Anna’s attempts to impose Jan Lokpal Bill misconceived: PM

“All of us agree that the Lokpal Bill should be passed by Parliament. The question is who drafts the law and who passes the law,” Singh said.

“It is the sole prerogative of Parliament to make laws and government has gone by well-settled principles,” the Prime Minister said.

Stating Hazare’s methods were fraught with “grave consequences” for Parliamentary democracy,Singh said he and his team must allow elected representatives of the people to do their job.

The Prime Minister detailed before members the sequence of events that led to Anna Hazare’s arrest,saying his detention and that of his colleagues’ was a “preventive measure” as they had rejected several key security suggestions by the Delhi Police.

Singh said the government “acknowledges” the right of citizens to hold peaceful protests,but reiterated Hazare refuses to come out “unless the government gives him an undertaking that he would be allowed to fast at Jai Prakash Narain park”.

He said permission for peaceful protests is always given subject to “appropriate conditions”.

Ignoring loud grumbles from the Opposition,Singh appealed to all political parties to ensure that Parliament functioned smoothly.

“The government does not seek any confrontation with any section of the society. But when some sections of society deliberately challenge the authority of the government and the prerogative of Parliament,it is the duty of the government to maintain peace and tranquility,” he asserted after a demand by all Opposition parties that nothing short of the Prime Minister’s statement would satisfy them.

“Hazare may be inspired by high ideals in his campaign to set up a strong and effective Lokpal. However,the path that he has chosen to impose his draft of a bill upon Parliament is totally misconceived and fraught with grave consequences for our Parliamentary democracy,” Singh said.

Singh,who spoke in Parliament soon after a Congress Core Group meeting,asserted that it is the sole prerogative of Parliament to make laws and government has gone by

well-settled principles.

Insisting that “the issue” between the government and Anna Hazare is “not one of different attitudes to fighting corruption”,the Prime Minister said civil society

activists “must allow the elected representatives of the people in Parliament to do the job that they were elected for”.

“With respect to the events of yesterday,I will only say that a functional democracy must allow multiple voices to be heard. But differences of opinion must be resolved through dialogue and consensus. Those who believe that their voice and their voice alone represents the will of 1.2 billion people should reflect deeply on that position,” he said.

Singh said everyone in Parliament agrees that Lokpal Bill must be passed as early as possible. “The question is,who drafts the law… I submit that the time-honoured practice is that the Executive drafts a Bill and places it before Parliament and that Parliament debates and adopts the Bill with amendments if necessary,” he said.

“However,I am not aware of any constitutional philosophy or principle that allows any one to question the sole prerogative of Parliament to make a law,” he observed.

He said that in making a law on Lokpal,the government has “faithfully adhered to well-settled principles” and Hazare “questions these principles and claims a right to impose his Jan Lokpal upon Parliament”.