Opinion ‘Anna Hazare has made his point’

Madam,I would like to assert before this House that I have been in the service of this country for nearly 41 years. In these 41 years of my public life,20 years in Parliament,I have tried to serve this country to the best of my ability.

…All I can say is that if any wrongdoing has been done by me,I invite the leader of the opposition to look at my property which I may have accumulated in the last 41 years,the members of my family… (Interruptions)

I would accept the verdict of the leader of the opposition if they find that I have used public office to amass wealth for myself or for any member of my family.

Madam,in the course of seven years as prime minister,I may have made mistakes. Who is above making mistakes? To err is human but to accuse me of evil intentions,of conniving at corruption is a charge I firmly repudiate…

Shri Anna Hazare has gone on fast. His plea is that we should adopt the Jan Lokpal bill that has been drafted by them. The background of this whole exercise is well known to this august House. We have sittings together with the five representatives of Shri Anna Hazare,including himself,who met with our five representatives and a large measure of agreement was reached with regard to the shape of the Lokpal bill that we should have. On certain matters there was disagreement,and that disagreement could not be resolved — and therefore we have referred that matter for consideration of the all-parties committee,and the consensus was that the government should come with its own version of the bill,and various parties would then reflect on what to do with that bill. We discharged that obligation. We submitted that bill to Parliament. It has now been referred to the standing committee.

This standing committee can consider all options,and we can find ways and means of ensuring that the bill that has been prepared by Shri Anna Hazare is given due consideration by this committee. Also,along with this,there are other ideas. There is Dr Jayaprakash Narayan’s group which produced a bill; there are ideas which have been mentioned in a paper by Shrimati Aruna Roy. All these matters can be discussed,debated and a consensus can be built up in the standing committee. We are open to all suggestions. We will work with all sections of this House to have a Lokpal who is strong,who is effective,and about which there is a national consensus.

We have produced a bill which reflects the thinking of our government. But we are open to persuasion,and we have an open mind — and when we discuss this bill,whether in Parliament or in the standing committee,we will work with a single-minded devotion to ensure that we leave behind for posterity a Lokpal bill which does credit to our concerns for meeting the challenge of corruption.

Madam,yesterday there was a very good meeting of all political parties. All political parties agreed that we should request Shri Anna Hazare to give up his fast and that we should find ways and means to ensure that ideas reflected in the Jan Lokpal bill are given adequate consideration in parliamentary processes,and that we should come forward with a strong,effective bill which has the broad support of the country as a whole. I commit our government to working with all sections of the House to realise this dream.

Therefore,I urge all members of the House to join me in making an appeal to Shri Anna Hazare that he has made his point. It has been registered with us. I respect his idealism. I respect him as an individual. He has become the embodiment of our people’s disgust and concern about tackling corruption. I applaud him,I salute him. His life is much too precious — and,therefore,I would urge Shri Anna Hazare to end his fast.

We will find effective ways and means of discussing the Jan Lokpal bill,along with the government version of the bill,along with Shrimati Aruna Roy’s bill,along with the ideas in the paper that Dr Jayaprakash Narayan has submitted. All ideas should be discussed,debated so that we have a bill which is the best possible bill,which will help us to deal with the problem of corruption.

Madam,it has been mentioned to me that Shri Anna Hazare and his colleagues are very keen that their bill should be discussed in the Parliament. I have not thought over this matter in great depth,but a thought comes to me that perhaps we could have a debate in this House on all the bills that are in the public domain,and have a discussion on what are the weak points of various bills,and what are the strong points of various bills — and at the end of that debate,send the whole record for consideration of the standing committee.

I have a feeling that this will meet the point that Shri Anna Hazare and his colleagues have been making that Parliament must have a chance to give its views on their bill before sending it to the standing committee,and therefore,I submit to this august House that this is one via media which will respect parliamentary supremacy — and,at the same time,enable Parliament to take on board ideas contained in the Lokpal bill drafted by Shri Anna Hazare and his colleagues.

Madam,I conclude by appealing to all sections of the House to join in the appeal that I have made to Shri Anna Hazare that his life is much too precious.

We would like him to live a long life and a happy life in the service of our people. He has registered his point. Therefore,we respectfully request him to end his fast. I think that if we do it,then this would be a befitting finale to this very constructive debate on corruption and in tackling it that has taken place in this House since yesterday.

From a speech to the Lok Sabha on August 25