Kill Bill: How our MPs’ praise for the Lokpal killed it
Mahesh Vijapurkar 36 mins agoAs a class, politicians did not want a Lokpal, now or ever.
The proceedings in Parliament last Thursday now confirm what was suspected despite the pressure borne on them by Team Anna and civil society.
And, in the process of scuttling it, they brought Parliament into disrepute, forcing Hamid Ansari, Vice-President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, to say in utter disgust at the end of the debate that if this was how a constitutional institution behaved, “then let us go home.”
Of course, Parliament was not at fault, the politicians who constituted it were.
There has been a method in MPs’ madness which was mistaken for politics. It was misunderstood that all politicians were debating the Lokpal Bill, as enacted by the Lok Sabha, and awaiting its ratification in the Upper House. They were actually ensuring its death.
As a class, politicians did not want a Lokpal, now or ever. PTI
The gameplan was to ensure that no Lokpal was given birth to. If it came to be, by a stroke of ill-luck, then it would have meant a future where they would be under more purposeful scrutiny and called to account. Who would want to jeopardise the gravy train that most politicians have been used to? Earlier, it came as a perk; now it comes as a given.
A caveat here: there are good politicians and bad. The bad are the ones who are corrupt, who would like to use public resources for private purposes. This lament is about the latter.
To start with, we as citizens assumed that the good ones were numerically larger than the latter. Hence the former would force the bad ones to commit hara-kiri. However, the political class as an entity proved that the country’s interests were not above their own. Recall all lobby reports from Parliament in the media which, in substance, said that most MPs don’t want such a law. We all know why.
The refusal to have an institution in place that would probe corruption and punish the guilty has been in the air for 43 years. Lokpal has been brought to Parliament for enactment time and again, and thwarted each time.
In what must be a paradox, none of our parliamentarians ever suggested that corruption was not a problem. Even this time, without exception, those who got to speak in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha did not shy away from admitting that corruption was deep-rooted and widespread. All of them spoke of how badly we needed an effective Lokpal.
They spoke with passion. They marshalled all arguments. But going by the Opposition stand, it was all the government’s fault for bringing in a poorly-crafted Lokpal. If one were to hear the arguments on the treasury benches, all the mischief was done by the Opposition.
Watching the debates in both houses over last week, it was apparent that the purpose was, firstly, to score debating points and then quietly ensure that the bill did not pass. If it did – there was only an outside chance of it – it had better be weak.
The demands of Anna Hazare and his team for more powers to the Lokpal were cleverly used by the government to appear as if it was giving most of what they wanted, when what it gave was unworkable. The idea: if it did not work, the government could always say, sorry, we did our best.
The Opposition has now worked out its own alibi. They can strut about till election 2014, and also parade themselves in the forthcoming assembly elections, claiming they wanted to give us a better Lokpal than what the government intended. Hence the government itself was the fly in the ointment. Too bad our best efforts did not work. So, don’t blame us.
So the charade has been enacted well. Going by what Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pawan Kumar Bansal said, there could be a redux in the next session when the Lokpal Bill will surface again – possibly with some amendments. You may as well guess what the agenda then could be. It all depends on how badly the political class is mauled in the polls in five states, including Uttar Pradesh, where Rahul Gandhi will be tested like never before.
Good law or bad law, ultimately it is rooted in politics.
Lokpal Bill: Why Anna Hazare flopped & what it means
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- Comments (33)
Biggest reasons for Anna's flop show are a) Team Anna partly lost relevance to many by becoming politically biased b) becomming inflexible on issues impractical to implement in the Jan Lokpal bill, and c) loud display or arrogance. Anna's movement started as a non-political movement and enjoyed support from all sections of society who want an end to corruption. However as time went by Anna turned fully anti-Congress and therefore lost the support of all people who believe in Congress. Team Anna forgot that barring a few abberations, the Nation has overwhelmingly elected Congress for most of the last 65 years and still enjoys support from a considertable population. Second, rather than purge his own Team on clear evidence of corruption by them, Anna took a holier than thou approach which is absolutely arrogant. Their retotric sounded as if Congress had fudged the travel bills for Bedi, or Congress was forcing Kejriwal to pay back dues that he did not owe or it was by devine intervention and not corruption that the Bushan father & son got farm houses in Noida at throw away prices. More importantly they were married to their own impractical ideas like taking away the constitutional protection given to MPs, or creating a huge new beaurocracy to handle corrpution by Class C & D Govt employees across India. Sad as it may be that people gave a cold shoulder to Anna - it proves that is easy to get into leadership position but to maintain public leadership requries leadership mettle.
i am not agree with you.Because,problem remains in our thinking.
People got tired of Team Anna as they were getting too political by targeting the Congress Party only,what did the BJP do when it was in power? Nothing,they knew that by delaying tactics the bill would not pass in any form or shape as without support from Mamata's Trinamool Congress the UPA Govt.will not be able to carry the bill forward and time will run out.The Anna Team should have accepted the bill even in a weak form & agitated for stronger Amendments later.
The problem I have is what if due to this BSP or SP wins in U.P. they have already looted the state and now UP is probably last in any development. The stupidity by Team Anna will spoil UP big time. As far as BJP is concerned, my area MP is dr Murli Manohar Joshi since past 10 or 15 years ( BJP guy) and the only thing that has happened in area is probably his development. Now tomorrow just bcos of T.A, this guy will make fake promise and come back what will happen then. My problem T.A going this route is they are giving unfair advantage to lot of political parties who have more criminals and anti-social elements. Mayawati is already playing his cards by sacking MLAs on different corruption charges but she has also been part of it. What Team Anna will do may spoil future hopes of UP DEVELOPMENT. ALL UP MAY HAVE WILL BE AMBEDKAR PARKS And statues(no real development). Team Anna should grow-up and understand what kind of impact they may have in such areas
The problem I have is what if due to this BSP or SP wins in U.P. they have already looted the state and now UP is probably last in any development. The stupidity by Team Anna will spoil UP big time. As far as BJP is concerned, my area MP is dr Murli Manohar Joshi since past 10 or 15 years ( BJP guy) and the only thing that has happened in area is probably his development. Now tomorrow just bcos of T.A, this guy will make fake promise and come back what will happen then. My problem T.A going this route is they are giving unfair advantage to lot of political parties who have more criminals and anti-social elements. Mayawati is already playing his cards by sacking MLAs on different corruption charges but she has also been part of it. What Team Anna will do may spoil future hopes of UP DEVELOPMENT. ALL UP MAY HAVE WILL BE AMBEDKAR PARKS And statues(no real development). Team Anna should grow-up and understand what kind of impact they may have in such areas
Hi All, It is unfair to target a single party(Congress) in this issue. First we should understand where the other parties stand in this issue. Apart from congress other parties are also playing dirty politics here, especially BJP. Don't think i am favouring a particularly party. Team Anna first study each and every MP stand on this and how they are working. Based on that you can go to public to speak against them. It's my humble request to you Annaji not to go against a single party and make aware the general public about the clauses & amendments.
Targetting the congress, is only because if they wish the Jan Lok Pal can be passed.
My dear friend, First understand this Bill can't be passed if congress alone wishes. It is the collective effort to be made by MP's, the bill can be passed only if they get a majority 50%. i am not sure how many people have watched the discussion in Parliament, if you just see few parties are going out without participating and few of them oppose for various clause & amendments. If there is such a situation exist do you think targeting a single party is fair? My humble request to Annaji and his team to make aware of the clause & amendment to the general public first. Even an Uneducated needs to speak about the clauses in his regional language, Den i am sure there can be strong lokpal bill.
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I supported Team Anna earlier but not now due to following: 1. It seems to me their movement is political than social now ( Kiran bedi's statement today Arvind Kejriwal's statement earlier all point to Congress but none other party, even though they know the facts. 2. I don't think they share all the right facts with common man like in all other countries where ombudsman law is present investigative agency reports to parliament 3. I think Team Anna feels that Lokpal is one bullet solution and they want to ensure he becomes so powerful. The point which I think Team Anna is missing what if Lokayukat becomes corrupt. What will happen then. The other important point is corruption at different levels are due to different reasons. Therefore we need different mechanism to curb this. LAST AND MOST IMPORTANT, THE PROBLEM IN OUR COUNTRY IS NOT LAW BUT EXECUTION. I BELIEVE WHAT WE NEED IS TRANSPARENCY. WE SHOUL LEVERAGING IT TO BRING MORE AND MORE TRANSPARENCY , it will not only bring corruption under check but also make ppl well informed to take right decisions
Erlier the agitation was againest curreprion and it was not againest to any politicle party.every one agreed for this. now agitataion turned around the congress beacuse. 1. Govt is not ready to put strong bill on the table since its having high pressure from there own currupt Mps and MLAs so they came with phoney bill. 2. when India raised voice againest curruption the govt itself wanted to curb the Voice by all possible means. even it thretened Team Anna by give useless statements and palying dirty tricks. now they have digged there owns pits and they will jump into it. no need any Campaign againest them.
Hazara group should keep away from this corrupted elections as Anna says. One side they are saying reforms in the elections system and other side going election platform and campaigning against congress. I strongly agree with the opinion expressed by Anil. He must realise the intention of other members in his group.Credibility of this movement will loose if they take double standard.
The movement against corruption is for the people and has to be by the people but in India poor people are living in so much miserable condition that they do not even have the level of thinking as to understand how corruption is affecting them, they are rather retired to faith. The money power can bring them to any venue no matter what ever be the purpose. And that has happened in Mumbai . . Anna should not fail because that will be our failure- ensuing of a national disaster . He should continue the fight now more direct for the desired result...All aged political parties have evolved into the same character. They are all in a vicious circle..they can not get out even some one wanted to..Need help from leaders like Anna to get them out of the vicious circle..
First of all, Anna didn't flop. The agitation this time was not successful because they chose the wrong place - Mumbai. But I think Team Anna should forget the recent past and focus on the next step. I think they should concentrate only on the loopholes in the present govt. lokpal bill and try to drive that message to people. Also, Campaigning against Congress in the upcoming election is crucial to put pressure on politicians.
if anna goes to polls campaigning against a single party, ie., congress, he will be taught a lesson again. all parties are equally responsible for this. anna and his team must realize this. but the won't.
pallu van, Congress cleverly played politics to subdue team Anna. It is matter of realization and teach Congress a lesson
Only die-hard opponents of Anna Hazare will brand the Janlokpal movement as flop. It is just the beginning of a long fight. Not even the most optimist expected that the politicians will that easily allow the institution of Lokpal to be created. Remember Gandhi had to take too many fasts and yatras before independence could be gained from the British.
Why a good media like Eco Times entertaining armchair third rate journalists like SAUBHIK CHAKRABARTI, into writing the inefficacy of Anna ? Can this journalist bring at least ten supporters to bring support against corruption ? Articles like these throw Economic Times into poor light. SACK THIS GUY, ECO TIMES !!!
This was something which was quite expected from the very beginning, for anyone who is willing to look into the whole 'Team Hazare episode' impartially. It's of course true that majority of people in this country (any where in the world) wants to see them against Corruption and is the simple reason that this movement drawing huge crowds initially.But keeping this 'Emotional' aspect outside for a moment makes it's quite obvious (or atleast doubt) that Team Hazare's intention was Not just a'fight against corruption' but something else - ' a hidden agenda' ?And to justify this 'hidden agenda theory', there were PLENTY of leads from the Organizers of this movement itself viz; as thought It appeared that, they were about to Eliminate this 'cancer' from the society in a matter of days, if their draft of bill was accepted. In thisprocess, they were NOT Flexible enough to accomodate even the valid & more practical views of other members of the Civil Society. They should've understood that, however good their draft,it was ONLY through Parliamenterians that it could be translated into law particularly the Govt. of the day. But they did the opposite by spitting venom against the Govt. even against the Senior functionaries including the PM-who is well known for his high moral integrity& the Party in Power. Now it's CLEAR that ALL parties incl.BJP are against LokPal in the State level-whch is worst than the Cong. stand. Hence this 'Natural death' for this movement-Thanks to Kejriwal&Co
The question is not whether he will flop or not but he has to criticise BJP,BSP,SP,also along with CONG to show his true intentions otherwise people will feel he is speaking for BJP , NOT FOR REAL CAUSE. PROBLEM IS NOT CONG ,it system from which every ruling party take advantage when in power and critise others when in opposition
I like some of the statements 'Are in logon ki ichha hi nahi hai'. The people involved with the corruption are happy today to see poor turnouts. Why this time people have not gathered is because of sentiments or event. We indians are dumb we need events to act we are not proactive... terrorist attack and media will run here and there and ask questions now are you questioning what happened to security is there a revisit the answer is no. Lakhs will flock with candles after an event and think that they have done their duties. Next day forgotten. There has to be a burning desire to erradicate something. Does anyone ask are cameras fitted in Delhi court today is cctv functioning at zaveri bazar is survelliance being done. Media thinks it has got the right to question. But do they think before asking question :)... I sometimes see very opinionated answers and articles.. and the reason i blame or reporters or people who write these articles they are scientists they definitely do not have the best brains. If they think that we were waiting for loksabha or rajyasabha to discuss ... hahaha you know the kid in the alley will tell you that ye log nalayak hai aur wo kuch nahi karenge... So dont act... any donkey would bray and say that bill will get passed in the loksabha ... but media puts a question as if its a big secret (Will the govt be able to pass the bill ? ) Yesterday it was clearly choreographed Rajyasabha a walk out and today you write a huge article... what nonsense....
I think that Mr. Anna Hazare is making too much pressure on government for Lokpal while our government is trying to remove corruption from their own side. Corruption is not only our country's problem but others' too. As we can see that with the advancment of technology transparency in our work is on progress so it is just matter of time when corruption will be minimum everywhere.
According to me, Anna should have called for the protest once the Parliament completed the duty of passing this critical bill. It is too early to comment on the details stated in the bill and to calling for the protest on those grounds. Even the opposition and coalition parties have dissent opinions on each clause of the bill. Anna has to target the other political parties as well those who are not supporting Strong Lok Pal. For example, Mamta Banerjee CM of West Begal, She does want to incorporate Lokayukta Corruption Wing for the statelevel at this Bill. It is explicitly visible that State parties agree for the Corruption control only at National Level not at the state level. They are showing as if States are very clean and all the corruption happens only at National Level.On top ,State parties feel that this bill will encroach their powers. This is the fate of the indian democracy. If Government does not have adequate majority members in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha , No new rule can be passed out. This is going to be an never ending dicussion in Indian History.
i strongly agree to your statement sir ..even if congress take step ahead to make a lokpal ...other parties will never take stand on it. this is dirty politics to generate votes.this is going to be a never ending discussion .
Fellow citizens lets not think that Anna Team got defeated or disheartened, as this would be a SHAME on ourselves. We seem to be NO we would be CALLED SELFISH IF WE WALK AWAY LEAVING ANNA'S TEAM EFFORTS WHICH HAVE RESULTED IN THE CURRENT DEBATES ON LOKPAL BILL IN THE PARLIAMENT. IF THE PARTIES ARE GOING TO SEE TO THAT NEITHER LOKPAL OR LOKAYUKTAS AT STATES COME UP DUE TO THIS STALEMATE IN THE PARLIAMENT, THEN THE PUBLIC IS THE LOOSER - THE WINNER WOULD BE THESE RASCALS WHO COULD STALL THE PROCESS OF ANTI CORRUPTION BODY BECOMING A LAW. HAVE YOU ALL THOUGHT OF THESE CONSEQUENCES?? DONT BE AN IDIOT OR STUPID PERSON TO LEAVE THIS FIGHT HERE. IF NOT YOU & I WILL BE SEEING OUR NEXT GEN TAKING UP LAW INTO THEIR HANDS TO SORT OUT THESE RASCALS WHO ARE LIVING ON OUR HARD EARNED MONEY - ON WHICH WE SPILL OUR SWEAT & BLOOD. THE NEXT GEN WILL COLLECT THESE PAYMENTS DUE FROM THE POLITICAL RASCALS. LETS INCREASE OUR EFFORTS TO GET THE LOKPAL MADE INTO A LAW WITH STRENGTHS SO THAT OUR NEXT GEN CAN PROGRESS FURTHER THAN US.
Who writes in all Caps? I stopped reading on 4th line.. childish!!
the real reason is there was no suspense in entire show unlike ramlila ground when it was upto death, now it was clear it is against congress not against bjp or bsp or any other party . they are equaly responcible for this mess
Details is one part and people also were tired. One can find some analogy with the movie Braveheart - where all nobles deserted William Wallace to join hands with the King. However it was the fall of William Wallace that brought people together again. I wish this agitation breaking down this way makes some people realize that this is our once chance and we should not loose it at any cost.
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ET, finally, you realized the Media propelled, Oops, complicated process of changing social mores. Religious beliefs have not changed for thousands of years. Most elegantly stated, with the tremendous progress in (general) education levels, since the independence, the kind of education which makes a person thinks for themselves, take objective views, instead of purely subjective and dogmatic views imbedded, Oops, programed by the family, caste and little to big gurus running that scandalous affair, called religion, say Hindu for practical purposes. It equally applies to Muslim, Christian and Buddhism as well.
Strange as it may sound, people are still bound by the fear of the unknown. Superstition, still exists among the class, who have come up in society by their education levels, industry and high socio-political positions.
For instance, a very popular lower caste chief minister of Karnataka, B S Yeddyurappa's sudden and spectacular rise in politics is due to his well planned grass roots campaign against social and political malaise in Karnataka. being trained, guided and controlled by Hindu, aka Brahmin mafia, RSS he made fewer mistakes. As a lower level Pracharak, he showed some bravery, one track mind and sincerity of purpose.
Later, when RSS' illegitimate baby, BJP, took over his future management, the smart boy fell thru the (political) cracks. He reverted back to caste politics, superstitious persona, temple hopping He lived as a sloganeer but died in details.
...and I am Sid Harth@sidileak.com
Comments & Analysis
Lokpal Bill: Why Anna Hazare flopped & what it means
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- Comments (33)
The commentariat's verdict on Anna Hazare's severely underwhelming Mumbai venture is that with Parliament seized of the Lokpal issue, people made the right call. There's some amount of fantasy in that argument. The fantasy is to assume that those people who had come out for Anna in August were simply waiting for the proper forum to take up the matter.
But those who went to Ramlila or to Azad Maidan or elsewhere in August were, for the most part, not there for Lokpal per se. They were there because they thought something could finally be done about corruption.
In Mumbai in December, Team Anna's agenda was somewhat different - we want our kind of Lokpal, that's what they principally said. When the agenda changed from the broad, easily digestible slogan of anti-corruption to narrow, legalistic debate on Group C/D government employees and CBI functioning, upping the emotional tempo was always going to be difficult.
Not even in Ramlila, not even with (as has been alleged) "outside help", could Team Anna have got most of their August supporters to come back in December. That would have been true even if Delhi was having a mild winter - because even in a warmish winter, it's tough to attract crowds on the basis of bitter debates on clauses of a bill.
That's the principal reason the Anna's Mumbai show looked so forlorn. The event would have lacked drama even if it hadn't coincided with Parliament's session. True, the coincidence didn't help Anna. But the absence of it wouldn't have really changed his Mumbai experience. Anna's strategists didn't think of something politicians always do - never get into the details. We critique politicians all the time for making things simplistic.
But they are in the business of courting public approbation and they know the devil of losing people's attention is in the details. This is not such a bad thing as it sounds, of course. Democracies everywhere have different forums for slogans and details. Legislatures can and do deal with both. Courts - with some scary exceptions - deal with the second. Protest meetings can be organised only around the first.
In fact, and interestingly, Team Anna's focus on details stands in contrast with many other civil society-type/radical protests. When Arundhati Roy finds beauty in an armed Maoist and when she says India is Hindu-corporatist-something-something state and the state is selling people out via MoUs with big companies, she isn't interested in details - she's offering us the slogans. If Arundhati Roy were to analyse the new mining bill - she's smart, she doubtless can - she won't be half a radical star as she's now.
Similarly, those who organise movements against GM crops or industrial projects are chary of a debate on the minutiae. Many of them are perfectly capable of debating details, but they don't organise their movements around that theme.
But could Team Anna have done things differently? Probably not, and that's the other problem it had. Once its first mission - getting the political class to take up the Lokpal issue - succeeded, it could have only agitated on details, especially since the slogan of poll reforms didn't get anyone excited.
If that's the explanation for what happened this week, what are the implications? They are not bad at all, from general welfare point of view.
Team Anna deserved to be pegged down. There were plenty of odd things about the team from the beginning, and there was no question ever, even in the minds of those sensible people who felt the political class needed a bit of a scare, that Kejriwal and Co. could run a permanent Occupy Governance campaign.
Now, Anna can possibly only find meaning via poll campaigns. There, he and his strategists get into a business that's far rougher and tougher than anything any of them has probably encountered. If they can influence elections, they are due the influence that comes from it. If they can't, they are due the relative irrelevance that will come. Either way, the "we can run things from the pulpit" moment is probably over, for a while at least. And that's good.
The political class has had to debate the details of Lokpal, which is good, and now has a somewhat narrower escape route than before on abandoning new institutional responses to corruption. Let's not underestimate the creative non-compliance of the political class.
But it would be very surprising if politicians soon start acting as if corruption, except when haranguing a rival party, is a non-issue again. This doesn't sound like much. But given the infernally complex calculus of Indian politics, this is a non-trivial improvement, and one that probably has a bigger potential.
For governments, at the Centre or in the states, there's a useful lesson as well. Engage those who are blocking projects in the name of the people with details in the name of the people. Protest leaders won't mostly be interested, but keep at it. Try to change the public conversation - from slogans to details. Just recall Anna's Mumbai show - details did that to him.
But those who went to Ramlila or to Azad Maidan or elsewhere in August were, for the most part, not there for Lokpal per se. They were there because they thought something could finally be done about corruption.
In Mumbai in December, Team Anna's agenda was somewhat different - we want our kind of Lokpal, that's what they principally said. When the agenda changed from the broad, easily digestible slogan of anti-corruption to narrow, legalistic debate on Group C/D government employees and CBI functioning, upping the emotional tempo was always going to be difficult.
Not even in Ramlila, not even with (as has been alleged) "outside help", could Team Anna have got most of their August supporters to come back in December. That would have been true even if Delhi was having a mild winter - because even in a warmish winter, it's tough to attract crowds on the basis of bitter debates on clauses of a bill.
That's the principal reason the Anna's Mumbai show looked so forlorn. The event would have lacked drama even if it hadn't coincided with Parliament's session. True, the coincidence didn't help Anna. But the absence of it wouldn't have really changed his Mumbai experience. Anna's strategists didn't think of something politicians always do - never get into the details. We critique politicians all the time for making things simplistic.
But they are in the business of courting public approbation and they know the devil of losing people's attention is in the details. This is not such a bad thing as it sounds, of course. Democracies everywhere have different forums for slogans and details. Legislatures can and do deal with both. Courts - with some scary exceptions - deal with the second. Protest meetings can be organised only around the first.
In fact, and interestingly, Team Anna's focus on details stands in contrast with many other civil society-type/radical protests. When Arundhati Roy finds beauty in an armed Maoist and when she says India is Hindu-corporatist-something-something state and the state is selling people out via MoUs with big companies, she isn't interested in details - she's offering us the slogans. If Arundhati Roy were to analyse the new mining bill - she's smart, she doubtless can - she won't be half a radical star as she's now.
Similarly, those who organise movements against GM crops or industrial projects are chary of a debate on the minutiae. Many of them are perfectly capable of debating details, but they don't organise their movements around that theme.
But could Team Anna have done things differently? Probably not, and that's the other problem it had. Once its first mission - getting the political class to take up the Lokpal issue - succeeded, it could have only agitated on details, especially since the slogan of poll reforms didn't get anyone excited.
If that's the explanation for what happened this week, what are the implications? They are not bad at all, from general welfare point of view.
Team Anna deserved to be pegged down. There were plenty of odd things about the team from the beginning, and there was no question ever, even in the minds of those sensible people who felt the political class needed a bit of a scare, that Kejriwal and Co. could run a permanent Occupy Governance campaign.
Now, Anna can possibly only find meaning via poll campaigns. There, he and his strategists get into a business that's far rougher and tougher than anything any of them has probably encountered. If they can influence elections, they are due the influence that comes from it. If they can't, they are due the relative irrelevance that will come. Either way, the "we can run things from the pulpit" moment is probably over, for a while at least. And that's good.
The political class has had to debate the details of Lokpal, which is good, and now has a somewhat narrower escape route than before on abandoning new institutional responses to corruption. Let's not underestimate the creative non-compliance of the political class.
But it would be very surprising if politicians soon start acting as if corruption, except when haranguing a rival party, is a non-issue again. This doesn't sound like much. But given the infernally complex calculus of Indian politics, this is a non-trivial improvement, and one that probably has a bigger potential.
For governments, at the Centre or in the states, there's a useful lesson as well. Engage those who are blocking projects in the name of the people with details in the name of the people. Protest leaders won't mostly be interested, but keep at it. Try to change the public conversation - from slogans to details. Just recall Anna's Mumbai show - details did that to him.
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Saturday, December 31, 2011, Chandigarh, India
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Lokpal Bill not dead: Cong NEW DELHI: Smarting under the Opposition attack over the issue of the Lokpal Bill, the Congress on Saturday insisted that the measure was not dead and would be back soon. "The Lokpal Bill is certainly not dead. It is not even in ICU or Emergency. It is merely under rest and recovery (R and R), and it will be back soon," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said. A political war has broken out between the government and the Opposition over Rajya Sabha's failure to pass the Lokpal Bill, with both sides accusing each of carrying out "well-choreographed" chaos to scuttle it. The assertion by the Rajya Sabha MP, who headed the Parliamentary Panel that went into the Lokpal Bill, comes a day after Rahul Gandhi promised not to rest till a strong Lokpal Bill with Constitutional status was brought. Addressing a rally in Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh yesterday, Gandhi had hit out at the BJP for failure to give Constitutional status to the Lokpal. He insisted that this was not only his dream but that of the youth of the country and the Congress would not rest till it was achieved. — PTI  Team Anna's core committee meeting postponedMUMBAI: The core committee meeting of Team Anna, scheduled to be held at Ralegan Siddhi on January 2 and 3, has been postponed due to the Gandhian's ill health, his aides said on Saturday. "The core committee meeting has been postponed due to Annaji's ill health. The date of next meeting will be announced after four-five days," Hazare's aide Suresh Pathare said. Hazare's associates were to meet at his native village Ralegan Siddhi in western Maharashtra, about 300 km from here, to chalk out their future strategies in fight against corruption. The 74-year-old social activist called off his three-day fast against a "weak" Lokpal Bill mid-way on December 28 due to poor health. He returned to his village the next day. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Politics News | Updated Dec 31, 2011 at 02:05pm IST
'Ansari avoided Constitutional crisis on Lokpal'
Click to play videoNew Delhi: Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, who is in the line of fire from Opposition over Lokpal Bill, actually avoided Constitutional crisis by adjourning the House sine die on Thursday midnight.
Sources in Rajya Sabha have said that convening and adjourning the House is the sole prerogative of the government. Sources further say that if the government wanted to extend the session, it could have called a Cabinet meeting and informed the President in Hyderabad on the sesion extension.
Also, the Vice President couldn't cut short number of speakers as smaller party leaders had requested for time.
Sources also told CNN-IBN that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee informed political parties at 11.30 PM that the government couldn't extend house and he cited example of British monarch's sole right to call and extend house.
BJP has indicated that it was unhappy with the way Ansari had conducted himself during the last few minutes of the session when the Lokpal Bill was being discussed but restrained itself due to respect for the high office.
Vice President Ansari had adjourned the Rajya Sabha stating there was total impasse and the House cannot be run in this noise.
BJP was not pleased with Ansari's decision and felt the matter could have been dealt with differently. The opposition wanted the House to continue functioning till the Bill was passed or seek an extension from the President.
Meanwhile, ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament in February, the government is set to refine and redraft the Lokpal Bill in order to address the concerns of allies, especially on the issue of Lokayuktas in states and control of CBI.
The government will use the time in January to reach out particularly to Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress, which holds the key in the Rajya Sabha.
Sources told CNN-IBN that the Prime Minister has conveyed to ministers that concerns over state Lokayuktas need to be addressed.
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...and I am Sid Harth@sidileak.com
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