The freeloading press has reacted with hostility at Anna Hazare's moral victory regarding the Lok Pal bill. One Suhel Seth ( Hindustan Times, April 12 ) is furious. He reluctantly grants that there is " genuine anger against the establishment " but finds it unfair to blame the government. He refuses to be part of a nation of protesters. He accuses Hazare of having " lit a ticking time bomb " and of trying to " subvert " freedom of speech. He says that Hazare's supporters are like those of Bush, either you are for him or you are not a patriot. Seeing that Bush stole an election and was responsible for genocide in Iraq that is a particularly odious and underhand abuse. To answer Mr Seth, lobbying is an accepted means in a democracy. Since our criminal politicians go around with Z plus security they are inaccessible and a public fast was the only way to get the scoundrels to listen. Is India a democracy at all? Democracy does not mean putting an X against one villain rather than another every 5 years. When a senior minister claims that the crime of bribing MPs to vote for the nuclear bill is condoned because the responsible fellows have won a general election since then the entire election process becomes a subversion of the constitution. When one political gang bribes voters with a mixie and a goat while another offers a cow with the mixie the voter may be induced to choose the cow over the goat. The voter is not voting for the gang but the cow. Not a ringing endorsement for 5 years' opportunity to loot the exchequer. The servile press may be happy serving their masters but they should remember that if Hazare fails the Naxals may gain. That is scary.