Lokayukta, Praje and fear

I have heard him in a couple of public meetings, and have met him in a small group once. Note taken from those interactions with Lokayukta Santosh Hegde was that he has two battles to fight. One of them we know well enough, newspapers love covering how the government doesn't cooperate in prosecution or investigations.

The other battle for him - or any such toothless or draconian institution government could create - is to get real support from us, as in the citizens, people, praja. SMS campaigns, petitions etc (one petition from Loksatta party is still live on this website) is one thing, making full use of Lokayukta's office is another.

Think about it. What is the real reason the office of LA wants "sou motu" powers? LA wants to be able to act on its own in cases where there may not be a complaining party. Why would LA be short on complainants? Its because most of us, you and me, are afraid to put down our names as complainants.

I have no shame in admitting that when we filed an RTI with Lokayukta office an year ago, it was this fear that made us think a couple of times on what address and name to use on the application. The fear comes from some real experiences few of us have had that we are not even comfortable sharing.

Wouldn't it be a better thing in the long term to think of ways to work on this "fear factor"? Activism from Lokayukta or High Courts can certainly help, but till we can overcome this fear that all of us carry (admit that you do), don't think we can do anything meaningful to support the select few like Justice Hegde who want to front these fights with corruption.