The Lok Pal claptrap
by
AJ Philip |
The people have realised the dichotomy of politician’s precept and practice
If the year 2011 ended on a note of disappointment, the whole political class is to blame. Once again the people realised the dichotomy of the politician’s precept and practice when it comes to setting up a strong Ombudsman-like Lok Pal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in the states as the year wound down.
For decades political parties have been promising the Lok Pal as an antidote to corruption, while doing precious little to make it a reality. That was when Anna Hazare, a septuagenarian social worker from Ralegaon Siddhi in Maharashtra, began spearheading a campaign to force the government to enact the Lok Pal law.
After much rancour and even bids to orchestrate an Arab Spring-like situation, the government came up with a Lok Pal and Lok ayuktas Bill which had provisions that could only be described as self-destructive. That the government’s heart was not in the Bill was apparent when it failed to drum up support for it even from its own allies like the Trinamool Congress, not to mention the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The critics saw it as an attempt to destroy the “federal” character of the nation. They argued that it was for the states concerned to decide whether they should have Lokayuktas in place to look into charges against state functionaries. The BJP also questioned the provision to include “minorities” among the nine persons who would constitute the Lok Pal on the ground that religion-based reservation was anathema to the Constitution.
Yet, the ruling United Progressive Alliance government was able to have the Bill passed by the Lok Sabha, the lower House of Parliament. But it failed to give the proposed Lok Pal the status of a constitutional entity like the Election Commission, as it failed to muster the required two-thirds majority in the House. It knew that given the party position in the Rajya Sabha, where the UPA did not command majority, it could not have got the Bill passed.
That is precisely what happened when the Upper House debated the Bill till the midnight of December 29 and adjourned sine die without passing it. Both the Congress and the BJP have been blaming each other for the Rajya Sabha fiasco. They are actually too clever by half.
It’s the ruling party’s job to ensure that its Bills are passed by Parliament and if it is unable to do so, it has no right to remain in power. As of now there is no constitutional breakdown as the defeat of a Bill in the Rajy Sabha does not mean the end of the government. There are legitimate ways in which the problem can be overcome.
But the issue is that both the Congress and the BJP, whose members had suggested most of the 180-odd amendments to the Bill, knew that it could not have been passed in a day’s sitting. Why politicians dread the Lok Pal was clear when former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav warned MPs that they all could go to jails even for procedural lapses committed by the officials if the Lok Pal was set up.
That really is not the people’ concern as corruption has reached dizzying heights and even Supreme Court judges face such charges. Instead of enacting a farcical drama, the Congress could have honestly admitted that it did not have the requisite support in the Rajya Sabha to get the Bill passed.
Another major law the Lok Sabha passed and which is yet to be passed by the Rajya Sabha is the one that reserves one-third of seats in Parliament and state legislatures for women. Whatever may be the public stance of political parties, most of their leaders have reservations on extending reservation to women in the legislatures, where men dominate.
Parliament’s primary job is to make laws and in a democracy, a government is in power only because it controls Parliament. Law-making doesn’t mean getting a Bill passed in the Lok Sabha and leaving it at that to claim brownie points in television debates and electoral campaigns. It means evolving a political consensus through discussions, debates and persuasions so that Bills are passed by both Houses and become the law of the land.
One hope is that when Parliament meets for the Budget session in February, the government will reintroduce the Lok Pal Bill in the Rajya Sabha and get it passed. It should also dig up the Women’s Bill and accord it the same urgency to re-establish its credentials as a law-maker, for which it was elected.
Oman Tribune |
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