Edit: Lokpal bill, an exercise in political chicanery

Predictably, the so-called debate in Parliament on the Lokpal Bill turned out to be an exercise in political chicanery on all sides. The government brought in so many controversial provisions that they were bound to touch a raw nerve in one party or the other, and there would never have been time enough to thrash out the differences on these, although it is doubtful that our parliamentarians are serious about putting in place more effective deterrents to corruption.

Trinamool’s invocation of the fig leaf of federalism, in cahoots with the opposition, to demand removal of the Lokayukta clause, shows that it is not just the Congress that stands in the way of empowering anti-corruption bodies.

The BJP lined up so many speakers with such long, protracted arguments that to now claim that the government alone choreographed the proceedings to ensure there would be no time to put the bill to a vote is stretching our credulity. The party finds itself in the happy position of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds; it can keep arguing about one provision or another in the Lokpal Bill and then hold press conferences to say that the Congress is blocking it.

Outside Parliament, too, the increasingly political tone of the Anna camp is making a lot of people wonder how far its campaign is driven by a genuine desire for citizens to collaborate with elected representatives in order to make our public institutions more accountable. Perhaps that is at least partly why there was such a lukewarm response to Anna’s fast in Mumbai this week. For ordinary citizens, to see the issue of corruption become a cynical tool for party politics is like rubbing salt on their wounds.