Action not Surprises

The government spokesperson Shri Singhvi has said that the Standing Committee may yet surprise everyone. What could such a cryptic comment mean? Is it simply to defuse the current empasse? People want action not surprises.

The Lokpal Bill Movement is at a very crucial stage. A 74 year old Gandhian is on indefinite fast and there is no time to waste. A quick overview of comments made by some wise persons as also the gist of the interview that Shri Prashant Bhushan and Shri Arvind Kejariwal gave to STAR News Hindi at 4PM to 4:45PM on Sunday clearly shows that if the government wants to sincerely resolve the issue it will have to withdraw the old toothless bill and introduce the Jan Lokpal Bill draft and agree to have a debate in the parliament. For obvious reasons many parties might not like to discuss/debate the bill in public but they must be compelled to make a public commitment that they are indeed against corruption and truly want to punish the corrupt. Put your money where your mouth is.

Merely depending on the Standing Committee may not work. Some very prominent and knowledgeable commentators have often argued against handing over Cabinet responsibility to the so-called GOMs or Groups of Ministers who invariably play the role of delaying decisions instead of expediting them. The general public is understandably wary and even suspects government 'bona fide'.

As brought out in the interview, the government must agree to sincerely work towards passing an effective bill. As Shri Anna Hazare has already indicated, he has many other issues on his agenda such as electoral reforms, right to recall, laws governing land acquisition and the like. If we do not move forward on the Lokpal Bill it is very likely that the general public would view government attitude as unhelpful or worse anti people. Surely, no one wants that outcome. It is imperative that the government acts now if it really wants to address people's grievances.