Agencies/New Delhi
Parliament was convened for a special sitting today in a bid to end the dragging fast by social activist Anna Hazare as Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said that a Lokpal bill could not alone end corruption, prompting Team Anna to hit back.
Congress Party general secretary and MP Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Vadera leave the parliament in New Delhi yesterday
The 74-year-old Hazare looked far weaker yesterday on the 11th day of his hunger strike that has galvanized tens of thousands across the country and sparked a war in parliament between the Congress and the opposition.
Calling his suggestion “a game-changer”, Gandhi said: “Witnessing the events of the last few days it would appear that the enactment of a single bill will usher in a corruption free-society. I have serious doubts about this belief.
“An effective Lokpal law is only one element in the legal framework to combat corruption. The Lokpal institution alone cannot be a substitute for a comprehensive anti-corruption code.”
Gandhi, 41, breaking his silence on the face-off between the government and Hazare, also suggested that the Lokpal be given constitutional status similar to the Election Commission.
Gandhi’s speech caused an uproar.
While Hazare’s protest has galvanised India’s growing urban middle class, Gandhi aimed his speech more at India’s poor.
“We are all aware that corruption is pervasive. It operates at every level. The poor may carry its greatest burden but it is an affliction that every Indian is desperate to be rid off,” Gandhi told the raucous parliament.
While praising 74-year-old Hazare, he also criticised the movement for setting “a dangerous precedent for a democracy” by trying to dictate their demands to parliament.
He called for regulation against corruption over land, mining and ration cards, issues which affect the poor. He also proposed reforming election funding, a root cause of political corruption
“In the last few months, Anna has helped the people to articulate this same sentiment (against corruption). I thank him for that,” Gandhi said as his sister, Priyanka, sat watching.
But he challenged Hazare’s efforts to force his version of the new anti-graft law on parliament.
“Individuals have brought our country great gains. They have galvanised people in the cause for freedom... however we must not weaken the democratic process,” Gandhi said.
In his speech, Gandhi argued that allowing any campaign - no matter how popular its target - to dictate legislation to parliament would set the country on a slippery path.
“Tomorrow the target may be something less universally heralded. It may attack the plurality of our society and democracy,” he said.
“India’s biggest achievement is our democratic system. It is the life force of our nation,” he added.
But even as he hailed the soldier-turned-activist for articulating the feelings of disillusionment over widespread corruption in India, Hazare’s aides insisted that their Jan Lokpal bill should be passed first.
Saying he too favoured constitutional status for the ombudsman, Hazare aide Shanti Bhushan said: “First, let us at least have a legal (statutory) authority as demanded by Anna Hazare.”
Added Hazare confidante Kiran Bedi: “Show the intent behind these lofty ideas by taking the first step with the Jan Lokpal bill.”
After another day of disturbances in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, the government announced that parliament will function today, indicating that varying versions of the Lokpal bill will finally be discussed.
Team Anna has said that if the house passes a resolution agreeing in principle to set up Lokayuktas in states, frame Citizen’s Charters for all government departments and include lower bureaucracy in the Lokpal bill, Hazare would end his fast. For 11 days, he has survived on water.
The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded a discussion in parliament on the various versions of the Lokpal bill under rules that entail voting.
Concern continued to mount over the failing health of Hazare, who looked pale as he spent yesterday mostly lying down. Occasionally he sat up and waved feebly to the thousands at the Ramlila ground.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, whose party has often been at the receiving end of Hazare’s earlier fasts, spoke to the anti-corruption crusader from Mumbai on telephone voicing concern over his health.
He also sent his grandson Aditya Thackeray to meet the fasting leader, who has lost 7kg since the fast began.
In New Delhi, a young man wearing an ‘I Am Anna’ T-shirt entered the parliament complex and shouted slogans hailing Hazare before he was seized by security personnel.
Some 100 people raised slogans outside Rahul Gandhi’s house.
On Wednesday and Thursday, small groups demonstrated outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s official residence, prompting the authorities to shut down four Delhi Metro stations for a few hours.
Meanwhile, Hazare has told Singh that his campaign was not directed at any individual or party.
“Out agitation is against the corrupt system and if by chance any words uttered by me or any other members have hurt you or any other person, then I regret.”
Kiran Bedi’s theatrics on Ramlila stage
Even as there were frantic moves by the government and political parties to end Anna Hazare’s fast, the theatrics of former Indian Police Service officer Kiran Bedi on stage gave a distasteful turn to the discourse and led many to wonder about the “real motives” of the anti-corruption campaigners. After a furious bout of flag-waving, Bedi, a leading light of Team Anna known as a no-nonsense and upright officer who was miffed at not being made Delhi Police commissioner, decided to vent her ire on an MP who had come to Ramlila Maidan. “Ask him what is he going to do,” she asked the crowd. “They (the MPs) say one thing inside (parliament) and another thing outside.” And then, raising her pitch, she exclaimed: “They (the MPs) wear masks!” Then Bedi, to the great amusement of the crowd, proceeded to pull a scarf from the neck of a young activist on stage, wrapped her head with it like a ‘ghunghat’ (veil) and proceeded to mock MPs and their “double-faced utterances”. “This is how they behave,” she trilled, “one thing with a mask and another without a mask”, and proceeded to pirouette on stage like a vaudeville artiste. Some television commentators dubbed Bedi’s performance as “vulgar”, “vituperative” and downright “grotesque” and said she had taken the discourse to a new low.
