Anna Hazare to end fast after Parliament agrees to all demands

There was confusion at the end of the day-long debate in both the Houses as Parliament was expected to vote a resolution.

Originally conceived as a resolution,Parliament converted its agreement on three issues raised by Hazare – citizen’s charter,lower bureaucracy under Lokpal through an appropriate mechanism and establishment of Lokayukta in the states — and to remit them to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for giving its recommendations.

In his communication to Hazare,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conveyed to him that Parliament has passed a resolution on the three issues raised by him and appealed to him to call off his fast.

Reacting to Parliament’s action after Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh handed over Singh’s letter,Hazare announced to the cheering crowds in Ramlila Maidan that “I wish to break my fast tomorrow at 10 am”.

“This victory of Jan Lokpal bill is a partial victory. A full victory is yet to be achieved,” he said while noting that Parliamentarians have respected his three demands.

“I congratulate them and express my gratitude to all MPs,” he said as celebrations broke out at the protest venue with crowds setting off fire crackers and dancing to the beating of drums and tunes of Lokpal anthem.

Beginning the anti-corruption debate in Parliament,Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had warned MPs to uphold the Constitution as they try to resolve the impasse with the activist who was on his twelfth day of fast Saturday.

After it became evident that Hazare would not give up his fast without a strong commitment from the government,Parliament met Saturday to debate the broad outlines of the Lokpal Bill that would create a government watchdog aimed at combating corruption.

Hazare and his team had demanded a discussion on the legislation that would contain three of his demands – inclusion of the lower bureaucracy under Lokpal,citizens’ charter in government offices and the creation of state Lokayuktas.

As all politicians rooted for a strong Bill,the government included Hazare’s demands in the fresh draft of the Bill.

Parliament then agreed that a ‘sense’ of the House discussion would be conveyed to Anna Hazare

In what can be seen as brinkmanship by civil society,Team Anna said mere discussion on the Bill was “unfortunate” and said they had been given impression that Parliament would pass a resolution on its decision to include Hazare’s demands in the fresh draft.

Team Anna wanted the government’s commitment to be more binding. They said it would be ‘unfortunate’ if Parliament didn’t pass a resolution on the government’s endorsement of Hazare’s demands

After some back-channel running around,during which the Prime Minister also met prominent Opposition leaders to forge a cross-party consensus on the resolution,it was agreed that a resolution would be passed too.

After the government changed its stand,Team Anna announced they were “very happy” with the development.

On the last hiccup,Anna aide Prashant Bhushan said: “Last night we were assured that Parliament would pass a resolution to include Anna’s demands… which would be voted upon. Anna had put his demands in a letter to the PM. Now we are being told there won’t be a resolution. There will only be a discussion and some sense of the House will be conveyed to us. This won’t be helpful or meaningful at all.”

Bhushan said: “This is an unfortunate response to what Anna had written to the Prime Minister. We thought the whole object of today’s discussion would be the resolution.”

Political observers feel Team Anna’s demand for a resolution was nothing but semantic posturing since the government had already agreed to include Anna’s demands in the Bill. In Parliament too,politicians across party lines reaffirmed the need for the strongest possible law to deal with corruption.

Meanwhile,social activist Anna Hazare continued his fast at the Ramlila Maidan,much weaker on the twelfth day of his fast – a form of protest that is now being increasingly criticised as one that held the government and Parliament to ransom.

Actor Aamir Khan and director Raju Hirani were also seen on the dais with Anna Hazare in the afternoon,extolling the need for an anti-corruption Bill. Khan also requested the Gandhian to end his protest while Parliament passed the Bill through due process.