The decision of the Centre to hold talks with maverick activist Anna Hazare who has been on a fast for a week or so was only to be expected. Fasting as a political tool is very difficult to tackle. Whether or not Hazare’s demands for the Lokpal were justified, whether or not there were wheels within wheels, allegedly foreign ones lose significance in such a situation and mass hysteria takes over. On the first day of the talks there was no breakthrough but the government and Team Anna spoke of positive and constructive discussions. Ailing Sonia Gandhi who actually steers the government’s policy is in the US and Pranab Mukherjee has been appointed the negotiator assisted by Law Minister Salman Khurshid and Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit. Team Anna insisted that the government’s bill should be scrapped and a new one be placed in Parliament’s current session with the commitment that it would be passed in this session. Anna would not break his fast until he receives a written undertaking that the government would keep its commitment. At the all-party meeting the next day, the controversy revived and it looked as if the government and Hazare had hardened their stand. It was not even clear if the government wished to withdraw its bill.
There are some sticking points. The Centre refused to accept the demand that Parliament’s standing committee be bypassed. Objections were raised to bringing the lower bureaucracy under the Lokpal and the creation of a Lok Yukta in the states with police powers. There is no doubt that the impasse has arisen because of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s continuing weakness. The BJP has slammed the way Hazare’s protest was handled but did not accept the Jan Lokpal Bill. The CPI (M) wants a synthetic approach combining the two bills. It is not very significant if the PM is under the Lokpal or not. Hazare’s campaign is to ensure that corruption is eradicated at all levels. This is unexceptionable. The big question is whether either of the two bills, if enacted, will truly serve the purpose.