There is an old saying in Hindi mythology "Vinash kale vipareet buddhi" which means when one's destruction nears he is guided by wrong intelligence. This seems to be the very scenario for the ruling Indian Congress Party (UPA) and its handling of the Anti-Corruption movement led by Anna Hazare and team.
After the first wave of Lokpal Bill movement in April 2011, the ruling UPA government felt the pressure was too intense and it was needed to show to the common man its intentions of fighting corruption and hence accepted to draft the Lokpal Bill which has been lying in the corridors of the Indian Parliament for the last four decades!! Like always, the government felt that this too was a passing phase and soon the steam related to the Lokpal bill would die down and government would come out with a weaker version of the Bill to appease the citizens and pat its back for having made an anti-corruption law. However little did they realise that times have changed and we Indians are not in an era of Roti-Kapda and Makan, but a much more enlightened society. Moreover the people leading from the front in the fight for Jan Lokpal Bill are no politicians whose motives end with the gain of publicity and votes. They are respected citizens of the country who have the least aspirations to be on the political list of any party.
With the failure of the government to pass a strong Jan Lokpal Bill, and Anna Hazare's decision to take on the government a second time, I think the stage is set for the final ouster of the ruling party in the next elections if not before that. The ruling party has lost its support of the citizens which is visible from Bangalore to Delhi and Mumbai to Kolkata. They hit the final nail on their coffin by making the silly mistake of arresting Anna Hazare and his team even before they could begin their fast and peaceful rally in the capital city of Delhi. This act highlighted the fear the government has with the success of the rally. My question is why is the government hesitating and so adamant on not allowing corrupt bureaucrats being investigated by an independent body like the Lokpal? What skeletons is it hiding in its cupboards that it is so scared of any investigation?
Surprisingly ruling party ministers come on television and talk about how the Jan Lokpal Bill is not the solution to corruption problems in the country. They don't realise that we too know its not the panacea for the corruption problem, but then as of now we do not have a better alternative and neither do these so called elected ministers have an alternative other than just degrading the Jan Lokpal Bill. Below I have summarised the difference between the Jan Lokpal Bill and the Draft Bill as recommended by the government of India.
| Draft Lokpal Bill (2010) | Jan Lokpal Bill |
|---|---|
| Lokpal does not have powers to investigate the prime minister. | Lokpal will have the powers to investigate the prime minister. |
| Lokpal can only probe complaints approved by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. | Lokpal will have powers to initiate suo moto action or receive complaints of corruption from any citizen if it deems it worthy. |
| Lokpal will only be an Advisory Body with a role limited to forwarding reports to a "Competent Authority". | Lokpal will have the power to initiate prosecution of anyone found guilty. |
| Lokpal will have no police powers and no ability to register a First Information Report (FIR) or proceed with criminal investigations. | Lokpal will have police powers as well as the ability to register FIRs. |
| The CBI and Lokpal will be unconnected. | Lokpal and the anti corruption wing of the CBI will be one independent body. |
| Punishment for corruption will be a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of up to 7 years. | Punishments will be a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of up to life imprisonment. |
I guess its just a matter of time before the ruling government realises that no one is bigger than the citizens who have elected them and whom they are ruling in a democracy. We are no dictator-run country like Eqypt, Libya or Iraq where there would be civil uprising and riots on the streets. We have a much powerful tool of non-violence patronised by The Father of our nation and we shall surely achieve our goals this time too though a little later because of the quantum of money involved and the level of people who would be under investigation once the bill comes into play.
No comments:
Post a Comment