Not just Lokpal

At the all-party meet to discuss the Lokpal bill,the Central government came under sharp attack from opposition parties for bypassing the established procedure in law-making. Yet,even in its fractiousness the gathering underscored a return to established procedure,with little support expressed for Anna Hazares random deadline for passage of the bill. The government has committed itself to introducing the Lokpal bill in the monsoon session of Parliament next month thereupon,most political parties,including the BJP,pointed out,it would be in possession of Parliaments processes. It should,they said,go to the standing committee so that a range of views and opinion could be invited and considered. It was unlikely therefore,they said,that it could be passed before the winter session.

This assertion of Parliaments processes and calendar is well-taken. Given the extra-constitutional scheme for a Lokpal advocated by some civil society representatives,the debate these past months has been as much about tackling corruption as about the existing system of checks and balances. Political leaders were not very forthcoming on their views on what the eventual shape of the Lokpal bill should be and they may have been strikingly combative but such an exchange of views does its bits to return sanity to the debate. Of concern,recently,was a drift towards impatience with the messy,but liberty-ensuring,processes of democracy. Through the summer there was no doubt that Parliament would eventually take charge of the proposed legislation and address itself to its compatibility with the checks and balances provided in the Constitution,as the PM on Sunday underlined that it must. The anxiety was that parliamentarians needed to be sufficiently forthcoming to assert Parliaments sovereignty and articulate their role for the greater common good.

Therefore,it is not enough to have an all-party meet to gauge,by proxy,a sense of the House.

In this lead-up to the monsoon session,which will follow upon an abandoned winter session and a truncated budget session,the government must engage the opposition constructively. There is a huge backlog of legislation that requires floor management. Preparation must begin now.