Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, replying to a debate in the Lok Sabha(House of the People), the lower House of the Indian Parliament, on August 25, on the issue of Anna Hazare's indefinite fast in support of his anti-corruption Jan Lokpal bill, expressed his deep sense of hurt over the senior BJP leader Dr Murli Manohar Joshi's "personal attack" on him "as if I am the foundtainhead of corruption". Since I did not listen to the live coverage of the debate, I am unable to comment on the actual contents and the context in which they were made. But my impresssion is that the opposition attack on the PM is generally confined to his dismal failure as the head of the UPA govt to provide a responsive, sensitive and competent governance, ensuring probity and incorruptability. Several scams have hit his govt over a few years, involving thousands of crores of public money; in each case, Dr Manmohan Singh was an indifferent, almost silent spectator, and not a prompt interventionist to stop the rot. No wonder, in the 2G spectrum allocation case and the CWG scandal, the accused, A.Rajan and Suresh Kalmadi, have claimed in the court that all their decisions had the approval of the PMO! The CBI(called by critics as the Congress Bureau of Investigation) and the Central govt took action against the culprits only after the opposition, media and public uproar-and, more importantly, the Supreme Court intervention.
In his August 25 address to the Lok Sabha, Dr Singh stated that "in the course of seven years as Prime Minister, I may have made mistakes. Who is above making mistakes? To err is human but to accuse me of evil intentions, of conniving at corruption, is a charge I firmly repudiate". Dr Singh might have had no "evil intentions" but there is no doubt that he was guilty of overlooking acts of criminality by his cabinet colleagues and other senior bureaucrats. Yes, "to err is human", but to err repeatedly is hardly human; it is criminal negligence.
Anna Hazare anti-corruption agitation captured nation-wide attention from early April, 2011, when thousands of young people responded to his call. The UPA govt after initial resistance and rejection, finally capitulated and agreed to form a Joint Drafting Committee(JDC), including Hazare and four of his associates to prepare an effective, strong draft Lokpal bill for submission to the Parliament. After two months of discussions in the JDC, between the govt ministers and the Hazare team, the government members and Congress spokesmen started ridiculing the civil society representatives as "unelected and unelectable tyrants" who were out to subvert democracy and the Parliament. They did not remember their commitment to draft a strong Jan Lokpal legislation. After prolonged dithering and no movement for four months and the 10th day of Anna Hazare's indefinite fast in protest against the govt's apathy and arrogance, the PM stated in his speech of August 25 in the Lok Sabha that he was worried about the 74-year-old Gandhian's health. Responding to the PM's "concern", Anna Hazare thanked him and the Parliament for their appreciation of his idealism. But, he added, why this "worry" after so long and without any sense of urgency to resolve the issue, and listen to the voices of the vast majority of the Indian people for a strong anti-corruption law? Delaying tactics were being used. There was no sign that a unanimous resolution would be adopted to discuss and accept his three minimum demands of having Lokayuts in the States, people's charter and lower bureaucracy to be covered by the bill. Finally, after several flip-flops, under the tremendous pressure of of the anti-corruption movement's vast nation-wide support, most opposition parties and even some Congressmen, the UPA govt. agreed to have an eight-hour debate in the Lok Sabha on August 27 which finally endorsed Anna Hazare's three points. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, as the leader of the House, replying to the debate, summed up the "sense" of the House as positive, in favour of Anna Hazare's demands. This was widely applauded by the thumping of the deks by the members in place of the voice vote. Later, the PM sent a letter to Hazare conveying the Parliament's consensus; the latter thanked the Parliament and all supporters for what he called "half victory" and broke his fast the next morning(August 29, around 10 am). Thus, the first chapter of this historic people's struggle for clean, honest, responsive government, has ended. Anna Hazare mentioned that struggle for reforms in electoral system, including Right to Recall, people's participation in law-making through their elected representatives, education, etc., will begin in the next phase.
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