NEW DELHI: History was made in Parliament on Saturday when the two Houses bowed to Anna Hazare's campaign, powered by a groundswell of popular support, for a strong and independent Lokpal.
The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha unanimously resolved that the Standing Committee would consider Anna's three demands - including the lower bureaucracy in the Lokpal's purview, a central law for creating Lok Ayuktas in states and a citizen's charter for government departments providing public service. This finally paved the way for Anna's 12-day fast to end.
This is the first instance of Parliament explicitly agreeing to accommodate demands raised by an 'outsider', that too when the official bill had already been moved. A jubilant Anna Hazare responded to Parliament's endorsement of his demands by announcing that he would call off his fast at 10am on Sunday. His aides promptly called upon the people to flock to Ramlila Maidan to participate in this victory of popular will.
But the historic moment almost didn't come about. Anxiety hit the process once again when in the afternoon Team Anna members announced that the government was going back on its word. It was later learnt that the agreed upon draft resolution was changed and this almost scuppered the deal. Eventually Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped in, and with the help of top BJP leaders and his own colleagues, pushed through an acceptable resolution.
Later, the PM publicly threw his weight behind the reconciliation. "Parliament has spoken. Parliament's will is the will of the people," he said, bringing a closure to the standoff.
There was momentary confusion when Parliament opted to unanimously adopt the resolution through the 'sense of the House' instead of passing it by voice vote. However, civil society activists accepted it. As Medha Patkar said, "The important thing is that our three demands have been accepted."
Parliament's extraordinary gesture on Saturday brought out its capacity to adapt and innovate in response to an extraordinary expression of popular aspirations, reflected in the countrywide outpouring of support for Anna's anti-corruption charter. A huge throng camped at Ramlila Maidan as Parliament debated Anna's demands.
The day also saw the much-maligned political class rise to the challenge. Speeches in both Houses were non-partisan, and effectively rebuffed anxieties about Parliament's relevance or its preparedness to deal with graft.
The resolution adopted by the two Houses strikes a balance between the competing considerations of heeding the clamour for strong anti-corruption measures in the wake of a series of scams and the political class's determination to not allow Parliament's authority on law-making to be undermined. Even as it conceded the Anna group's demands, the resolution also made it plain that the procedure of the scrutiny of the law by the Standing Committee would not be scuppered.
Soon after the resolution was passed, Manmohan Singh sent Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sandeep Dikshit, both of whom were acting as government mediators, to Anna Hazare with a copy of it and a request to call off his fast.
The resolution was the result of a remarkable display of give-and-take by all the protagonists. The government, which had staunchly resisted the civil society group's efforts to dictate the shape of the Lokpal law, did not allow ego to come in the way as it changed tack. The PM, who said he was ready to walk the extra mile, did so at a crucial time when he overruled the nay-sayers to give his nod to a conciliatory resolution.
This was the second time in the week that the PM had taken charge of the government's efforts, even if belated, to defuse the confrontation. On Wednesday, he had turned down the effort of his colleagues to re-open a resolution that he had worked out with the Opposition after an all-party meeting.
The Opposition also matched the government's conciliatory attitude. The speech of Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, was bereft of partisan considerations, and set the stage for non-acrimonious debate. In fact, at one point in Jaitley's speech, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee asked the BJP leader to explain a finer legal point. Later, Jaitley along with L K Advani and Sushma Swaraj helped craft the resolution that passed muster with the civil society activists.
Team Anna, too, did not lag behind. The players who had been frequently accused of taking maximalist positions, chose to settle for a solution that did not quite meet their expectations. Prashant Bhushan, a dogged warrior in the court and outside, acknowledged that they would have preferred an iron-clad commitment. However, he expressed the hope that Parliament, having recognized the depth of anti-corruption feelings, would not resile on its commitment.
Times Comment
On Tuesday, we issued a Times Appeal on page 1 saying, "Ego should not come in the way of a solution that best tackles the scourge of corruption and serves the cause of India and its people. This is a moment in our history that calls for humility and courage, nor hubris or bravado." On Friday, we wrote on page 1, "One of the beauties of India is its democracy, imperfect as it may be. And one of the cornerstones of our democracy is the parliamentary process."
On Saturday, we caught a glimpse of that beauty when Parliament rose magnificently to the occasion, and in a spirit of bipartisanship addressed itself to Anna Hazare's concerns about the Lokpal bill. Several of our MPs spoke well, but it was Arun Jaitley who distilled in a sentence when he said, "The time has come to raise the bar of accountability in Indian society."
This is not the time to speak in terms of victor and vanquished --- not when we've just have witnessed the triumph of people power. But India's political leaders perhaps need to ask themselves a few uncomfortable questions: Are they so out of touch with the people they profess to represent that it took them so long to gauge the public mood? Why else would a nation turn to an 'outsider' for justice? And finally, does this herald a shift, however subtle, in the 'power equation' between government and the people?
There are a thousand things wrong with our country. But every once in a while, something or someone comes along and restores, in some measure, our faith in the future. Even those who have had reservations about Anna Hazare's form of protest --- and there are many honest, intelligent and committed people among them --- cannot discount the incredible impact he has had on Indian polity and society. He has tapped into a nation's rising frustration and anger against corruption of the most scandalous proportions, and channeled it into a mass movement that has shaken the government to its foundation, and placed the entire political class on notice. Will the Lokpal bill be a panacea for all of India's problems? As the Prime Minister has said on more than one occasion, there is no magic wand. But that cannot be a reason for us to do nothing. Anna Hazare has lit a fire. It's for every one of us to keep the flame of hope alive.
The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha unanimously resolved that the Standing Committee would consider Anna's three demands - including the lower bureaucracy in the Lokpal's purview, a central law for creating Lok Ayuktas in states and a citizen's charter for government departments providing public service. This finally paved the way for Anna's 12-day fast to end.
This is the first instance of Parliament explicitly agreeing to accommodate demands raised by an 'outsider', that too when the official bill had already been moved. A jubilant Anna Hazare responded to Parliament's endorsement of his demands by announcing that he would call off his fast at 10am on Sunday. His aides promptly called upon the people to flock to Ramlila Maidan to participate in this victory of popular will.
But the historic moment almost didn't come about. Anxiety hit the process once again when in the afternoon Team Anna members announced that the government was going back on its word. It was later learnt that the agreed upon draft resolution was changed and this almost scuppered the deal. Eventually Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped in, and with the help of top BJP leaders and his own colleagues, pushed through an acceptable resolution.
Later, the PM publicly threw his weight behind the reconciliation. "Parliament has spoken. Parliament's will is the will of the people," he said, bringing a closure to the standoff.
There was momentary confusion when Parliament opted to unanimously adopt the resolution through the 'sense of the House' instead of passing it by voice vote. However, civil society activists accepted it. As Medha Patkar said, "The important thing is that our three demands have been accepted."
Parliament's extraordinary gesture on Saturday brought out its capacity to adapt and innovate in response to an extraordinary expression of popular aspirations, reflected in the countrywide outpouring of support for Anna's anti-corruption charter. A huge throng camped at Ramlila Maidan as Parliament debated Anna's demands.
The day also saw the much-maligned political class rise to the challenge. Speeches in both Houses were non-partisan, and effectively rebuffed anxieties about Parliament's relevance or its preparedness to deal with graft.
The resolution adopted by the two Houses strikes a balance between the competing considerations of heeding the clamour for strong anti-corruption measures in the wake of a series of scams and the political class's determination to not allow Parliament's authority on law-making to be undermined. Even as it conceded the Anna group's demands, the resolution also made it plain that the procedure of the scrutiny of the law by the Standing Committee would not be scuppered.
Soon after the resolution was passed, Manmohan Singh sent Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sandeep Dikshit, both of whom were acting as government mediators, to Anna Hazare with a copy of it and a request to call off his fast.
The resolution was the result of a remarkable display of give-and-take by all the protagonists. The government, which had staunchly resisted the civil society group's efforts to dictate the shape of the Lokpal law, did not allow ego to come in the way as it changed tack. The PM, who said he was ready to walk the extra mile, did so at a crucial time when he overruled the nay-sayers to give his nod to a conciliatory resolution.
This was the second time in the week that the PM had taken charge of the government's efforts, even if belated, to defuse the confrontation. On Wednesday, he had turned down the effort of his colleagues to re-open a resolution that he had worked out with the Opposition after an all-party meeting.
The Opposition also matched the government's conciliatory attitude. The speech of Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, was bereft of partisan considerations, and set the stage for non-acrimonious debate. In fact, at one point in Jaitley's speech, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee asked the BJP leader to explain a finer legal point. Later, Jaitley along with L K Advani and Sushma Swaraj helped craft the resolution that passed muster with the civil society activists.
Team Anna, too, did not lag behind. The players who had been frequently accused of taking maximalist positions, chose to settle for a solution that did not quite meet their expectations. Prashant Bhushan, a dogged warrior in the court and outside, acknowledged that they would have preferred an iron-clad commitment. However, he expressed the hope that Parliament, having recognized the depth of anti-corruption feelings, would not resile on its commitment.
Times Comment
On Tuesday, we issued a Times Appeal on page 1 saying, "Ego should not come in the way of a solution that best tackles the scourge of corruption and serves the cause of India and its people. This is a moment in our history that calls for humility and courage, nor hubris or bravado." On Friday, we wrote on page 1, "One of the beauties of India is its democracy, imperfect as it may be. And one of the cornerstones of our democracy is the parliamentary process."
On Saturday, we caught a glimpse of that beauty when Parliament rose magnificently to the occasion, and in a spirit of bipartisanship addressed itself to Anna Hazare's concerns about the Lokpal bill. Several of our MPs spoke well, but it was Arun Jaitley who distilled in a sentence when he said, "The time has come to raise the bar of accountability in Indian society."
This is not the time to speak in terms of victor and vanquished --- not when we've just have witnessed the triumph of people power. But India's political leaders perhaps need to ask themselves a few uncomfortable questions: Are they so out of touch with the people they profess to represent that it took them so long to gauge the public mood? Why else would a nation turn to an 'outsider' for justice? And finally, does this herald a shift, however subtle, in the 'power equation' between government and the people?
There are a thousand things wrong with our country. But every once in a while, something or someone comes along and restores, in some measure, our faith in the future. Even those who have had reservations about Anna Hazare's form of protest --- and there are many honest, intelligent and committed people among them --- cannot discount the incredible impact he has had on Indian polity and society. He has tapped into a nation's rising frustration and anger against corruption of the most scandalous proportions, and channeled it into a mass movement that has shaken the government to its foundation, and placed the entire political class on notice. Will the Lokpal bill be a panacea for all of India's problems? As the Prime Minister has said on more than one occasion, there is no magic wand. But that cannot be a reason for us to do nothing. Anna Hazare has lit a fire. It's for every one of us to keep the flame of hope alive.
