Politicians ganging up means death of Lokpal Bill

Politicians have joined hands, rather ganged-up, to frustrate the anti-corruption campaign. This was bound to happen. Those who are corrupt to the core are expected to resist a genuine accountability process. Politics is no longer a platform to serve; it has become a highly lucrative profession to make money; rather, an effective medium to siphon off public funds. The all-party meeting convened by prime minister Manmohan Singh to evolve a consensus on the Lokpal Bill eventually proved to be the most explicit expression of the political class and its determination to defeat the public demand for accountability.

The prime minister’s opening statement that the “Lokpal should not undermine the established parliamentary processes of enacting a law” let the cat out of the bag. By making such a statement, the PM cleverly hinted that the civil society movement for a strong Lokpal runs the risks of destabilising the parliamentary form of governance.

Ironically, Sushma Swaraj joined the RJD, BJD, JD(U) and the Samajwadi Party in making a frontal attack on the government for setting aside “constitutional and political processes” by “engaging with civil society first” for drafting the bill. The rustic Lalu Prasad of fodder scandal fame was handy with his advice that since Anna’s fast was “like an attempt to commit suicide, the government could force-feed him”. All this provides enough evidence about the ruling class’s thinking, particularly after the Ramlila maidan brutality.

Union minister Farooq Abdullah demanded: “Why didn’t the political parties tell Ramdev and Hazare to go to hell?” Leaving nothing to imagination, the ‘prodigal son of Kashmir’ announced that “everybody needs money” to contest elections. Since long, Kashmir has been made to suffer by the irresponsible behaviour of Farooq; if he has his way, the entire country may end up following Kashmir’s deadly path.

Ram Gopal Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav, and Farooq Abdullah coming to the rescue of the government may be comforting for the besieged Manmohan Singh, who like a Madame Tussauds’ wax statue, has started melting even before the political heat reaches melting point. The known lampoons of Indian politics affiliating themselves with the highly hyped ‘honest’ prime minister to derail the anti-corruption movement only indicates the levels to which politicians can stoop to protect their turf.

The coming together of politicians, including the communists who do not miss a chance to cultivate an image of ‘upright politicians’, is being described as an effort to frustrate the politics of blackmail by the ‘unelected’ and the ‘unelectable’. Granted that in a functional, transparent parliamentary democracy, unelected pressure groups with their politics of ‘blackmail’ and agitation trying to force their agenda, howsoever genuine, is akin to creating of a chaos. India, indeed, is a democracy.

But governments elected and removed at regular intervals do not ensure a transparent and accountable system in the country. The people are suffering immensely due to bad governance. Speedy delivery of justice has become almost impossible in India and inequity has increased manifold; the rich have become richer and the poor poorer. There is a vacuum in the society and the politician’s credibility has sunk to all-time low. They are solely to be blamed for such a botched state of affairs; not the groups pushing for a change.

The chaos, if any, is not due to the people aspiring for a change but because our politicians have repeatedly failed to deliver and make amends. Since the politicians have failed, it is obvious that even sham people will find an opportunity to exploit the situation.

The ruling class will have to answer why it succumbed before Anna Hazare and decided to frame a joint drafting committee involving the members of civil society? Is this consistent with established practice? And when the ‘lame duck’ prime minister decided to dispatch four senior ministers to the airport to have parleys with Ramdev, did not this act of flattery imperil the system? What’s more alarming, fed up with the dubious nature of present-day rulers, the people no longer desire a change of hands; they dream of a change of system.

The all-party meeting has agreed that “government should bring before the next session of Parliament a strong and effective Lokpal Bill following established procedures”. Yet, there is little hope that the Lokpal Bill, pending for the last 40 years - during which years the country was ruled by the Congress, BJP, and smaller, regional groups that were backed either by the RSS or the communists - becoming a reality. The way the politicians reacted in unison invokes little confidence that a “strong and effective” Lokpal Bill will ever be passed.

— The writer is a Srinagar-based columnist and political analyst