CBI -- The joker in the pack

When we started covering the Lokpal Bill — and this was way before AD (Anna Domination) of the popular imagination, the only controversial aspect for us was whether the government was going to bring the prime minister’s office under the Lokpal. At that time, if someone had told me that the government would have no problems with it, that with certain riders like waiting till he finished office, they would be willing to have the  the top office open to scrutiny, I would have been surprised. But I would never have believed had they told me what was happening right now — that the government was willing to play ball on everything, but was hanging on to the Central Bureau of Investigation like it was its only child.

My feeling of incredulity is only because having covered it for a major part of my career, I never realised it meant so much to the entire establishment. A part of me always thought that covering the CBI was like covering a large police station and, being the aspirational climber that I am, I wanted to move on to bigger and more important beats like politics, security and maybe even the Prime Minister’s Office. But by Anna, I was wrong. It seems my beat is so important that the government is willing to let Anna fast in the cruel Delhi cold, just to keep its tentacles firmly around it.

It’s not just the Congress that feels this way. The Nationalist Congress Party, naturally allied in views with the Congress, also feels that the CBI should be under some government mechanism. You have parties outside the government, like the Samajwadi Party, whose leaders are suddenly very worried about the need for the CBI’s independence from the Lokpal. And no, it has nothing to do with the fact that their leaders have faced CBI probes of varying nature.

A lot of the argument that is being thrown around makes little sense to me. For instance, why is it that the panel of wise MPs led by a legal mind like Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, when defining the role of the CBI under the Lokpal, contradicts itself? It starts out by making it completely independent by saying, ‘The CBI shall not be answerable or liable to be monitored either by the administrative ministry or by the Lokpal’ but then just a page later, goes the opposite direction by adding ‘Charge sheet or closure report must be filed after approval by the Lokpal.’ Team Anna should definitely celebrate with that note — it means that when the Lokpal decides to have something probed, they can keep pushing the CBI till they’ve achieved their goal. And they probably wouldn’t have allowed the CBI to close cases like Quattrocchi and Bofors.

Nothing reveals the government’s desire to control an autonomous organisation more than the way they appoint the CBI director. At the moment, he is shortlisted by a board headed by all government appointees — the CVC, the home secretary, and various other members of the bureaucracy. And then the final word of the selection goes to the appointment committee of the Cabinet which has the prime minister, home minister and the minister in charge of the committee. The standing committee on Lokpal thought this was a wonderful system and should continue, but surprise, surprise, the CBI cried foul.

The government’s favourite child wants to be manipulated no more. Perhaps, the CBI no longer likes to be taunted as the Congress Bureau of Investigation and so is asking for a more transparent form of selection for its head — a committee that will have the prime minister, the leader of opposition and any other constitutional authority.

I’d like to think that the CBI has suddenly woken up and realised it is no longer an awkward adolescent and should have left home ages ago. That it was time to assert themselves, to seize this historic opportunity to become independent. After all, there have been too many humiliating incidents for the agency to ignore. Like when one director was retiring and the government had to choose his successor. The job was promised to his deputy and he was so close, that congratulations were already pouring in. But, the orders never came in even at the time of the farewell party. And, in a last minute decision, a surprise candidate was brought in. The newly-appointed director’s career highlight was that he had worked closely with Rajiv Gandhi during an SPG stint.

The CBI is working hard to galvanise opinion in favour of their independence. They’ve even met members of Anna Hazare’s gang. But will the government let go? No one’s counting on it.