DO NOT CURTAIL THE POWER OF THE LOKPAL BILL by Freddy Agnelo Fernandes, Dubai

The three most supreme officers in the Indian democracy are the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India and as such all three offices must be beyond reproach. But are they any different than any other ordinary Indians in terms of rights and privileges through the Constitution of India?

There is no doubt that these three offices are symbolic in nature, The President is the Chief of the armed forces, Chief Justice rules the Judiciary and the Prime Minister governs the Aam Janata. Hot seats indeed!

The Prime Minister is elected by the elected majority council in Parliament, but the other two are nominated from outside the elected council by the majority in the elected council and as such authenticity is diluted because nepotism rather than performance, merit or credibility, becomes the criteria. We have seen the numerous instances when Governors have made asses of themselves in opposition ruled states in this country, irrespective of the ruling party in power.

Today the Lokpal bill is a center of immense debate; there are two major problems to iron out 1) The parameters of the ambit. Politicians and bureaucrats are trying to curtail the effectiveness by limiting it’s ambit, thus rendering it partially ineffective. The main bone of contention is the ambit of the bill, activist want every individual and bureaucratic body to come under it’s ambit, that includes the supreme court, the highest offices and politicians, so that democracy is reflected in totality but the elite want some of the luminaries and bodies in the democratic system out of the ambit of this bill and there lies the disgust of the activists.

Problem 2) We do need a watchdog body to implement the Lokpal Bill, which body is it going to be ? For the Bill to become potent the parameters should not be compromised and no individuals should be excluded, true and fair enough but the watchdog for implementation is a bit ricky, if the watchdog body itself is under the Lokpal, how can total transparency be guaranteed ? Who or which body will watch the watchdog ? This needs to be debated but consensus will not be easy to come to.

To be honest, with mega scams unfolding a galore, there is enough public sympathy towards the activists and an overwhelming outcry against this corrupt government, to bring it down. We have witnessed the support Anna generated and I hope for sake of the ruling dispensation that it does not take the Gandhian Anna for granted or weigh him with yoga guru baba Ramdev in the same scale of integrity and sincerity, if they do, it will be a folly on their part.

It is true that the highest offices and officers should be respected but respect and accountability are two different issues and each has it’s limitations and flaws, so since India is a democracy by choice, there should be no distinction made with status or the power of the office, or it will cease to remain a democracy, and infact becomes an autocracy.

I do not see how the respect of the highest offices is at stake if they are brought under the ambit of the Lokpal bill. If the highest offices are as clean and as transparent as they claim to be or should be, what is the problem ? In fact, if these offices are brought under the ambit of the Lokpal bill, it will increase the respect and the sanctity of these offices and officers, as accountability and transparency will be acknowledged at the highest level in the country. That is what the people are looking forward to, so that we Indians can walk with our heads held high with dignity and respect.