Anna Hazare
Before I write any thing else first lest us look at brief history of lok pal bill.
The Lokpal bill was first introduced by Shanti Bhushan in 1968 and passed the 4th Lok Sabha in 1969. But before it could be passed by Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha was dissolved and the bill lapsed. The Subsequent versions were re-introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and in 2008, but none of them passed.
If Lok Pal would have been name of some movie we would have had the name of latest version as Lok Pal -11 or Lok Reloaded or The Grand Saga Of Lok Pal!!!!!!!!…governments and governments kept changing but fate of this bill didnt seem to be changed till ANNA HAZARE entered the scene…
Under pressure from people of India , government finally brought a bill which is called as lok pal bill . Government also got parliament session extended and today , this is 27th december 2011 parliament of India is being debating on the bill.
In principal like every Indian , every parliament across the party lines says that they want strong lok pal bill. Only exception here is Shiv Sena who opposes formation of any such body . All political parties involved in the debate claim that they have been fighting against corruption and are in support of strongest possible lok pal bill.
Now what does it mean to be strong?…Every party has different views on it which is their right like every citizen has right to have his/her view. As I was listening to debate , BJP talked about how this bill is against constitution since it interferes in state’s right , JDU objected on perception of all government employees being corrupt , Left too wants amendment while Congress believes this is best bill possible.
Prime Minister did speak on number of aspects including CBI . He believes that independent CBI is needed but it needs to be accountable and not under lok pal.
Lalu wanted and got Minority reservation in lok pal panel which BJP objected. Mulayam singh yadav too opposed government version .
Listening to the debate it seems that LOK PAL DEBATE has become more of party politics than about the bill. The inherent theme behind lok pal is fighting corruption which seems to be more or less missing. Agreeing on principal is one thing while practically?
From debate of parliament it seems clear that parliamentarians are more interested in scoring political points than bringing lok pal . Experts believe that government would make sure the bill passes any how and Rajya sabha where they dont have majority , the bill will fall. This would make government blame opposition and achieve its goal of ‘LOOKING SERIOUS’ about corruption and bringing strongest lok pal bill.
So what did anna hazare movement achieved so far?. Since march it did make country sit and hope. It did make government atleast show it is serious though symbolic and most importantly it made parliament discuss about corruption at least 3 times in current year!!!!!!!
