Manmohan Singh government's high-risk move in evicting Baba Ramdev from the Capital after a midnight police raid on his camp at Ramlila Maidan here has brought together rival factions of Civil Society, besides exposing the Centre and Congress leadership to sharp attacks from political opponents. Just hours after the dramatic police raid on Ramlila Maidan, Anna Hazare's camp announced that they would boycott the meeting of the joint Lokpal panel scheduled...

The government's crackdown on Baba Ramdev and his followers has had one unintended effect: It has united Civil Society groups till now bitterly divided over the direction and scope of the anti-corruption movement. From Anna Hazare to Aruna Roy, Civil Society activists on Sunday buried their differences and spoke in one voice against the midnight police swoop, calling it draconian and undemocratic. Mr. Hazare threatened to follow up a day-long fast...

No one’s buying the government’s desperate arguments to keep the prime minister above Lokpal scrutiny Points Of Friction   Government and Civil Society representatives have sparred on the question of including the prime minister in the proposed Lokpal Bill on seven key grounds: Point: The Prime Minister is accountable only to Parliament, and to the people of India Counterpoint: Does this mean a PM can never face action for criminal liability, however serious the charge,...

A caveat: Is the Lokpal the right authority to investigate judges? Legal luminaries think otherwise. Five Points Of Contention Pro-Lokpal Bill activists want the higher judiciary to come under the purview of the new law. Jurists think otherwise. Point: Nowhere in the world is there an ombudsman to whom the entire higher judiciary is made accountable Counterpoint: The Lokpal Bill must ensure powers to probe corruption charges against SC and HC judges Independence of...

Congress firm but Baba Ramdev, BJP to fight UPA government's “fascism” The Union government swung into damage control mode on Sunday, in the wake of the early morning swoop by the Delhi Police on the Ramlila grounds and the bundling out from the national capital of a trembling yoga guru Baba Ramdev, who had exchanged his saffron garb for a white salwar kameez in the hope of escaping unnoticed. But this...