Anna Hazare
began his fast yesterday, again, to demand the enactment of
the Jan Lokpal Bill. Though it made for peripheral headlines, and it didn’t
mobilize the crowds to be there at his fast venue in his village Ralegan Siddhi
in great numbers, and so it didn’t make for the lenses of the media already
overworked with the deadlock on the government formation in Delhi
But the
effect of AAP’s stunning victory in Delhi
The
Congress-led UPA government was guarded in its response after the drubbing it
had in the recently held assembly polls in Delhi
Anna Hazare
himself had recently told of a letter written to him by the Union Government a
week ago detailing its stand on the Lokpal Bill and reiterating its commitment
(not to be take at face-value) for the Bill in Winter Session of the
Parliament.
And BJP,
too, was not away. On day-2 of Anna Hazare’s fast, Leader of Opposition in
Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, wrote to Anna Hazare expressing party’s commitment
for the Lokpal Bill blaming the Congress party of diluting the Bill and
backtracking on its promise to pass the Bill.
The
Parliament is in session. All five days so far have been washed out. Issues
like Telangana, Communal Violence Bill and JPC report on 2G Spectrum Scam are expected
to maintain the logjam.
And anyway,
even if the Lokpal as proposed by the government is tabled in the Rajya Sabha,
it doesn’t ensure its passage. There are many bottleneck points where the political
parties still differ.
Also, the
government Lokpal, passed by the Lok Sabha in December 2011, if institutionalized,
is going to be a toothless entity, much different from the Jan Lokpal sought by
Anna Hazare and the activists from the civil society associated with it. True,
what is being sought by the civil society is not practical, but it is also equally
true that what is being given by the government, is nothing more than a
misleading exercise.
Politicians
don’t look to pass even this ‘diluted’ Bill. Sitting over it for two years,
after the high of the anti-corruption movement of 2011, from December 2011 to
December 2013, clearly tells of their intentions.
But what
makes it different this time is AAP’s brilliant but unexpected performance (for
the mainstream political parties) in Delhi elections, a clear message to the
political lot that public is looking for political change and is ready to
experiment.
It is true
the existing political lot is very thick-skinned but the timing of the next general
elections, due next April-May, also makes it difficult for them to ignore this
warning signal.
So, expect some
verbal exercises from them, looking sincere and working to present and pass the
Lokpal Bill in the ongoing session of the Parliament.
But, the
fight remains. Even if the government’s Lokpal is passed, the next stage of the
fight then will be to make it a ‘practically’ viable entity than can work
effectively to check and prevent corruption.
It was good
to see Arvind Kejriwal talking of supporting Anna’s movement during his victory
rally at Jantar Mantar in Delhi
©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/
