Why Not in Parliament?

There have been voices of disapproval, dissent, and even ridicule when Team Anna suggested that they would form a political alternative that is yet to be outlined.
        Respected people like Justice Santosh Hegde and Sri Sri Ravishankar have said that they couldn't align with Team Anna if they seek to form political party. Many supporters of Anna Hazare have protested too. Congress has said that the political ambition of Team Anna is 'exposed'! 


       I am perplexed by their stand. It is self-contradictory.


The key contradictions are:

1. we treat politics as 'other' people's business (and politicians to be 'others') and then complain that 'they' are ruining 'our' lives and 'our' country
2. we keep bemoaning the absence of 'good' people in politics. Surely Team Anna has better credentials than many parliamentarians today
3. if common people seeking to be heard by aspiring to get to the parliament are 'exposed' then how do we describe the ones sitting in the parliament today? Overexposed?

That politics has come to be associated with dirty, greedy, corrupt, criminal, and colluding manipulators is unfortunate. Politics is about serving our own people. The inscription in the Vidhan Soudha building in Bengaluru - The Work of Government is the Work of God - expresses the nature of politics and its noble intent.

       So, if some good people try to come into this we need to applaud, help, and support them and help them serve in the cause of people and God.

       Given the cesspool that the current political dispensation has become we should expect some hiccups but we must all keep reminding ourselves that politics is about us all - not about the criminals and the corrupt - so their actions are not to be taken as the role models.

We need to invent our own politics and we all are stakeholders.

       We must salute the courage of Team Anna and wish them luck and support. And, we must also keep reminding them that they are to take the mantle to serve, not to rule.

       If we disagree with Team Anna's entry into politics then the only honorable alternative is to participate ourselves.