- Anil Narendra
This day will be remembered as a red letter day in the history of India, as both the houses of the Parliament unanimously declared their resolve to enact the Lokpal Bill, which had evaded enactment for last 43 years. The credit for this revolutionary achievement goes to the movement led by a 74 years old Gandhian, who caused the people of the Nation to rise against the monster of corruption.
Ideological differences between the government and the leaders of the movement were mounting. The government had resorted to every tactic to prove that it was a meaningless and uncalled for movement and for this it gave all sorts of arguments based on constitutional, democratic and parliamentary procedural provisions, but ultimately it had to bow before the wishes of the public of the nation.
In fact, when all the policies of the government failed, it felt that it is being weighed down by public sentiments and it started back channel dialogue and felt that political issues can only be settled politically. That is why, for adopting indifferent attitude two advocate ministers were sidelined and the responsibility of dealing with the movement and its leaders was entrusted to politically matured Pranab Mukherjee, who roped in the senior BJP leader LK Advani in his endeavour. Law and Justice Minister was also there to assist him. Mr Salman Khursheed also associated Sandeep Dikshit, a Member of Parliament with this mission. The need for a dialogue was being felt by both the sides. Meanwhile, an important incident took place. The Team Anna met senior BJP leaders at the residence of Mr Advani on Thursday night. The BJP leaders sought clarifications on certain points, especially on keeping the judiciary out of the purview of Lokpal and Lokpal's non-interference in the conduct of members of Parliament inside the House, on which they were not in agreement with Team Anna.
Team Anna agreed to both the proposals for amendments. Thereafter, BJP came out in open support of the Lokpal Bill of Anna Hazare. This changed the situation. The government was frightened and realized that it has no option but to bow down before it and accept all the proposals put forth by Anna. The situation took an unpleasant turn on Friday, when Rahul Gandhi called Anna's movement totally undemocratic, but it was the prudence of Pranab Babu which saved the situation. Anna has put forward three conditions for a strong Lokpal Bill, namely first, appointment of Lokpal in the Centre and Lokayuktas in States; second, all personnel right from Cabinet Secretary to the accountant be brought under the ambit of Lokpal; and third, citizen charters be prepared.
On Friday itself, the BJP openly said that it would debate on the Bill and it will base its arguments on Anna's Jan Lokpal Bill and it did so. Ms Sushma Swaraj in Lok Sabha and Mr Arun Jaitley in Rajya Sabha, not only fully supported all the three conditions of Anna, but also sharpened all the points raised in Jan Lokpal Bill. The situation had changed altogether. In view of such an attitude of the Opposition, the Congress dared not to oppose the move and next moment Anna was the central to the discussions in both the Houses of Parliament. While underlining the supremacy of Parliament, Ms Sushma in Lok Sabha and MrJaitley in Rajya Sabha also accused all the governments so far, for not getting the Lokpal Bill passed during last 43 years, even after being presented in the Parliament nine times. They also took responsibility of their governments' failures. After the discussions, Mr Pranab Mukherjee reiterated that we had lost the opportunity though we got it nine times. Thus, on one hand the Parliament advised its members for introspection, while members of Team Anna apologized number of times on Saturday that their stage was used to abuse members of Parliament. In any case, the nation has once again established itself as the most vast and vibrant democracy of the world and proved that agreement within dissent, agreement within discord and unanimity within diversities is the unique feature of Indian democracy and this is the greatness of our democracy. Team Anna must be congratulated for the great service they have rendered in awakening this country against corruption, on the other hand, the government and the Parliament too, must also be praised for the resolve they have expressed against corruption. Let us hope that a job pending in the country since 1968 would be completed soon and we would get a new institution of Lokpal.
Anil Narendra, Anna Hazare, Daily Pratap, Lokpal Bill, Parliament, Vir Arjun
Ideological differences between the government and the leaders of the movement were mounting. The government had resorted to every tactic to prove that it was a meaningless and uncalled for movement and for this it gave all sorts of arguments based on constitutional, democratic and parliamentary procedural provisions, but ultimately it had to bow before the wishes of the public of the nation.
In fact, when all the policies of the government failed, it felt that it is being weighed down by public sentiments and it started back channel dialogue and felt that political issues can only be settled politically. That is why, for adopting indifferent attitude two advocate ministers were sidelined and the responsibility of dealing with the movement and its leaders was entrusted to politically matured Pranab Mukherjee, who roped in the senior BJP leader LK Advani in his endeavour. Law and Justice Minister was also there to assist him. Mr Salman Khursheed also associated Sandeep Dikshit, a Member of Parliament with this mission. The need for a dialogue was being felt by both the sides. Meanwhile, an important incident took place. The Team Anna met senior BJP leaders at the residence of Mr Advani on Thursday night. The BJP leaders sought clarifications on certain points, especially on keeping the judiciary out of the purview of Lokpal and Lokpal's non-interference in the conduct of members of Parliament inside the House, on which they were not in agreement with Team Anna.
Team Anna agreed to both the proposals for amendments. Thereafter, BJP came out in open support of the Lokpal Bill of Anna Hazare. This changed the situation. The government was frightened and realized that it has no option but to bow down before it and accept all the proposals put forth by Anna. The situation took an unpleasant turn on Friday, when Rahul Gandhi called Anna's movement totally undemocratic, but it was the prudence of Pranab Babu which saved the situation. Anna has put forward three conditions for a strong Lokpal Bill, namely first, appointment of Lokpal in the Centre and Lokayuktas in States; second, all personnel right from Cabinet Secretary to the accountant be brought under the ambit of Lokpal; and third, citizen charters be prepared.
On Friday itself, the BJP openly said that it would debate on the Bill and it will base its arguments on Anna's Jan Lokpal Bill and it did so. Ms Sushma Swaraj in Lok Sabha and Mr Arun Jaitley in Rajya Sabha, not only fully supported all the three conditions of Anna, but also sharpened all the points raised in Jan Lokpal Bill. The situation had changed altogether. In view of such an attitude of the Opposition, the Congress dared not to oppose the move and next moment Anna was the central to the discussions in both the Houses of Parliament. While underlining the supremacy of Parliament, Ms Sushma in Lok Sabha and MrJaitley in Rajya Sabha also accused all the governments so far, for not getting the Lokpal Bill passed during last 43 years, even after being presented in the Parliament nine times. They also took responsibility of their governments' failures. After the discussions, Mr Pranab Mukherjee reiterated that we had lost the opportunity though we got it nine times. Thus, on one hand the Parliament advised its members for introspection, while members of Team Anna apologized number of times on Saturday that their stage was used to abuse members of Parliament. In any case, the nation has once again established itself as the most vast and vibrant democracy of the world and proved that agreement within dissent, agreement within discord and unanimity within diversities is the unique feature of Indian democracy and this is the greatness of our democracy. Team Anna must be congratulated for the great service they have rendered in awakening this country against corruption, on the other hand, the government and the Parliament too, must also be praised for the resolve they have expressed against corruption. Let us hope that a job pending in the country since 1968 would be completed soon and we would get a new institution of Lokpal.
Anil Narendra, Anna Hazare, Daily Pratap, Lokpal Bill, Parliament, Vir Arjun
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