True to their commitment,Union cabinet has finally approved the Lokpal Bill to be tabled in the monsoon session of parliament, commencing from August 1.That way they seem to have shown their commitment to the Lokpal Bill so far as deadline is concerned. However, have they shown any commitment to the craving of civil society besides millions of Indians, fighting for a strong Lokpal Bill to fight the cancer of corruption eating into vitals of our body politic? The draft seems to omit almost every provision, Civil Society members wanted to incorporate in the bill. PM and Judiciary have been kept out of the ambit of the Lokpal. Larger part of bureaucracy shall remain out of the ambit of the Lokpal. Conduct of Members of the parliament shall also be out of the purview of the Lokpal. Lokpal committee will have majority of members from the Govt so as to dominate it like any other Govt. controlled Institution. People Filing cases of corruption with Lokpal would have far more to worry rather than those against whom corruption cases are to be filed because if the corruptions cases are found to be frivolous,the person filing it would have to serve imprisonment for two years; on the other hand, if corruption cases are proved against the public servants,they would serve imprisonment for only six months. The bill provides for seven years' limitation for a complaint to be made against a former prime minister. In a nutshell, the bill omits every provision, what civil society members wanted to be incorporated. In fact bill seems to ignore the opinion of even the senior most cabinet minister of the Govt, who, earlier as chairman of Lokpal Bill Drafting committee,had recommended to keep PM in the ambit of the Lokpal,way back in 2001 and even until some time ago seemed to have held the same opinion. Infact, Prime-Minister seems to have once again recommended in today’s cabinet meeting to bring PM in the ambit of Lokpal. Earlier, in his last press-conference,PM had admitted that he wanted PM to be brought under ambit of Lokpal; however his senior colleagues in the cabinet were opposed to the same. If PM is to be believed and the earlier stance of the senior most cabinet minister recommending PM to be brought under the purview of Lokpal, is also to be taken into account, then it looks like jingoes in the cabinet had their “final say” in the matter. These jingoes are none other than the two most high profile, articulate and at the same time two most arrogant cabinet ministers in the Govt. Out of these two, one feels that he can continue to climb the ladder, like from state minister to cabinet Minister and then from being in-charge of one ministry to two ministeries only by acting as the most beliggerent and most vocal custodian of the interests of the Govt. Other, however has a different problem. Since the Last Loksabha elections,he has fallen into bad times and this bad run continues,creating more and more problems for him. He was alleged to have lost the Last Loksabha elections but got it declared in his favour and for that a case against him is before the court. Failure to tackle naxal issue, flip-flop on telangana, asking Pakistan to handover some of the terrorists, who are already in India, return of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, revelation of his complicity in 2G scam and confirmation of the same by ex-telecom minister and ex-telecom secretary in their depositions before the court etc. seem to be creating more and more problems for him. Now the main opposition party seems to be baying for his blood and hardly any day passes, when it doesn’t demand for his sacking and demanding CBI enquiry into allegations against him. More and More he is attacked, More and More he is getting beliggerent and trying to attack those who might potentially create problems for him in future. From a very active role in using force to break the fast of Ramdev in June to talking louder and shriller and in an absurd way about saffron terror,without realizing its obvious ramifications on international front and without caring the country's weakening stand on terror against its neighboring nation are manifestations of his beliggerence mainly driven by his sense of insecurity for the future.
In addition to above these two ministers, have two attributes in common, one is “superiority complex” and other is “arrogance”. They feel that what they know is the “best” and “ultimate” and for the same reason come what may every body should follow what they prescribe and the same superiority complex seems to be arrogantly and beliggerently expressed in Lokpal Bill also, which might ultimately prove to be their nemesis besides bringing disgrace for the Govt and its ultimate downfall in the long run.
