New Delhi, June 6
Amidst a nationwide clamour for corruption-free India, the government today made it clear that it would finalise the structure of the much-awaited Jan Lokpal Bill by June 30, as promised earlier, with or without the participation of Anna Hazare-led people’s group on the joint drafting committee.

By the end of the day, the split between the civil society and the government camp of the committee was wide open, clouding the possibility of consensus on the crucial law, the sole instrument available to common man to fight corruption in high places.

The government in fact tore into Anna’s tirade against its intentions over the Bill, warning him against conducting unbecoming discourse in the public. “We have been called names. Are we cheats or liars? We reject such language in the strongest terms and hope for cooperation from the civil society group which is raising irrelevant extraneous matters that have nothing to do with the committee’s mandate,” Union HRD Minister and committee member Kapil Sibal said, firefighting for the government.

He reminded Anna of the cooperation extended to him during the constitution of the committee. “Did we even once question credentials of the people Anna nominated?” the minister asked.

Simply put, the government rejected as untenable the new points the group today made to justify its boycott of the meet. In a letter to panel chairman and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the members blamed their absence on the government saying - it (the government) was non-serious about public consultations on the Bill as it had refused to have a national televised debate on the contents; its actions didn’t inspire confidence that the Bill would be drafted by June 30, given its crackdown on Ramdev’s anti-corruption protest; it wasn’t making its stand clear on whether the PM and judges would be covered or only 3,000 officers would fall under the law’s ambit as currently proposed; it was casual about responses to the Bill as it sent out a six-point questionnaire to political leaders and CMs, asking them to tick mark the right or wrong choices.

Sibal firmly dismissed these points, asking Anna what the Ramdev episode or a debate had to do with drafting of the law. He called the MCQ questionnaire (which the Left condemned as frivolous) a “tool for convenience” saying leaders were free to send detailed responses.

“First they accuse us of being non-serious about the deadline; then they want a televised debate. We are here to prepare the law by June 30, not raise irrelevant issues. We will bring the Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament and hope for civil society cooperation,” Sibal said.

The committee, meanwhile, finalised several sections of the Bill today and put the onus of forward movement on Anna’s group by advancing the next meeting to June 15 on his request.

Whatever their intentions, Anna and his friends today found themselves politically isolated on the issue, with even the BJP warning the government against allowing nominated persons to take precedence over elected representatives.

Responding to the Lokpal draft, BJP president Nitin Gadkari wrote, “Supremacy of the Constitution and the principle of checks and balances must be maintained. Only Parliament can make laws.” BSP chief Mayawati questioned the manner in which the government has sought reactions of political leaders to the Bill - in an MCQ format.

“This is against the established parliamentary practice,” she wrote, with the CPM and CPI general secretaries Prakash Karat and AB Bardhan, respectively, also refusing to respond to the same, saying it was an improper manner and they would present their views in Parliament.