The flexibility of the Congress as a political party is the hallmark of survival of democracy in India. The party has the history of taking extreme antagonistic positions on various issues depending upon the political exigencies.
Apart from the current Lokpal, we can cite the example of unlocking of Ram temple in Ayodhya and also reversing the Supreme Court verdict in the Shah Bano case. Thus, be it secularism or corruption, the ruling party at the Centre has the natural ability to adjust itself with the existing political reality.
The general perception is that the long-awaited anti-graft ombudsman law got a final push in the recently-concluded Winter Session of Parliament due to the knee-jerk panic reaction by mainstream parties following the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party’s success in Delhi.
However, well-meaning analysts ask, had the Congress won elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and lost only in Delhi to the AAP, would it have behaved the way it did in Parliament to ensure a consensus to get the Lokpal Bill through in Parliament.
Read here: Salient features of the Lokpal Bill
The analysts insist a big “no”, claiming that it was only the Congress that has shown a climb-down from its earlier stated position, whereas, other political parties stuck to their stand, which they had expressed during the historic midnight debate in the Rajya Sabha on December 29, 2011.
The BJP and the Left had demanded wide ranging amendments in the then “sarkari” Lokpal Bill, whereas the SP had then also opposed any move to pass the bill. Given the commotion in the House, which took place on that dramatically fateful night, Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari took a decision to set up a select committee to look into the provisions of the Bill.
However, it is also a fact that the principal Opposition BJP had toughened its stand on the original version of the bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha keeping in view the Congress’ “unease” with a stringent anti-graft bill.
Following its almost rout situation in the recently-concluded Assembly elections, where it received a massive drubbing in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh by the BJP and a complete decimation in Delhi by the AAP and the BJP, a demoralised Congress made a valiant attempt to salvage itself ahead of the looming 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Meanwhile, sensing it to be opportune, social activist and Gandhian Anna Hazare began another round of fast to pressurise the government for the passage of the Lokpal Bill.
Thus, the government pushed the amended bill, which not only suited to build a consensus in Parliament, even Hazare was brought on board, as three of his key demands — bringing PM under its ambit, keeping CBI under the control of Lokpal and government should not have the exclusive control over appointment of Lokpal — were met.
And thus, Hazare ended his janlokpal campaign, which incidentally had launched Kejriwal into a political career in the most spectacular fashion. Along the way, Hazare also dissociated himself with Kejriwal and his party to ensure that the new party does not reap any political dividend out of the campaign afterwards.
But in the mean time, the Congress, which was struggling for ideas to shrug off the allegations of corruption, showed that it was more than willing to borrow the ideas from the AAP to revive its fortune in the run-up to the 2014 elections. And, so, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi became more communicative and bought peace with Hazare by writing a letter to him.
However, Kejriwal denounced the new legislation, which has been passed by Parliament, saying it would not “catch even a mouse”.
He thinks so because the janlokpal bill, which he had fathered, envisaged a complete independence to CBI, lokayuktas for states under the same central law and all from top to bottom of bureaucracy covered under the Lokpal.
But Hazare, true to being a Gandhian, chose not to seek 100 per cent of Janlokpal and satisfied himself what Parliament offered. In contrast, the erstwhile disciple of the Gandhian leader, Kejriwal, continued to oppose the proposed law in its revised avatar, as many believe that the AAP leader wants the issue of an anti-graft law afloat for further political momentum.
The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011, which has been passed by Parliament on Wednesday, is decisively an improved version of the original one that was introduced and passed by the Lok Sabha in December 2011.
The first marked difference is that it has now accepted inclusion of Prime Minister under the ambit of Lokpal with a few exceptions relating to defence and foreign affairs. The new proposed law debars the government from transferring a CBI official investigating a case referred by the Lokpal, thus putting the investigating officer directly under the ombudsman.
The selection process of the Lokpal has also been changed. It now provides for appointment of the Lokpal by a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Lok Sabha Speaker, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Chief Justice of India, besides an eminent jurist appointed by the President on their recommendation.
High on UPA Agenda
- Citizens’ Right to Grievance Redress Bill, 2011
- The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013
- The Judicial Standards Accountability Bill, 2012
- The Prevention of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials and Officials of Public International Organisations Bill, 2011
- The Whistleblowers Protection Bill, 2011
- The Public Procurement Bill, 2012
Other important Bills on the UPA agenda for 15th LS
- Women Reservation Bill — The Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill
- The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008
- Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill 2011
- The Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2012
- Indo-Bangladesh Land Pact Bill — Constitution (One Hundred and Nineteenth) Amendment Bill, 2013
- Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Bill 2013
- Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2013
- The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013
- The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2012
- The National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010
Next: It may turn into a tool to settle scores
It may turn into a tool to settle scores
Almost a decade of the Right to Information (RTI) Act has shown how a well-meaning law can be misused by vested interests. It was enacted with intent to empower people at large with information relating to government and facilitate their petty works. But the experience over the years suggests a different picture altogether where scores — political and corporate — were settled by using the RTI, which resulted into a number of murders in the country.
However, the RTI Act was seen incomplete in the absence of a window to drag public authorities into litigation. Now, with the Lokpal soon to be in place, the RTI Act will become a potent weapon in the hands of the people, both for genuine grievance redressal and settling scores.
Additionally, the bureaucracy had already been laggard in taking decisions due to RTI activism. A number of bureaucrats are said to have used the pretext of the RTI to shuffle files to ensure that they are safe. And in the process, they also have been hesitant to take swift decisions.
“Now it has become a habit among the bureaucrats to raise a number of questions even if they are irrelevant and put them on the files just to avoid the risk of being found guilty on a later date. The decision-making process has definitely become slow,” a joint secretary-rank official said.
With RTI activism at its peak, the impending Lokpal could prove to be further choking officials going out of the way to expedite governance. Experts believe that litigation will flourish as activists will use the RTI information to knock at the door of the Lokpal.
Only among the few opponents of the Lokpal, the Samajwadi Party believes that the Lokpal will give rise to more corruption and for this party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav draws a parallel between the laws relating to atrocities against women, which led to overcrowding of cases. “The government will become more indecisive after the Lokpal, as bureaucrats will be afraid to take decisions,” said Yadav.
Another flip side that critics have flagged off is that the core of democracy will be hit when the Lokpal takes charge after the passed legislation becomes a law. They claim that all elected representatives will be put at the mercy of all-powerful Lokpal, who in turn would not be accountable to people. “This will lead to creation of a super bureaucracy and extended judicial activism against the political class, who make many adjustments while dealing with issues relating to people,” said a critic.
With Prime Minister coming under the ambit of the Lokpal, many believe that once a case is initiated against the person holding the high office the very political stability of the Indian polity would take a big hit.
