UPA problem: NAC shoe is on the other (NGO) foot

The NAC Working Group is already seized of the Lokpal Bill,and the Council and what appears to be its shadow council — the joint committee — are now set to come out with two different drafts of the legislation.

Several civil rights champions told The Indian Express that they had stayed away from Hazare’s fast because it had been “hijacked” by activists like Arvind Kejriwal,who had met yoga guru Baba Ramdev at least twice in the past few weeks to discuss the proposed law.

Prominent members of the NAC Working Group had tried as recently as last Sunday to persuade Kejriwal and others to put up a united front for the anti-corruption law.

NAC Working Group member Harsh Mander sought to play down the differences between the ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ activists. “Diversity of opinion in civil society is a good thing,” he said.

Mander,however,expressed reservations about the proposed joint committee to re-draft the Bill. “Civil society has to be consulted in drafting legislations,but they cannot themselves be making laws,” Mander told The Indian Express. “What should worry us is howsoever important and powerful this body (Lokpal) must be,it has to follow due process and cannot be without checks and balances.”

NAC chairperson Sonia Gandhi today appealed to Hazare to end his fast.

“I am pained by Anna Hazareji’s fast unto death. The issues he has raised are of grave public concern. There can be no two views on the urgent necessity of combating graft and corruption in public life. I believe that the laws in these matters must be effective and must deliver the desired results. I am sure that Anna Hazareji’s views will receive the government’s full attention as we move forward to fight this menace. Iappeal to Annaji to give up his fast,” she said.

Within the Congress,there are strong reservations about the activists’ demand that they should be involved in the drafting of the legislation. However,the Congress itself began the trend — NAC I and II have been drafting and vetting many crucial legislations of the UPA government,including NREGA,the Food Security Bill and the Forest Rights Act.

Sonia has allowed NAC members to reject the Communal Violence Bill,which she herself cleared when Shivraj Patil was home minister. Patil and she exchanged over half a dozen letters in 2005 and 2006,with detailed suggestions on the clauses in the Bill. Last year,however,NAC II decided to re-draft the Bill.

On the proposed Food Security Bill,Sonia is learnt to be inclined to accept the government’s explanation against universal entitlements,but NAC members have managed to stall it so far.