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My support for Anna Hazare stems not just from my convictions, but out of personal experience too. My grandfather was a civil engineer with the municipal authorities in Simla and there was a contract to be awarded to construct a road and a helipad. A contractor came with a  Rs 30,000 bribe so that he can get the contract from my grandfather. My grandfather resigned from the job. When his supervisor asked him why he wanted to resign, he said, “ Today I may not need the money, but tomorrow a need may arise enticing me to accept it. …. If many many years later, I can tell my grandson tales about how I didn’t bow down to corruption, my life is worth it.”

My grandfather was a man with Gandhian ideals and principles and I have always remembered his sayings during moments of crises. Among his many memorable quotes was that once a man gets drenched in the rains, he can never afraid of rainwater. My entry into the film industry in Saraansh too was ironically in the role of a retired, principled, schoolteacher who does not give in to corruption. He fights the system even in his old age.

Besides my background, wherever I go I find people always complaining about corruption, but not doing anything about it. I think it is in our attitudes, it is largely about people who have met with some success in life. We are the selfish ones because we do not want to stick our necks out and stand up for principles and values because we are scared that our possessions will be snatched away from us and we will have to start our journey again. We, the privileged ones, are shirking from our social responsibilities and are letting millions of our poor, uneducated, underprivileged,  countrymen down by not standing up for a clean system of governance.

We, and I also include our politicians here, forget that Mahatma Gandhi could have led a life of ease in South Africa as he was a successful barrister. But faced with injustice, he gave it all up and returned to his homeland to fight the mightiest empire in history. If we have largely forgotten history, we are condemned to repeat the mistakes of the past.

I do not wish to forget history. For me it is more important to live by respect than by compromise. I run an acting institution and if my students, or my son Sikander, will ask me, “Why did you not raise your voice against corruption?”, I want to tell them that I did! Years later when my grand children ask me, “Where were you in the days of Anna Hazare’s crusade against corruption?”, I want to tell them that I was there with him!

We have progressed a lot in the six decades of independence, but corruption is proving to being a major drag on the economy. It is affecting every section of society. Whether it is in providing good roads, or quality education or safe drinking water, our very existence is in jeopardy because of the corrupt bureaucratic politician nexus. Money is just being siphoned off from all welfare schemes and there is no accountability. It is not Anna Hazare but former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who said that of every rupee spent on development, only 17 paise reaches its intended target…. Where does the other 83 % of funds go?  Do you know what economic wonders and miraculous rates of growth can be achieved if we plug the missing 83%?

I don’t want to be safe. If I want to make people believe that corruption is evil, I need to speak out  myself. When you raise your voice, you discover your strengths because you are on the side of the truth. This is a historical moment for  our country. There is man who has become a symbol of strength, and hope, for the masses. Luckily we got a man who is completely non corrupt – Anna Hazare.   He lives in a temple, has two sets of clothes, and he didn’t get married because he wanted to live for the cause. He listened to his conscience. We too can hear our conscience, but we don’t act because of fear.

Surely, we cannot cleanse the land of corruption is one sweep. It will take a long time just as the road to independence took nine decades after 1857. But the journey must begin. The citizens of the country have a right to expect a clean system of administration. It is heartening that the cause has attracted, and galvanised, the youth of this country. Wherever I go, I am astounded to see that it is the youth which is fuelling the cause and wants to clean up the system. It is time for people of my generation and my seniors to move on. We owe the youth of India, the inheritors of this great land, to do right by their aspirations. And the time is now…

Many people have questioned my motives in this campaign. Many well-wishers have advised me to keep quiet, or else life and living could get difficult. And my detractors have taunted me by saying that films mein kaam  nahi hai, toh netagiri mein aa gaya hai! Let them have their say. I too could have stayed in the shadows, away from the media glare like many folks . I have had my house stoned and my effigies burnt because of my association with Anna Hazare. I have not done this for publicity; there are easier ways to appear in the media! I have done it because there is no other way for me if I have to live up to my grandfather’s ideals.

I do not want to wrestle with my conscience. I want to live with it…

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