Is there a divide in the Anna Hazare camp on the issue of whether or not to send the Jan Lokpal Bill to the standing committee of Parliament for consideration?
Arvind Kejriwal, one of the drivers of the movement on the issue of the Lokpal Bill, has no faith in standing committees. He said to this newspaper, “This parliamentary procedure has often been misused to keep legislative proposals hanging for years. The government is unnecessarily hiding behind the Constitution and parliamentary procedures, whereas many laws have been made without being referred to any standing committee.”
However, Swami Agnivesh, who is closely associated with the current movement, challenged the perception that Team Anna has any aversion to standing committees of Parliament. He said in his individual capacity that the Jan Lok Pal Bill may be referred to the standing committee with the condition that it should clear it in a month’s time by holding sittings on a day-to-day basis. The saffron-robed activist noted nevertheless that the government often uses the “escape route” of standing committees to delay legislative proposals for long. He sought to proffer the example of the Judicial Accountability and Standards Bill. The swami also noted, again in his personal capacity, that Team Anna had already sought passing the Jan Lok Pal Bill in the current session. Therefore, he said there was no question of being “inflexible” about the August 30 deadline. “In fact, we are ready for an extension of Parliament by another 15 days to pass the bill,” he added.