The Jan Lokpal movement has already entered in its ninth month starting from April, 2011. Do we have any result yet? In the formal terms (rather on the paper work), I would say it is too far away from achieving what it set out to achieve and hence, it has still a long way to go. But, it has achieved a lot in terms of public awareness. It has done the next to impossible task of pulling the allegedly indifferent middle class of India along with others to the streets for a common cause. That in itself is a big achievement. Team Anna is still pushing for a strong Lokpal bill travelling all across the country and through public mobilization. I have been following it closely through ever fast news channels and friends. There are still a few reservations and confusions about the authenticity of team Anna pursuing government for JLP. Here are a few and my opinion about them.
The first that I hear many a times is that MP's are elected representatives of the people and parliament is the supreme in a democracy. They should not be forced by someone outside the parliament for a particular law. Firstly, some people might even doubt if MP's are really the fair representatives of the people with all the irregularities involved in the elections. I would still like to believe that majority of them are elected fairly. But the question I want to raise is if they truly represent the views of the people once they are sent to the parliament by the people. In an ideal democracy the MP's should discuss any issue with the people ( with the help of lower representative bodies like gram sabha or mohalla sabha) and convey it to the party or the parliament and if there is any difference of opinion, it is his duty to convince the concerned sides. I seriously doubt if that happens in our present democratic system. Presently, the party issues a whip for all its MPs and they have to follow it even if they have different view. We all accept the supremacy of the parliament, but at the same time, it should represent people not individual parties.
Second, Team Anna is not elected by the people. How can they claim to represent them? I agree, they are not elected by people, but they have also never claimed to be one. As a citizen of India, they have all the right to ask for a particular law. They have been just doing that and in the process got the support of the people who have the same opinion on this particular subject. The proposed JLP has gone through several round of discussions and has gone though many improvisations and it's still open changes on a logical basis. In fact, the present form is probably the 20th version of the original. So, it will be wrong to say that it is their bill, rather the JLP is the bill formed (or improvised) by the people of the country.
Third, is Anna Hazare blackmailing the government by fasting? Fasting is totally legal, ethical and powerful tool of protest in a democracy. It has been employed many times before and I don't think there is anything wrong with it. Most importantly, Nobody suffers because of it except for the person who is doing it. The fact is, it is not the fast of the Anna Hazare which is disturbing the government, but it is the backing of the people that the movement has garnered which is giving the sleepless nights to the government. There has been many other indefinite fasts (some even fatal) and much longer, but the government wasn't bothered by them because they did not have this kind of people's support. And this movement would have been faded as well if the people of the country were not fed up of the corruption that they face everyday.
The setting up of the deadline (though it was enough time) baffled me a bit in the starting because this kind of a law needs time to be drafted. But going by the incidents and intentions shown by the government in last nine months, I think this is the right way forward. Eight months are more than enough to draft any law. Whole constitution was prepared in about 2 years.
It is not about the time required, but the political will and honesty required to draft this law which is lacking in present system for understandable reasons. Nobody wants to give away his power easily and this time also it is not going to be any exception. You have to always fight for your rights in any part of world and this cause, I would say, is quite sacred and worth fighting for.
The first that I hear many a times is that MP's are elected representatives of the people and parliament is the supreme in a democracy. They should not be forced by someone outside the parliament for a particular law. Firstly, some people might even doubt if MP's are really the fair representatives of the people with all the irregularities involved in the elections. I would still like to believe that majority of them are elected fairly. But the question I want to raise is if they truly represent the views of the people once they are sent to the parliament by the people. In an ideal democracy the MP's should discuss any issue with the people ( with the help of lower representative bodies like gram sabha or mohalla sabha) and convey it to the party or the parliament and if there is any difference of opinion, it is his duty to convince the concerned sides. I seriously doubt if that happens in our present democratic system. Presently, the party issues a whip for all its MPs and they have to follow it even if they have different view. We all accept the supremacy of the parliament, but at the same time, it should represent people not individual parties.
Second, Team Anna is not elected by the people. How can they claim to represent them? I agree, they are not elected by people, but they have also never claimed to be one. As a citizen of India, they have all the right to ask for a particular law. They have been just doing that and in the process got the support of the people who have the same opinion on this particular subject. The proposed JLP has gone through several round of discussions and has gone though many improvisations and it's still open changes on a logical basis. In fact, the present form is probably the 20th version of the original. So, it will be wrong to say that it is their bill, rather the JLP is the bill formed (or improvised) by the people of the country.
Third, is Anna Hazare blackmailing the government by fasting? Fasting is totally legal, ethical and powerful tool of protest in a democracy. It has been employed many times before and I don't think there is anything wrong with it. Most importantly, Nobody suffers because of it except for the person who is doing it. The fact is, it is not the fast of the Anna Hazare which is disturbing the government, but it is the backing of the people that the movement has garnered which is giving the sleepless nights to the government. There has been many other indefinite fasts (some even fatal) and much longer, but the government wasn't bothered by them because they did not have this kind of people's support. And this movement would have been faded as well if the people of the country were not fed up of the corruption that they face everyday.
The setting up of the deadline (though it was enough time) baffled me a bit in the starting because this kind of a law needs time to be drafted. But going by the incidents and intentions shown by the government in last nine months, I think this is the right way forward. Eight months are more than enough to draft any law. Whole constitution was prepared in about 2 years.
It is not about the time required, but the political will and honesty required to draft this law which is lacking in present system for understandable reasons. Nobody wants to give away his power easily and this time also it is not going to be any exception. You have to always fight for your rights in any part of world and this cause, I would say, is quite sacred and worth fighting for.
