Has 'Chhote Nawab' lost out by missing the Lokpal bus?

It is a matter of no small credit that Team Anna has been able to fiercely engage the Congress-led UPA-II government on the contentious Jan Lokpal bill issue for almost a year now.

Even the strongest opponents of Anna Hazare will concede that no group within or outside civil society has been able to confront the collective might of the Congress and its allies in a manner in which Team Anna has.

Since April 5, when Anna embarked on his first fast on the Jan Lokpal movement, Team Manmohan has tried to use its best brains to frustrate the movement one way or the other. After the government agreed to involve the members of civil society in the joint committee to draft the Lokpal bill, the talks broke down and Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal proceeded to prepare the government’s version of the bill.

This draft was approved by the Union cabinet on July 28, but rejected by Team Anna as extremely weak. Anna proceeded on his second fast on August 16, when the Delhi police arrested him in a ham-handed manner and took him to Tihar Jail. Recall the back-and-forth drama that was captured eloquently on television news after Anna began his fast on August 18 and ended it after 12 days.

This fast ended after a Sense of the House resolution in Parliament accepted “in principle” the demand for a Citizens’ Charter, inclusion of lower bureaucracy under the Lokpal through appropriate mechanism and establishment of Lokayuktas in the state.

The bill was then taken up for review by the parliamentary standing committee chaired by the erudite Congressman and senior Supreme Court counsel, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who promised on television, “Give us a chance. Maybe we’ll surprise everyone and come out with a stronger Lokpal than what has been proposed…”

Amidst all this were the spirited campaigns against each member of Team Anna — starting with Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari calling Anna “a corrupt man from tip to toe”, and then apologising for his remarks; Digvijay Singh sniping at Anna’s RSS links from time to time; Shanti and Prashant Bhushan being hounded with a doctored CD and allegations of a land scam; Arvind Kejriwal being targeted by the income tax department on unpaid dues; and the air tickets scam embroiling Kiran Bedi, which sticks.

There was more. Anna’s blog administrator, Raju Parulekar, exposed his corrupt ethics by using Anna’s blog to attack his team; Swami Agnivesh stood exposed as a double-crosser; and then there was the controversy over Anna’s misplaced remarks on the Sharad Pawar slapping incident. Such is the extreme sense of frustration over corruption by politicians that the people actually didn’t mind that remark from Anna.

As things stand today, Team Anna is back on its feet with virtually the same strength. The Lokpal logjam is centred on bringing the CBI’s investigative wing under the Lokpal. This is the biggest stumbling block for the government, as no political party today would want an independent CBI to come after their leaders. At least two former directors of the CBI, RK Raghavan and Joginder Singh, have publicly acknowledged that the CBI has been manipulated by reigning governments from time to time.

The next flashpoint is around Anna’s December 27 fast, even as prime minister Singh has promised a strong Lokpal bill in the current winter session of Parliament. Emboldened by better living standards and greater self-confidence, the Indian middle class is in no mood to forgive politicians on the issue of corruption. This is the force that is fuelling Anna and repeatedly forcing Team Manmohan on the back foot.

Soon after he took over as prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi’s clean and youthful image had roused the promise of a new beginning.

He not only initiated the IT and Telecom revolutions with Sam Pitroda, but also famously spoke of how just a fraction of the funds released by the Centre trickled down to the villages due to corruption in the system. Without the benefit of his father’s shoes, Rahul Gandhi is speaking the same language when he talks of corruption in Mayawati’s Uttar Pradesh.

Had Rahul Gandhi read the people’s pulse correctly, he would have taken Anna’s cause further and won the respect of the nation’s youth, who today are with Anna and not with him. Sadly for the Chhote Nawab, he seems to have missed the bus, as the Lokpal issue awaits its decisive finale.