It’s quite unfortunate that the anti-corruption movement that was started in India in the summer of 2011 finally dithered away. The movement galvanised young and old, managed to give a glimpse of hope to all sections of society, especially people fed up with non-governance and brazen corruption at all levels. Bodies drenched in sweat in the agonising Indian summer heat, facing pressurised water from cannons and police baton charge, all did nothing to deter these protesters away. Everyone hoped the change was round the corner. In the distant villages, elderly gathered around petty shops with newspapers full of Anna Hazare’s pictures trying to figure out how an old and frail man can galvanise the so-called modern developing nation like none before.

How on earth did this man manage to galvanise all these educated grads with finest degrees from IITs, IIMs, law schools and top medical colleges? Thousands of protesters day in and out, in various Indian capitals, outpouring their anger and frustration on the government and the corrupt society that we managed to build in the 65 years of independent India.

The whole scene reminds me of the ‘freedom movement’ that started in 1989 in Kashmir where I come from. By the early 1990s, trained militants used to brazen it out so boldly with the Indian security agencies that it was a foregone conclusion in the mind of ordinary Kashmiri that the freedom was round the corner.

Those days the ordinary Kashmiri used to trust non-state sources of news like BBC, CNN and even radio stations from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK). The propaganda on the POK radio was extremely wild. On one occasion when I heard one of those frequencies, the commentator of one of the shows said that the next show would most likely be hosted in the sprawling lawns of mughal gardens near the Dal Lake.

A neighbour of mine, an elderly person whom I had promised a portable plastic box for storing tobacco for the day at farm (those days one could hardly find such plastic stuff in countryside), came running one afternoon asking for the promise to be fulfilled, because he had heard in a local mosque that Kashmir would be set free any time. Protesters shouted and chanted at the peak of their lungs, demanding death for the Indian state and right to freedom at any cost. Alas, like Anna’s movement, it was a freedom that was never to be – at least until now.

Guerrilla warfare against the Indian state has been running for decades – some say against the Indian atrocities, others refer this to the marginalised whose land and bread winning opportunities have been brazenly encroached upon by the capitalists in connivance with the state. Maoists firmly believe that unless they resort to armed struggle and terrorise the Indian state, they have no chances of getting their due justice. So did the Kashmiri youth who crossed over to Pakistan thinking that there was no way they could get what they wanted by any peaceful means.

Come on, isn’t it the same thinking that led Arvind Kejriwal (one of the other prime leaders of the original anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare) to shun protests and decide to launch a political party? Yes, the last one still falls under the ambit of the Indian constitution and hence you thought the linkage is not quite right. So did I.

The point I am trying to make is that if there are three core burning problems that India faces today, forget the mess we are in vis-a-vis the state of economy, they are corruption, Kashmir and Naxalism. All three together put a colossal drain on the Indian exchequer, besides portraying a very unstable and dangerous picture to the outside world.

However, the important thing to note is that the last two problems exist because of the first one and hence the linkage.

It is very well known that sizeable sections of Indian politicians owe allegiance to the constitution of brazen corruption, hence it’s their supreme duty to protect that constitution and hence they are doing their best to discredit and successfully managed to quell the anti-corruption movement for the time being.

By all accounts, the militancy that erupted in 1989 was a result of brazen corruption and hunger for unbridled power demonstrated by the political parties and the leaders of the mainstream party, the Congress. It is the same corruption that is responsible for thousands of deaths and destruction in what has been called the weeping valley. Democratically elected representatives were thrown into jails and kept out of power just because they did not listen to diktats from New Delhi. Yes, the Kashmir problem did exist earlier and dated back to the Partition, but the wounds had healed and people had carried on with their lives. The 1980s saw the blatant misuse of power that resulted in mistrust and hatred towards India that eventually culminated into the armed struggle that killed thousands and left permanent scars.

Pro-people development and businesses never result in a loss of livelihood. State-sponsored corruption in granting mining leases and forest permits, coupled with forcible acquisition of land from poor, resulted in and abetted Naxalism.

It’s high time that Indian people come together and support the peaceful movement against corruption, which to me is the only way we can bring in change. We can continue having debates and dialogues, but a sustained pressure to free the institutions and the common service delivery mechanism of corruption will go a long way in healing the wounds of the marginalised and keep internal strife and conflicts away. I wait for the day when Anna will be back, but let’s try to bring that hidden Anna out of all of us that used to rejoice and patiently wait for the good news of a corruption free India.

The day an honest Indian leadership starts listening to its people – whether in Kashmir, Naxal areas or the northeast – the solutions will tumble out from the empty cupboards. Honest solutions will have wider acceptance and durability. If we have to save our people from violence, we have to weed out corruption; the link that binds all these problems needs to be broken forever.