Rudderless,adrift

Recent events have a surreal quality — how could the sphere of legitimate and serious politics cede so much space,so rapidly,to this brigade of righteously aggrieved people?

Regrettable as this turn of events is,UPA 2 has only itself to blame. It has failed to speak up forcefully for its own arguments,whether with opposition parties,allies,or even an extra-parliamentary caucus like the NAC,and it has been strangely weak-willed in pushing the legislative agenda. By exposing its vulnerabilities,it practically invited this “civil society” insurgency. The trouble,after all,began with the government’s first capitulation — inviting Team Anna to a joint drafting committee for the Lokpal bill,but not the opposition. The government broke with established process and enlarged Team Anna’s aura then by choosing it as a stand-in for all of civil society. And after the negotiation went off the rails,the government then turned around and announced that Anna Hazare’s agitation encroached on the legitimate role of Parliament. This episode has been nothing but a straightforward crisis of statesmanship,as the opposition was quick to point out. It is an instructive study in what happens when the government slacks on law-making,and undermines Parliament with its own lack of direction. UPA 2 has displayed neither the courage of conviction to stick to its stands nor the ability to work at legislative compromise,to soften the opposition in the interest of getting critical bills moving. The last two sessions were largely thrown away,holding up crucial legislation intended to directly take on some aspects of this ongoing discontent.

There is little denying that the void left by Parliament in the last few months,and a lack of administrative quick-thinking,has contributed to a sense of disillusionment among certain constituencies. It is the government’s own lack of mindful application,even on small,doable reforms,that has been exploited by Hazare and his supporters. Even though there are several bills in the works meant to do away with discretion and take on official corruption — the public procurement bill and the judicial accountability bill,among others — there is no sense that the government is throwing its girth behind any of its initiatives in Parliament. As the opposition rightly pointed out in a recent debate,it is the government’s lack of statecraft that is now costing it so dearly.