Corruption as a way of life

Team Anna is in the second phase of their fight against corruption. Their fast is on at the Jantar Mantar grounds in New Delhi. A scheming government has succeeded in blunting their impact on the conscience of the middle class. Why has the response been poor compared with the response when they began their agitation last year? I can think of many reasons. Some of them are:

The decision makers in this country are the people belonging to the middle class. This middle class is scared of any kind of violent or abrupt change. The government has succeeded in fanning the fears of anarchy and utter lawlessness that would come about if Anna’s team had their way. The middle class though small in numbers has accepted and even come to terms with corruption. This class is afraid of change.

There is also lack of motivation. When we gained our independence there was a major motivation and there were extra ordinary men and women who led from the front and people had everything to gain and nothing much to lose. Now it is another matter. Except members of the team Anna and few others there is a major dearth of morally superior leadership. Most politicians are considered corrupt and not worth following. So where are the leaders to follow?

In this kind of atmosphere is there any wonder that team Anna’s effort at rooting out corruption is destined to fail?