Remembering 2011 In The Year 2021!

The following is a fictional article that I envisage would be published in a leading English daily in India dated 01 January 2021:

2011: A YEAR OF THE CITIZENRY

India is entering a new decade today with an immense sense of accomplishment and pride. Mission 2020, a road map for attaining the developed country status by the year 2020 envisaged by one of India's great thinkers - ex-president Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has been accomplished. Many critics are still wondering at the pace with which our country grew in the past decade. Although one must say, they had the right to voice their doubts. After all, things were not so rosy at the beginning of this decade. In welcoming yet another year, let us recall the events that led to so many constructive changes in a way that has changed the outlook of our country.

The year 2011 was a landmark year for India in many ways. It was the year during which India was considered a major player at the world stage. At the beginning of that year, when many major economies were reeling due to recession, India was in a much better position in terms of its economic health. Our country had won the Cricket World Cup for only the second time after a gap of 28 long years. The first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix was organised successfully at Greater Noida with almost a full house of spectators. Metallica, one of the original four Gods of Metal, performed for the first time in India, as also did Lady Gaga along with a host of other artistes. The whole country was mesmerized with "Why this kolaveri di", a song with nonsensical lyrics in a language that came to be known as Tamglish (a mixture of Tamil and English).

There were also a lot of issues of national import that were happening at that time. Mamata Banerjee became the first woman Chief Minister of West Bengal, in the process defeating the world's longest-serving democratically-elected communist government, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front government. Mayawati, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, was proposing to split the state into four parts. The Mullaperiyar dam issue created tensions between Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were politically unstable. However, all these issues paled in comparison to the  first major movement of Indian citizens after independence - the fight against corruption.

Anna Hazare was the man of the year 2011. He went on a hunger strike in April 2011 in order to pressurize the government of India to draft and enact a strong Jan Lokpal Bill, which had provisions for severe penalties for those indulging in corruption. The whole country showed its support to the veteran of our country's independence struggle. Although the issue of corruption had been a running theme through 2010 and 2011 with a host of scandals like the 2G scandal, Commonwealth Games scandal, Adarsh Housing Society scandal, Mining scandal  in Karnataka, among others, it was not until Anna Hazare's movement that common citizens found their voice in non-violently protesting against corrupt practices of Indian politicians and bureaucrats. The movement had brought a stand-still to the reform process of the government. The shining India story got an abrupt jolt to its reputation. The government actions of that particular year were described as weak-willed, insincere, and without any focus or direction on fulfilling the aspirations of a young country. Indian politics and its politicians were in a deep mess, and it was imperative for them to rise above their petty games and adopt a forward-thinking approach in the way the country was being run by them.

And rise up they did! The Jan Lokpal Bill was passed unanimously by all parties during the winter parliament session of 2012. The next few years saw most of the electoral parties cleaning up their own houses by gradually removing all those party cadre with tainted images and paving way for the baton to be passed to young leaders of the next generation. The 16th Lok Sabha elections in 2014 saw a record electoral turnout of 85%. The elected government worked sincerely towards developing poorly-served regions of the country rather than concentrating only on the major cities. Health-care and education were given top priority along with improving civic amenities. And during the 17th Lok Sabha elections, almost all candidates competing the elections were without any criminal records. The average age of the candidates came down to 45 years, thereby helping in the formation of the youngest Union Cabinet in the history of Indian politics. And after almost two years of rule by this young Indian government, people in India seem to be genuinely a happy lot!

2011 showed us the power of citizenry in charting an entirely new course in the history of a nation. But for those who stood against the politicians and bureaucrats at that time, India would still be a lumbering elephant than the pouncing tiger that it is now!