Raising the pitch on his demand for the passage of a “strong, effective and independent” Lokpal Bill in the ongoing session of Parliament, social activist Anna Hazare, in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday, said if that did not happen he would go on an indefinite fast. He said he was willing to sacrifice his life for the “noble and important” cause.
“On your assurances that a strong and effective Lokpal Bill will be passed in the winter session of Parliament, we had postponed all our protests and agitations. But we have our doubts if the Bill will be passed before the session concludes,” he said, adding that he had given a call for “jail bharo andolan” (fill up jails agitation) from January 1.
On his return trip from Moscow, however, the Prime Minister scheduled a Cabinet meeting and expressed the hope that the Bill would come in Parliament on Monday for passage.
Expressing doubt whether the government would bring a “strong, effective and independent” Lokpal Bill, Mr. Hazare asked what the Lokpal would be without jurisdiction over the investigating agency (Central Bureau of Investigation), of which no government, whether of the Congress or the BJP, wanted to give up control.
“We had suggested that the anti-corruption wing of the CBI be brought under the Lokpal and made its investigating agency. [But] it looks like the government is not ready to accept this. In that case, it is better not to bring a Lokpal,” he said.
In his four-page letter, Mr. Hazare alleged that the government's behaviour was “not at all right” and asked why Dr. Singh had changed his stand on the Citizens' Charter despite giving a written assurance that it would be part of the Lokpal Bill.
“I was most surprised when you chaired a Cabinet meeting that passed a Bill on Citizen's Charter when Parliament had already passed a resolution saying it should be under the jurisdiction of the Lokpal. And now it is being sent to the Standing Committee, which will take another four months to make its recommendations. The people are being cheated and cheated,” the anti-corruption crusader said.
Mr. Hazare, however, expressed the hope that the Prime Minister would honour all assurances given on the Bill through the “sense of the House” resolution passed in Parliament in August and the subsequent letter written to him to give up his indefinite fast on the issue in August.
The resolution had said that the Citizens' Charter (for time-bound delivery of services) and the lower bureaucracy, through an appropriate mechanism and the establishment of Lokayuktas in States, would be within the ambit of the Lokpal Bill.
Observing that the suggestion of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel and Law for selection of the Lokpal was full of deficiencies, he said politicians, against whom the Lokpal had to investigate, had been given majority representation. In addition, there was no mention of a Search Committee, which meant that the Selection Committee could nominate anybody as Lokpal—obviously such a Lokpal may be “weak and corrupt.”
Describing the report as a “fraud on the country,” Mr. Hazare pointed out that ignoring Parliament's ‘sense of the House' resolution, Parliamentary Committee chairman Abhishek Singhvi had rejected two of the three proposals.
‘A string of betrayals'
Questioning the government's intentions and accusing it of perpetrating a “string of betrayals,” Mr. Hazare said the government representatives on the joint drafting panel had rejected all major suggestions of the civil society members. There too, the government went back on its assurance that both drafts — the civil society's Jan Lokpal Bill and the government's Lokpal Bill — would be put to the Cabinet for approval.
“If the government wanted to make its own Bill and get it approved then why did it make the pretence of setting up a joint drafting committee?” Mr. Hazare asked.
Meanwhile, advising Mr. Hazare to “have patience,” the Congress said the government would get the important legislation passed in Parliament “as early as possible.”
The All-India Milli Council sought reservation for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and minorities on the Lokpal.
