Stage Set for the D-Day

When India is experiencing inscrutable pain of endemic corruption in public life, the government's motive to reject a strong Lokpal Bill draft, as suggested by the civil society led by Anna Hazare, and hence table the sarkari version of the draft in the Parliament only vociferously corroborates to the fact that the UPA-II led government is sorely hoodwinking the public in the pretext of assuring a better anti-corruption draft, which, in actuality, is a bundle of safeguards for the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. The government's version of the draft precisely excludes PMO from the purview of Lokpal by suggesting a fundamentally flawed argument that if Lokpal indicts a PM in power, the functioning of the council of ministers under the leadership of PM could be an utter disastrous for the governance, which is arguably a deliberate attempt to protect the epicenter of corruption.

In last 64 years, we have noticed that how two prime ministers of the Congress party were being entangled into high level corruption and the citizens of India just turned mute spectators of political drama that entirely telescoped the people's mandate. There is nothing indispensable in this world. If certain political parties still assume that the governance at the Centre could take a toll post impeachment of PM, then there is certainly a vested party interest in restricting PM's inclusion in the Lokpal.

Similarly, excluding MP's activities in the Parliament from the ambit of Lokpal is a clear indication of providing immunity to the conduits of corruption in public office. It's no new phenomenon in Indian Parliament that horse trading and cash for question are a legitimate practice for many MPs. However, we still live in fool's paradise by providing immunity to MPs' actions in the Parliament.

Another point of conflict here is that when maximum corruption occurs at the lower rung bureaucracy, only including top bureaucrats, which is a 0.5% of the entire government officials, in the Lokpal is only an attempt to dilute the powers of a strong Lokpal. If we analyse the effectiveness of premier central socio-economic policies such as Jawahar Rozgar Yojana and NREGA at the state level, it would be quite oxymoron to exclude the lower bureaucracy from the purview of Lokpal.

And most ironically, government's proposal to provide legal assistance to the accused for hearing even before the official chargesheet is filed by the Lokpal is a gross contradiction of a sound anti-corruption bill. This will only create enormous problems for the whistle-blowers.

If after so much public outcry against corruption, the government still takes every measure to protect corrupt people in the system, it's better not to have a toothless Lokpal. And that certainly provides enough reason for Anna and his team to burn the Lokpal draft as a reflection of their annoyance against government's decision. The government should not read this public sentiment as a contempt of Parliament. Well, Anna's call for a country-wide protest against corruption starting from August 16 will certainly force this government to think twice before passing this bill and equally interesting is how the Opposition and other political parties are engaging themselves in the Parliament to hard bargain the points proposed by the civil society. The stage is all set for a high-decibel political drama. Let's wait and watch.

A Weak Lokpal Bill, Finally!

India's romance with systemic corruption is well documented and widely known amongst global communities. According to Transparency International's report, truckers in India alone pay annually US$5 billion in bribes, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. India ranks 87th position amongst 178 countries as per the Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. India tops the list for black money in the entire world with almost US$1456 billion in Swiss banks in the form of black money, and our politicians still believe that a strong Lokpal Bill is detrimental to the functioning of a Parliamentary democracy. Perhaps, on that sophisticated merit, the Cabinet deliberately selected the government's version of Lokpal Bill draft (to be tabled in the Parliament) in which both PM's office and judiciary will be beyond its purview. And the fun part is when the PM himself along with his four cabinet ministers – A K Anthony, Ambika Soni, Kapil Sibal, and Jairam Ramesh – argued in favour of inclusion of PM, the majority thinks otherwise.

What it precisely indicates that our cabinet has only five honest ministers including the PM who think that any rule however draconian has hardly any adverse impact on people those are thoroughly law-abiding. And that perception is justifiably true. If we look at these ministers only one thing that pops up in our mind that they are the reflection of propriety and integrity during a period of huge trust deficit. Not all people can shape themselves to a level of honesty as these five ministers have done in their public life. Well, the larger point here is what's the next course of action for the Lokpal Bill draft? Will that Bill be approved by a majority? The singular answer to that is “yes” because the majority of parliamentarians irrespective of party politics undoubtedly believe in corruption in public places and that's the reason why after 64 years of independence India is still struggling to pass out an anti-corruption bill.

Since Anna's team is not at all happy about the government's stand on Lokpal Bill draft, it's quite rational for Anna and his team along with thousands of citizens to come down to street on August 16 once again to show their solidarity against corruption. But the moot question is whether this government will listen to the coherent voice of citizens against corruption? I doubt this agitation will bring any change in the perception of government's stand again. What has been done is irreversible and can't repaired given the fact that the majority in the government desires a softer bill, not a draconian one what Anna's team perceives. If Anna goes on hunger strike on August 16, it will be another media circus. And this will lead to chaos and eventually the government will deploy its brutal force to disperse the crowd who in all probability would like to carry out peaceful protest against corruption. We must learn to live by the reality, not by the ideals.