Learning from Anti-Corruption Movements and Initiatives

Corruption is one of the biggest obstructions in the progress of any country. In daily life this can be one of the most frustrating experiences for people, resulting in widespread resentment and discontent. When social movements provide a voice to this discontent and show some hope of reducing the burden of corruption, often people respond in encouraging ways. In fact some of the most important political changes have also taken place after people have been mobilized on the issue of corruption.

Unfortunately, however, anti-corruption movements often do not fulfill the hopes of reducing corruption in durable and significant ways. To give an example, there was a very strong movement for Jan LokpalJan LokpalA proposed independent anti-corruption ombudsman body in India designed to investigate corruption cases against public officials. or People’s Ombudsman with powers to tackle high-level corruption, and at one time it had appeared that this was set to become the most important plank of the anti-corruption set-up in India. However even after legislation was enacted, for about six years there was almost complete inaction at the national level. Then even after appointments were made, significant deficiencies such as lack of independent investigation agencies, procedural complications and low prosecution rates remained. No significant impact has been made in checking corruption at the central level by this institution. In fact recently there was a controversy regarding the efforts of the office of Lokpal to procure very expensive luxury vehicles.

However still there was higher hope from Lokpal at least in Punjab as in this state the ruling political party is AAP and it is the leading activists of the Lokpal movement who later formed AAP political party. Hence Punjab being the first full state (Delhi had some limitations due to its special administrative status) to have AAP government this was expected to become a model state for good implementation of Lokpal, holding a model for others.

However the present situation appears to be a very different one, as revealed recently in a report by Hillary Victor published in The Hindustan Times (Chandigarh edition, May 24, 2026, report titled ‘Punjab without Lokpal for 7 months, plaints pile up). This report tells us, “More than seven months after the post of Lokpal fell vacant in Punjab, the state government is yet to appoint a new anti-corruption ombudsman, leaving over 150 complaints either pending or yet to be taken up and raising concerns over the collapse of the state’s statutory accountability mechanism.”

A senior official told this reporter of HT that the prolonged delay has virtually paralyzed the functioning of the institution. Advocate Nikhil Saraf of the Punjab and Haryana High Court said he had repeatedly written to the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary regarding the constitution of a LokayuktaLokayuktaAn anti-corruption ombudsman organization in the Indian states, responsible for investigating allegations against public servants. similar to Haryana but no action has been taken. In April 2026 the Punjab and Haryana high court issued a notice to the Punjab government on a public interest litigation seeking judicial intervention over what the petitioner described as a “complete vacuum” in the state’s anti-corruption framework.

Thus while the Lokpal agitation succeeded in the political objective of sullying the reputation of the UPA/Congress government led by Manmohan Singh, the objective of reducing corruption in a big way or establishing a strong mechanism for this was not achieved. In fact even the concept of Lokpal as a stand-alone extra-powerful anti-corruption institution was a flawed one and open to misuse and in fact what we in the National Campaign for Right to Information had emphasized even at the peak of this movement was an alternative vision of several anti-corruption planks and institutions to support them, to be effective not just at the high-level but also at the grassroots where these can help ordinary villagers and slum-dwellers, workers and farmers in resolving their issues and problems.

In fact even the issue of corruption of 2G spectrum allocations2G Spectrum ScamA political controversy in India involving the allegedly corrupt issuing of telecom licenses and radio spectrum in 2008. as mentioned in CAGComptroller and Auditor General (CAG)The supreme audit institution of India, responsible for auditing all receipts and expenditures of the government. reports and later highlighted by the Lokpal movement was found to be largely a false one and all the accused were acquitted by a special court. However by then the intended damage had been done to the government and the UPA/Congress had lost badly in elections, one of the most important factors being that an image of highly exaggerated corruption had been created against this government.

After the Lokpal movement Anna Ji went back to his village and not much has been heard from him regarding Lokpal since then, while most other leading Lokpal activists got busy in forming their own political party.

The learning from all this is that we need to be cautious. We should be able to take those steps which sincerely create durable basis for reducing corruption in the form of institutions, mechanisms, laws and social movements. A good example is the grassroots movement for right to information with which this writer too was associated. The progress regarding this at the grassroots by organizations like the MKSS in Rajasthan, to give just one example, was very inspiring. At the same time, we need to be cautious about not getting misguided by those movements which merely use anti-corruption sentiments of people for achieving their narrow objectives. In Brazil we have seen very extreme examples of how the slogans of anti-corruption were used to oust legitimate and popular leaders of people.

Left and democratic as well as working class forces in the world suffered a big setback with the impeachment of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff in 2016, the imprisonment of frontline Presidential candidate Lula da Silva in 2018 and the loss of PT (Workers Party) in 2018 elections.

A recent study has confirmed widespread allegations appearing time and again in Brazil and elsewhere that the USA played an important part in these events through its highly opportunistic use of anti-corruption movement, involving also illegal actions directed against these leaders and their political party.

This study is titled ‘Anti- Corruption and Imperialist Blind Spots—the Role of the US in Brazil’s Long Coup’ and is authored by Brian Mier, Bryan Pitts and Sean T.Mitchell. This has been published in Latin American Perspectives.

This study says—A comprehensive examination of the evidence available, contained in US government statements, English language media accounts and hacked telegram chats among Brazilian prosecutors indicates that the US was widely involved in the ‘long coup’ that removed the left from power in Brazil in 2016 and secured the elections for the far right in 2018.

The leading role in this was played by an anti-corruption movement called Lava JatoOperation Car Wash (Lava Jato)A massive criminal investigation in Brazil involving money laundering and systemic political corruption at the state oil company Petrobras. or Operation Car Wash. This movement was preceded by big gatherings which educated and trained potential participants in those kinds of ‘anti-corruption’ activities which could target public sector companies and political leaders and could secure international cooperation, particularly US cooperation.

Brazil had discovered new big oil deposits and this may have instigated foreign attempts to harm its public sector oil and petroleum interests, to pave the way for higher private sector role. President Rousseff’s efforts to cut private bank profits may have been another reason for targeting her. A bigger reason may have been the strong role played by the governments of Lula and later Rousseff in protecting trade interests of developing countries. The independent stand taken on Palestine may also have irked the USA.

As the study by Brian Mier et al tells us, in June 2019, the evidence on US interference via Lava Jato was already so strong that the PT leader in Congress, Paulo Pimenta was able to provide a dossier full of information. It included names of US prosecutors, public statements by government officials, proof of parallel meetings and events, official schedules, proof of informal violation and collaboration against national sovereignty laws and US officials in Brazil getting unrestricted knowledge of government authorities.

In 2020 Intercept journalists published Telegram communications which revealed that the Lava Jato team had repeated secret meetings with 17 (US) FBI agents bypassing national laws and regulations.

On the day that leading Presidential candidate Lula was arrested in 2018, a prominent leader of Lava Jato was heard commenting—this is a gift from the CIA.

While leading US media kept quiet about the US role in all this, the leaders of Lava Jato were given very good coverage to boost their image and present them as great heroes.

Adding up all the evidence, this study concluded, “Over the past one decade, continuing evidence has emerged that clearly demonstrates that the US government, particularly the Department of Justice, under both Obama and Trump (in his first Presidential term), played a key role in supporting Lava Jato’s politically motivated witch-hunt against the PT.”

It is very disturbing to learn how a very opportunistic use was made of the anti-corruption rhetoric in a way that good leaders were turned into targets for corrupt practices while racketeers got celebrated as heroes. Thus while opposing corruption in sincere and honest ways must be a very important aspect of any democracy, caution should be exercised clearly regarding opportunistic use of any anti-corruption movements.

Of course this does not mean that the struggle against corruption is not important; this only means that the struggle against corruption which is very important should be a continuing commitment (not sudden boom or burst). Secondly, care should be taken to ensure that the movement against corruption is itself free of corruption!

Some of the tasks that need to be taken in the context of India include strengthening the Right to Information. Thanks to the efforts of a sincere RTIRight to Information (RTI)An act of the Parliament of India which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens’ right to information. movement at the grassroots and the subsequent scaling it to a national effort, good RTI law was enacted in India but in recent years its implementation has suffered badly, weakening it. Secondly, much more remains to be done for protecting whistleblowers and RTI activists. Also, we need to strengthen social auditsSocial AuditA formal review of a company’s or government’s procedures and social impact, usually conducted with the active involvement of the local community. at various levels and take forward public hearings on proper utilization of development funds in the proper spirit. At the national and state levels, there should be greater transparency of all political parties and all donations made to them.