone would dare go near him. The psychiatrist diagnosed him to be suffering from one kind of paranoid psychosis.
Another sad incident happened during that period when I was the Treasury Officer. A BDO committed suicide. He was honest, hardworking and a committed officer. For his uncompromising nature, the chairman of the Panchayat Samiti harassed him; the Collector did not support him, and the Minister who was on a visit to the area humiliated him in public. It was also rumoured that his wife had betrayed him. I was shocked. I wrote a story on the incident of the BDO’s suicide. The story was published in Katha under the caption Chakravyuha. In the story, a character says, “In the present system, an honest officer will either go mad or commit suicide.”
I do not dislike Anna for the Gandhi cap he wears. But I do not expect much from the movement he leads. Will Anna’s Jan Lokpal protect honest and committed government servants against an MLA with a revolver and the kind of DFO and Co and allow him to work for the people?
xxxxxx