The year of Lokpal, as 2011 may be described in history, this eventful year will be the analysts delight. Certainly history has been created with the introduction of the Lokpal Bill in Lok Sabha and its passage, whatever be the final shape, seems to be a foregone conclusion. The milestone in the country’s history, as it may eventually turn out to be, the Lokpal controversy has almost shook the nation both in positive and negative sense of the term.
A big positive of Mr Anna Hazare’s movement for Lokpal is that he has been able to trigger a debate on corruption and prick the nation’s conscious that includes the political set up and even the public at large. The ways and means adopted by him could be debatable and the public discourse entered into by members of the Team Anna, at times, is undesirable. But that does not diminish the significance of the issue.
Under the garb of Lokpal, 2011 has tossed a series of issues which range from mis-governance, total lack of democracy in the political set up, flourishing political dynasties and stiff resistance being put up by the Governments, Centre and the states, in making the system more transparent and responsive to the needs of the people. The manner in which the very drafting of the Lokpal Bill has taken place, be it the Anna or the Government version, it smacks of total disregard to the very essence of democracy which is based on debate and discussion.
A very vital question tossed by the entire 2011-Lokpal episode is that why did it take an Anna Hazare to tick the administration to swing into some action and people to respond to his call for fight against corruption. There is another related question as to why did it take 40-years to finally debate a relevant Bill in Lok SabhaThe answer lies in the total irresponsiveness of the successive Central Governments, total lack of commitment shown by the political class to fight corruption and absence of credible leadership. It is under such circumstances that people like Anna Hazare spring up from nowhere to fill the void. Whether he has the calibre or class of a Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi, is another matter. But it remains a fact that phenomena Anna is the creation of a deficient administrative and political system.
No one is infallible. And Anna is no exception. Neither he nor any member of the Team Anna should have any misconception about the larger than life image of theirs for which the media has a lot to do. In the ultimate analysis of the Lokpal year, Anna’s role will also not escape scrutiny. There will be a lot to explain his confrontationist attitude towards Parliament and impression created by him and his supporters of almost bulldozing the system.
An eyeball to eyeball situation has been created between Team Anna and the Government on the issue of Lokpal. Anna’s obduracy in the form of ‘either my Lokpal Bill or none’ and his no-holds-bar attack on the Government and political class as a whole might have generated public interest or helped Television channels in raising their TRP. But it is certainly against the spirit of democracy and at times looked like adopting anarchical streaks.
There is no denying the fact that political system of the country has not delivered as efficiently as it was required to do during the last six decades. But does that mean that the very foundations of the democratic system in which political parties play a stellar role, be shook and system discredited beyond repair. This will be a dangerous path to tread.
Intriguingly, the political parties have also a great role to play in adding to this chaos wherein Parliament’s supremacy is being questioned. The entire Lokpal controversy has unfortunately boiled down to a showdown between Parliament and Anna on one hand and Anna versus the Congress on the other. While the entire political spectrum faced the public ire when it came to Parliamentary supremacy, many of the political parties led by BJP, the premier opposition party, have also contributed to turn the event into a fight against Congress.
The public discourse of many of the opposition leaders and members of Team Anna have led many to believe, rightly or wrongly, that Anna’s movement has acquired a political colouring. The parties such as the BJP and some of its NDA allies jumped to the Anna bandwagon with an eye on coming elections to important states like Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. It may or may not accrue them electoral benefits, but in the larger interest they should have designed their response to Anna’s crusade against corruption in a manner that could have projected a unified polity and a strong Parliament.
At the same time the Congress-led UPA Government cannot be absolved of its responsibilities as it had faltered at every step which finally brought the situation to this pass. Both the Government and the Congress managers could have handled the Team Anna in a deft and matured manner. A meaningful engagement with Anna without giving any inkling of precipitating the situation would have brought more credit to the Government. The flip-flop attitude of the Government even in the matter of drafting the Bill has led to a total distrust among the people towards the ruling dispensation.
A big lesson for the Government and the political parties in this year of Lokpal is that the system should learn to respond and deliver lest the situation goes out of hand. While the Governments, at the Centre and states, should deliver, the political parties should work overtime to ensure greater inn.inner party democracy which would ultimately lead to restoration of people’s faith in the political system. This will also require a remodeling of the parties most of which are going the dynastic ways.
There is no denying the fact that the wards of political leaders have every right to pursue the avocation of their guardians. But they should not be foisted as is being done in many of the cases. The Gandhis, the Abdullahs, the Muftis, the Badals and the Yadavs etc should create a situation where even the sons and daughters of lesser mortals get an equal chance to rise in the political hierarchy. Or else they will keep providing fodder to people like Anna to come out and launch a crusade.
A big positive of Mr Anna Hazare’s movement for Lokpal is that he has been able to trigger a debate on corruption and prick the nation’s conscious that includes the political set up and even the public at large. The ways and means adopted by him could be debatable and the public discourse entered into by members of the Team Anna, at times, is undesirable. But that does not diminish the significance of the issue.
Under the garb of Lokpal, 2011 has tossed a series of issues which range from mis-governance, total lack of democracy in the political set up, flourishing political dynasties and stiff resistance being put up by the Governments, Centre and the states, in making the system more transparent and responsive to the needs of the people. The manner in which the very drafting of the Lokpal Bill has taken place, be it the Anna or the Government version, it smacks of total disregard to the very essence of democracy which is based on debate and discussion.
A very vital question tossed by the entire 2011-Lokpal episode is that why did it take an Anna Hazare to tick the administration to swing into some action and people to respond to his call for fight against corruption. There is another related question as to why did it take 40-years to finally debate a relevant Bill in Lok SabhaThe answer lies in the total irresponsiveness of the successive Central Governments, total lack of commitment shown by the political class to fight corruption and absence of credible leadership. It is under such circumstances that people like Anna Hazare spring up from nowhere to fill the void. Whether he has the calibre or class of a Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi, is another matter. But it remains a fact that phenomena Anna is the creation of a deficient administrative and political system.
No one is infallible. And Anna is no exception. Neither he nor any member of the Team Anna should have any misconception about the larger than life image of theirs for which the media has a lot to do. In the ultimate analysis of the Lokpal year, Anna’s role will also not escape scrutiny. There will be a lot to explain his confrontationist attitude towards Parliament and impression created by him and his supporters of almost bulldozing the system.
An eyeball to eyeball situation has been created between Team Anna and the Government on the issue of Lokpal. Anna’s obduracy in the form of ‘either my Lokpal Bill or none’ and his no-holds-bar attack on the Government and political class as a whole might have generated public interest or helped Television channels in raising their TRP. But it is certainly against the spirit of democracy and at times looked like adopting anarchical streaks.
There is no denying the fact that political system of the country has not delivered as efficiently as it was required to do during the last six decades. But does that mean that the very foundations of the democratic system in which political parties play a stellar role, be shook and system discredited beyond repair. This will be a dangerous path to tread.
Intriguingly, the political parties have also a great role to play in adding to this chaos wherein Parliament’s supremacy is being questioned. The entire Lokpal controversy has unfortunately boiled down to a showdown between Parliament and Anna on one hand and Anna versus the Congress on the other. While the entire political spectrum faced the public ire when it came to Parliamentary supremacy, many of the political parties led by BJP, the premier opposition party, have also contributed to turn the event into a fight against Congress.
The public discourse of many of the opposition leaders and members of Team Anna have led many to believe, rightly or wrongly, that Anna’s movement has acquired a political colouring. The parties such as the BJP and some of its NDA allies jumped to the Anna bandwagon with an eye on coming elections to important states like Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. It may or may not accrue them electoral benefits, but in the larger interest they should have designed their response to Anna’s crusade against corruption in a manner that could have projected a unified polity and a strong Parliament.
At the same time the Congress-led UPA Government cannot be absolved of its responsibilities as it had faltered at every step which finally brought the situation to this pass. Both the Government and the Congress managers could have handled the Team Anna in a deft and matured manner. A meaningful engagement with Anna without giving any inkling of precipitating the situation would have brought more credit to the Government. The flip-flop attitude of the Government even in the matter of drafting the Bill has led to a total distrust among the people towards the ruling dispensation.
A big lesson for the Government and the political parties in this year of Lokpal is that the system should learn to respond and deliver lest the situation goes out of hand. While the Governments, at the Centre and states, should deliver, the political parties should work overtime to ensure greater inn.inner party democracy which would ultimately lead to restoration of people’s faith in the political system. This will also require a remodeling of the parties most of which are going the dynastic ways.
There is no denying the fact that the wards of political leaders have every right to pursue the avocation of their guardians. But they should not be foisted as is being done in many of the cases. The Gandhis, the Abdullahs, the Muftis, the Badals and the Yadavs etc should create a situation where even the sons and daughters of lesser mortals get an equal chance to rise in the political hierarchy. Or else they will keep providing fodder to people like Anna to come out and launch a crusade.
