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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Dash under ‘duress’ for Lokpal by Sanjay K Jha

Dash under ‘duress’ for Lokpal by Sanjay K Jha

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published Published on Dec 20, 2011   modified Modified on Dec 20, 2011

The government’s desperate race to redraft the Lokpal bill in time for passage this Parliament session has left political circles uneasy, with even some Opposition leaders conceding the dangers of lawmaking under such abnormal pressure.

The Centre too is squirming at this “indecent haste”, prompted by its keenness to avoid another face-off with Team Anna. But it feels it has little choice in a political climate where “confrontationism” is giving the democratic virtue of consensus a beating.

Top ministers burnt the midnight oil over the new draft yesterday so it could be placed before the cabinet this evening, but some issues refused to be resolved. The cabinet will meet tomorrow afternoon to clear the bill, which would then be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday by waiving the notice period.

The session was originally scheduled to end on Wednesday but has been extended till Friday so that each House can debate the bill for a day and pass it. If that timetable proves impossible, the Centre may convene a three-day session after Christmas, from December 27 to 29.

A new draft is needed because around 70 amendments have been made to the original bill that the government had earlier introduced. The amendments could have been moved separately to make the government’s job easier, but that would have left the landmark law all tangled up and messy.

The government wants a neat, clean-cut bill on this vital subject, and the ministers are trying to cobble up something that would not evoke insurmountable opposition in Parliament.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had hoped the bill would be ready for the cabinet by Sunday evening, without realising that party politics cannot be suspended altogether for parliamentary work.

Law minister Salman Khurshid, the bill’s chief draftsman, had to rush off to Uttar Pradesh for three days as Rahul Gandhi was campaigning in his constituency, Farrukhabad, and its neighbourhood. Parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal and home minister P. Chidambaram too left town for two days, causing the Sunday deadline to be junked.

Khurshid, who returned to Delhi a little late on Sunday because of fog, got down to business with fellow ministers Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, V. Narayansamy and Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday evening.

Still, the indications were the draft would not be ready by Monday evening as several issues stayed unresolved. The status of the CBI, particularly the selection panel for the agency chief, was a key hurdle.

The ministers may eventually sort out all these issues and get a draft ready for the cabinet by the tentative deadline of 2pm tomorrow, but the rush has left many politicians deeply disturbed.

Several cabinet ministers agreed in private that working under duress was undesirable but cited the Prime Minister’s commitment to the nation about a strong Lokpal law being enacted in the winter session.

“Of the 35 parties at last week’s all-party meeting, only two — the BJP and the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) — insisted that the bill be passed in the current session,” a cabinet minister said.

“The rest said the government should take its time to study the whole gamut of issues and bring in a perfect bill in the next session.”

Many Opposition leaders found it unhealthy that Parliament should be working under pressure from an outside agency, but they were not willing to speak out against Team Anna amid the current public mood.

In the Congress, there is frustration that the public focus has remained fixed on the Lokpal despite the cabinet clearance to the Food Security Bill yesterday.

Many Congress leaders felt the one subject that should concern civil society the most is the wretched poverty in the country. Khurshid voiced his feelings yesterday by saying: “Hunger is a bigger issue than corruption in the country.”

At a time the Centre is being battered from all sides and being dubbed the country’s worst-ever government by the Opposition, the Congress today desperately tried to draw attention to this “milestone” law in independent India’s history.

“No government has brought such revolutionary legislations like RTI, MNREGA, Right to Education and now the Food Security Bill. Did we hear of these legal guarantees between 1998 and 2004, when the BJP was in power?” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.

The Congress is crying for applause over the Food Security Bill, which gives the poor a legal guarantee of food grain at cheap prices. The nation’s focus, however, remains on Anna Hazare.

The Telegraph, 20 December, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111220/jsp/nation/story_14904677.jsp


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