A number of people have expressed their discomfort with Team Anna’s involvement in the Hisar by-election. Some have suggested that the team should continue to remain apolitical. It is widely believed that being apolitical and non-partisan is what earned Team Anna its lion share of support and goodwill among the people. So it is natural to infer that should Team Anna get involved in elections, it might lose some of the mass appeal that it has garnered over the last year. But once again, despite the reservations of many well-wishers, Anna Hazare demonstrated his keen political sensibilities by deciding to campaign against the Congress party in Hisar.
The Congress party today has a sufficient enough majority in Parliament to pass any law. Unlike in its earlier UPA-I avatar where the stability of the government was always in question and the party was at the mercy of its allies, the UPA-II is relatively safe. For example, should the DMK drop out of the coalition, the AIADMK is waiting in the wings. There is no shortage of other such regional “plug and play” options, should the need arise. In other words, the Congress party has a comfortable mandate to take tough, decisive action, should it have the resolve and the political will to do so. It simply has no excuses to shy away from taking the lead on such important legislation.
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Pakora Korner 