NEW DELHI, Dec 21, (Agencies): The Indian government geared up Wednesday for a showdown with opposition parties and civil activists over a landmark anti-corruption bill to be presented in parliament.
The new legislation was the focus of mass protests in August, spearheaded by veteran activist Anna Hazare, that saw millions take to the streets of cities across India to denounce the corruption that permeates all levels of Indian society.
The proposed law would create a powerful new ombudsman, or “Lokpal”, tasked with probing and prosecuting senior politicians and civil servants suspected of graft.
The Indian cabinet approved a final version of the bill late Tuesday and Sonia Gandhi, the president of the ruling Congress party, vowed to steer its passage through parliament over the objections of opposition MPs and the Hazare campaign.
“I will fight for the Lokpal Bill,” she told a meeting of Congress party members. “I cannot see any reason for us to be defeatist.”
Opposition parties have said they will insist on amendments to the cabinet-approved bill, while Hazare has scheduled a repeat of his August hunger strike that galvanised public opinion behind his campaign.
The main points of contention focus on the ambit of the ombudsman’s office and its powers of investigation.
The government bill offers only limited jurisdiction over the prime minister and requires the ombudsman to put any criminal probes in the hands of the government-controlled Criminal Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Hazare and a number of opposition parties want the ombudsman to control any CBI investigations.
“I reject the new version of the bill,” Hazare told reporters in his village in western India.
“If the CBI is outside (the ombudsman’s control), then how will the Lokpal be strong? This system will save corrupt politicians,” he said, accusing the government of “cheating” the Indian people by proposing a weak bill.
Gandhi hit out at what she called the “obstructionist” tactics of the opposition and accused the Hazare team of “malicious” criticism.
Meanwhile, India’s federal Cabinet has approved legislation to create an anti-corruption watchdog, but a prominent activist who has campaigned against graft said Wednesday that he is not satisfied with the bill.
Activist Anna Hazare said the proposed bill was only an attempt to “fool” the people. He said he would start a three-day fast from Dec. 27 to protest the fact that government hadn’t accepted his version of the legislation. He also urged his supporters to court arrest after his fast.
Hazare, who claims inspiration from Mohandas K. Gandhi, has called his protest against corruption the second freedom struggle and has fasted three times already to garner support for his demands.
He started with a five-day fast in April after which the government invited members of his team to help draft the legislation. In August, he fasted for 12 days to force Parliament to pass his sweeping proposal to create a powerful watchdog to police everyone from the prime minister to the lowest village bureaucrat. He also held a daylong fast earlier in December.
The government’s version of the law was approved late Tuesday night and the bill is expected to be presented in Parliament on Thursday. Few details of the proposed legislation were immediately available.
Hazare said the exclusion of the country’s top investigative agency from the purview of the proposed corruption watchdog weakened the legislation. Keeping the Central Bureau of Investigation under the supervision of the ombudsman had been one of Hazare’s key demands.