Please 'like' to protest, retweet for revolution

This is a spoiler warning for those basking in the warm, fuzzy feeling of being instrumental in starting perhaps new India's first 'social revolution' in the heart of the nation's capital over the past four days.

The citizens' crusade against corruption began with 72-year-old Kisan Baburao Hazare's fast unto death for a stronger anti-graft bill which he says will prevent corruption in both the politics and bureaucracy of the world's second most populated nation.

Cheat sheet: Does Internet fasting even count?

As the summer sun beat down on a ragtag group of dispirited but loyal followers who plunged bravely into a hunger strike on April 5 demanding equal government-civil society participation in drafting of an ombudsmen bill, tentative support grew in the national media for a cause that seemingly touched a raw nerve with every Indian.

I was on TV! Did you see?

Over the course of three days Hazare's demonstration against corruption at Jantar Mantar has slowly spilled over on to the internet and bombed into mass activism that everyone simply must have a pie of.

That celebrities and politicians immediately jumped on to the anti-corruption bandwagon, bear testimony to India's love for big causes and the media's spontaneous vilification or glorification of those at the heart of them.

The role of Indian social media which has evolved into a vehicle of information and active participation has been central to the cause. A group on Facebook postulating that citizens join a civil movement had over 40,000 members in three days.

Anna Hazare and the Lokpal Bill dominated Google searches as people hungry for information on the new "cool do" in Delhi cracked jokes, demonized their elected representatives in Parliament and asked each other to light a candle if they think corruption must end.

People have been comparing the demonstrations at Jantar Mantar, the state-designated venue for venting all kinds of ire, to Egypt's Tahrir Square, where a historical uprising brought life to a halt over 18 days and overthrew an oppressive regime. This may be a popular cause to rally around, and maybe even the only cause since the cricket World Cup ended satisfactorily, but to compare it with a military regime where basic human rights remained suspended for many years, would be to belittle a people's victory won of the blood, sweat and life of many youths.

Is there a revolution brewing?

A revolution in itself is a fundamental change in political organization; a change of paradigm that is borne out of repression in a sharp division of class that manifests itself in violent uprising against the elite. Revolutions that have reshaped our histories in the past are seeded in deep socio-economic disparity. Terming the Jantar Mantar protests a revolution would be grossly undermining a social tool that has the potential to uproot an entire political structure.

The anti-corruption crusade is at best a people's movement that has found resonance with the urban internet audience looking for a reason to lambaste a government it has lost hope in, not without good reason. It is an emotion-driven war of idealism and an intellectual campaign more than anything else.

It is ironic that the high profile people who espouse Hazare's cause fervently on Facebook and Twitter with round-the-clock updates are the ones whose lives are far removed from corruption as a real issue that can cut off the life blood of an individual or wipe out an entire family.

Yes, corruption can be damn annoying if you want your brand new imported car cleared by the Customs Department, pay a king's ransom to the city's best private school, get a project sanctioned or even try to weasel out of two consecutive overspeeding tickets.

But it still is the only way of life for millions in India's vast rural hinterlands. It is a very real problem for those whose pensions have been held back, a panchayat position denied or a land dispute lost to an opponent. They have no connect with India's burgeoning internet celebrities ready to hijack a cause.

A hundred tweets not a revolution make. It is one thing to update the status message and post a tweet between picking up the kids from school, haggling for bargains at the green grocers or to chat up a storm at the coffee-machine.

Is blackmailing a democratically elected government into agreeing to demands the way forward? This sets precedence for potential hunger strike activists who want to further causes by armtwisting a government into submission. Also, Tahrir Square has proven the power of physical participation. This cause will not be won over the internet. It needs generating public opinion in a civil and democratic way that appeals to all sections of society.

But unless the real voices of India are heard, to whom corruption is an ugly reality, rendering moral support isn't enough. This is one "revolution" that has all the markings of running out of steam due to lack of conviction.

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