I am not one of those who say 'I told you so'.
But in the case of Anna Hazare fast, I have to.
I am still skeptical about the whole issue. Read some excepts from the media below,
A senior government functionary conceded that the manner in which the PM handled the issue and the government's ineffectiveness in nipping the entire movement in the bud speaks volumes for the mismanagement within the government.
Till as late as Thursday night, the government was hopeful that the issue would be sidetracked once the Indian Premier League started, according to a senior functionary in the Prime Minister's Office.
Since Sonia Gandhi's public appeal to Hazare on Thursday to end his fast, there has been a flurry of political activity, with the Congress president calling a meeting of the core committee on Friday morning before she left for Assam.
So, once again, PM Manmohan Singh has mishandled an issue and the Queen has intervened to do the damage control. How many times have we seen this drama being enacted.
There are many unanswered questions,
The panel contains 50% from the Government and 50% from the Civil Society. Fair enough. But why is it that no one from the Opposition Parties is in the panel? Why did the Government call an all party meeting before announcing the deal? Surely, the Government cannot hope to pass the bill without the Opposition support in both the Houses of Parliament.
There is this funny statement that Government thought an agitation on Corruption will die down once IPL starts. I dont believe it, but I dread to think of the implications if that were to be true. How juveline!
It is also amusing to see Rahul Gandhi going underground when the agitation was on. He was in the forefront during the IPL later stages. Doesnt tell much about the priorities of the PM in waiting.
My other worry is that the Scams like 2G, CWG, Adarsh Housing etc will be pushed under the carpet now, with Government taking the moral high ground that they are enacting an act against corruption.
While 2G Scam is being monitored by Supreme Court, it is noteworthy that the notional loss to exchequer as per the Charge Sheet is around 40,000 crores and not 1.76 lakhs crore. There is a huge discrepency here. The Government has been dragging its feet on the CWG Scam as it involves only Congressmen. The Shinglu committee report that indicted Delhi CM Sheila Dixit , Lt General and Kalmadi is buried for now. Kalmadi has not even been arrested. No effort has been made to chase the money trail. Only some poor third level bureaucrats have been taken into custody so far. The probe will reach no where. And everyone has already forgotten the Adarsh Scam.
Enacting a Lok Pal bill with teeth is to prevent future scams, but what about the current mega scams?
Will the culprits be brought to justice? Why is there no mass movements against these Scams?
