The power of publicity

We had expected it to happen soon. The very massive weight of the multitude of scams have made a qualitative change to the question of corruption and the White Knights have come galloping in with Anna Hazare leading the charge. Fortuitously he chose a period after the World Cup in Cricket and the media were able to fill their screens with such lovely shots of people gathering in large numbers and lighting candles and youngsters speaking out. They were not confronting a Hosni Mubarak or a Gaddafi. The Andolan gathered strength and we heard of many leaders with large flocks chiming in. Articulate Film stars lent their weight to the movement to the great delight of their fans. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar we heard had laid out the party line and Baba Ramdev who was overtaken by events made a late entry; the spiritual leader Sai Baba alas, was ailing and his followers were left without direction. And today's papers tell us in bold headlines that the crisis is over and yet on another page we read that a former Prime Minister and an incumbent Chief minister (both from Karnataka) are lending support to Anna Hazare. Truly great is the power of the media for look their frenzied coverage has yielded results.