By IANS,
New Delhi : The Congress said Wednesday that social activist Anna Hazare’s fast-unto-death for a more stringent anti-corruption law was “premature” as the government was “open to all suggestions”.
“The fast by Anna Hazare was premature and in a democracy debates should be held before a policy is framed,” Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan told reporters here.
The veteran Gandhian’s fast-unto-death has snowballed into a major movement with thousands across India and even abroad joining in as the government tried to cool the situation by saying it was not averse to the civil society’s suggestions on a Lokpal Bill.
Hazare and thousands of his supporters are sitting on an indefinite fast at Jantar Mantar here since Tuesday morning demanding the involvement of civil society in drafting the bill.
Natarajan also said the Lokpal Bill had been discussed in the party and the National Advisory Council headed by United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi had also considered it.
“While many people won’t agree on the Lokpal Bill and have different shades of opinion on the issue, the NAC and other forums are already discussing the proposed legislation….the far reaching changes suggested by Hazare need broad discussions before a final draft can be arrived at,” she said.
But, she added that “no timeframe can be set” for taking such decisions as they require wider consultations.
The party had said Monday that the government had already constituted a panel headed by Defence Minister A.K. Antony to go into the issue. The other members of the panel are Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily and Telecom and Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal.
Sibal said earlier Wednesday that the “government is certainly not opposed to any of the suggestions that have been raised, except that when the suggestions were being raised the sub-group was asked to commit that in principle we must agree to a joint committee and this must be done before the 5th of April”.
According to Moily, the government “did not say no” to the demand for a joint committee to draft the bill after the sub-committee of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on corruption held discussions with representatives of Hazare and other members of civil society.
“Even on the demand for joint committee, we said we were open. We never closed our mind even on the formation of joint committee…In principle we did not say no,” Moily said.
When Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was asked about Hazar’s crusade, he said : “I will be happy if you relieve me from all GoMs, including that GoM (on corruption).”
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni added that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had initiated a mechanism to consider suggestions from activists on the Lokpal Bill.
Pointing to the constitution of a GoM for discussions on the bill with civil society activists, she said: “That shows the credence attached to it (the process of consultations).”
Soni said the activists wanted a joint committee to finalise the bill but the government had to function with procedures in mind. According to the minister, there should be no ego issues in discussions on the bill.
The activists are demanding the government adopt the alternative Jan Lokpal Bill drafted by leading legal experts and personalities, including Magsaysay Award winner and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal, former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde and Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan.
Thr Jan Lokpal Bill calls for setting up of ombudsmen – the Lokpal and Lokayuktas (in states) – independent of government control.
In the activists’ version of the bill, investigation in any case will have to be completed in one year and punishment would be a minimum jail term of five years and a maximum of life imprisonment.
The government’s version recommends a minimum prison term of six months and maximum of seven years for corruption.