Government - BJP meet sealed resolution

The unanimous resolution adopted by both Houses of Parliament that finally broke the Anna Hazare logjam fell into place around 4.30 pm on Saturday in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s office in Parliament. The formulation that the House in principle agrees to consider Hazare’s “three points” dealing with lokayuktas in the states, bringing lower bureaucracy within the proposed law and implementation of a citizens’ charter doesn’t sound complicated, but needed some deft behind the scene footwork. After a few hits and misses, a meeting of government and BJP leaders in the PM’s office sealed the text of the resolution. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley wrote out the agreed text on a piece of paper that became the basis of the resolution adopted by Parliament.
After being reviled for its self-serving ways and incorrigible politicking, the political class delivered when it mattered. Displaying an unerring big-day temperament, political parties surpassed themselves as Parliament gave Anna Hazare a massive victory. Sensing the public mood, political egos were largely in check. MPs drove home the humbling knowledge that politicians were lagging their constituents. The leaders had become the led. Some leaders hit back at civil society, warning that calling politicians names could draw retaliatory action. Others blamed 24/7 media focus for nurturing the stir. But most were quick to accept that public anger was real and needed to be seen as genuine disgust at corruption. Congress and BJP leaders, who usually do not pass up a chance to have a go at each other, seriously addressed the question of accountability in public life. In the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley said Anna Hazare’s campaign had outlined relevant demands and reminded the House that democracy could not be so lethargic as not to pass the Lokpal bill 42 years after it was first proposed. The CPM’s Sitaram Yechury pointed to the need to match intent with practicability. The Congress’s Sandeep Dikshit spoke of the urgent need to end Anna’s fast. “We are all getting calls from our constituents asking why are we not talking about this,” said BJP’s Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi. Even JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav’s caustic reference to Kiran Bedi’s antics and a description of how relentless media pressure was depriving leaders of sleep, carried more than a degree of self-deprecation. Politicians, he suggested, had asked for it. For a discussion that revolved around deeply contentious matters impacting India’s federal structure, there were not many interruptions or cat calls in Parliament. Even regular disrupters like the Congress’s Lal Singh seemed taken in by the gravity of the occasion. MPs did not slip into unnecessary hyperbole and stuck to the substance of what was at hand. For a class than has been under fire they did not fling the muck back.