The government has decided to call an all-party meeting on the Lokpal Bill in a bid to isolate the civil society group led by the Gandhian Anna Hazare before the controversial draft legislation is sent to the Union Cabinet for approval. But, before that, it has set the agenda of the meeting by opposing bringing the post of Prime Minister under the purview of the Lokpal.
The government has played the all-party meeting card after sensing a division among political parties on making a Lokpal the strongest power centre in the country, which it feels can imbalance the checks and balances in the system.
Human resources development minister Kapil Sibal said on Saturday that “the government will seek the views of political parties on the draft bill before it goes to the Cabinet. Whatever agreements or disagreements on the draft are there will be presented before the parties.”
The Congress core group, consisting of party chief Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the top brass of the Congress, met twice on this issue in the last 24 hours (Friday evening and Saturday morning) and took stock of the situation against the backdrop Mr Hazare’s threat to sit on an indefinite fast from August 16 in New Delhi if the government dilutes the bill.
The Opposition parties are unlikely to spell out their stands on a draft bill until the government places the bill in Parliament. However, the government wants their views on the draft bill to puncture the civil society team’s campaign. But whether they will bail out the government is the key question because the government is involving all the other political parties only after the civil society team refused to dilute the bill.
Mr Kapil Sibal, who is also a member of the joint committee set up to draft a Lokpal Bill, said, “Within the government we feel, prima facie, the Prime Minister should not be covered (by the Lokpal Bill). But, at the same time, we want to make sure that if he demits office he should not be exonerated from prosecution .”
However, he said, the five ministers in the joint committee were willing to be persuaded to bring the Prime Minister under the ambit of the anti-corruption legislation if the civil society side puts forward a “compelling argument”.
Contending that it was not a question of “an individual, Dr Manmohan Singh”, but “an institution”, he said on a TV programme, “Which Prime Minister in office anywhere in the world has been prosecuted in the world? Please tell me, please give me an example.”
But Mr Sibal is not the only leader opposing inclusion of the PM in the ambit of a Lokpal Bill. The current mood in the Congress is to oppose this demand and consolidate political parties on this issue. From the Congress, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has opposed the move to bring the office of the Prime Minister under the ambit of the Lokpal. Her counterparts in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Assam, Rajasthan, Kerala, Haryana and Goa (all ruled by the Congress) have yet to take a position on it.
But before Ms Dikshit, Punjab chief minister and Shiromani Akal Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal opposed the idea that the PM be brought under the ambit of the Lokpal. The main Opposition BJP will not refuse to participate in an all-party meeting, but will place its views on bringing the Prime Minister into the ambit of the Lokpal only when the Congress and the government circulate their views on the issue.
Chief BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said in Patna on Saturday, “We are not opposed to participating in an all-party meeting to seek views ... But, firstly, we would like to have the views of the Congress and the government on bringing the Prime Minister within the ambit of the Lokpal.”
In New Delhi, CPI leader D. Raja said, “They (the government) should give us the entire draft bill, the one they are going to bring to Parliament. How can a proper discussion take place without it,” he asked. “... This is not the way to consult political parties since the government is saying that they will discuss only one issue, whether to include the Prime Minister or not,” he said.
“Anna Hazare,” Mr Kapil Sibal said, “is like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The tune is lilting and people were upset with corruption, just as the government is. We want to deal with it. But those who follow him, where they say corruption should be dealt with, do not know what the Lokpal Bill is,” he said. Taking another dig at the Gandhian, he said, “If Anna Hazare had been in the Constituent Assembly, there would be no Constitution.” He added that fasting was a way of self-purification and is “not meant to be an act of aggression. I think a lot of people, including Hazare, have misunderstood the meaning of fasting.”