The new beginning
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: December 20, 2013 -

After eight unsuccessful attempts in the span of 46 years, Indian Parliament on Wednesday cleared the much-awaited Jan Lokpal Bill, also referred to as Citizen's Ombudsman Bill, which was drafted and drawn up by by civil society activities in the country seeking appointment of an independent body to investigate into corruption cases at high places, without any hitch.

This was indeed something of a rarity in the history of a country where differences of opinion or objection raised to what one does or proposes by another has been a norm rather than an exception.

But this time, the voice of dissension that came from the side of Samajwadi Party to the Bill even to the extent of staging walk out from both Houses of the Parliament during the clearance of the Bill in a matter of just two days after a logjam of more than four decades was too weak to have any impact on the passage of the anti-graft Bill in the face of a rare unanimity which was seen between the political class and the anti-corruption activities led by veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare.

Interestingly, the din and commotion which forced the Lok Sabha to pass the Bill through a voice vote came not from any opposition to the Bill but from the Members of Seemandhra region who were protesting against division over Andhra Pradesh to create Telangana state.

On the other hand, Indian media have gone ga-ga and used such high and lofty adjectives like 'historic', 'landmark', 'momentous', etc to describe the passage of the Bill, which was actually first introduced by Advocate Shanti Bhushan in 1968 but had remained stuck in either of the two Houses of the Parliament over one complaint or issue or the other all these years.

So, from all these unexpected developments and the sudden sense of urgency on clearing the Lokpal Bill that everyone seems to have felt this time as if there were no similar hunger strikes by Anna Hazare or protest by public in the past, it is quite natural for anyone with some political acumen to question and wonder whether the Bill is actually going to be the panacea to the problem of corruption in India or just some smart weapon in the minefield of Indian politics.

Of course, no one would be able to say anything definitely at this point of time and only time will tell how effective would the enactment of an ombudsman law under which an anti-corruption watchdog would be established that would even brought the office of the Prime Minister under its purview, in fighting against the menace of corruption in the country, because more than any legislation, what is even important in the fight for corruption is the constant alertness of the people and the civil societies. Anyway, it is good to know that at least a beginning has been made in this direction.