Anna Hazare is back with his demands, but govt drags feet

India's anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare is back with his demands for tough laws for curbing the alarming menace of corruption in the world's largest democracy; but the government of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh appears to be dragging its feet on the issue. The government had earlier accepted in principle that it would initiate laws that would fulfil Anna's demands; it has been contending since then that it continues to work in that direction. But the problem that has cropped up between the two sides is the parameter of the laws designed to be enacted as Anna is clamouring for widening the scope of the promised laws; he wants it to cover high-ups including those at the top of the administration and also the judiciary. It seems that two sides probably are locking horns here with one another and some other nitty-gritty while all agree that stern actions are needed for tackling the ever-increasing menace of corruption there in India. This differences notwithstanding, India has certainly woken up to a new and urgent national task -- the imperative for curbing corruption which has so far remained largely confined to a lip-service catchy word only, has now assumed a strong urgency for taking concrete actions to curb it. This is the real achievement of the on-going anti-graft campaign across the country even if the moot issue of the movement, which is the enactment of suitable laws, remains yet unrealised. The 74-year-old self-proclaimed "Gandhian" from the western state of Maharastra in India has taken the nation of 1.2 billion by storm by his agitation as the spirit of the movement has found resonance all over the country. An apolitical person and largely unknown until he shot into prominence only in recent times, Anna Hazare has stirred up a campaign that is being seen as unprecedented in India's more than sixty years of independence. Many political and social leaders definitely did great service for the people, but here is a person who has caught the pulse of the people on an issue that most see as main reason for its crippling burden on them. Consequently, a reverberation of the call for strong anti-graft laws is now palpable all over the country, with the New Delhi, government coming under increasing pressure to deliver on the issue. India has been wrecked in recent times by a series of financial scandals, causing furore all over. Anna Hazare with the members of his "Team Anna" held a one-day symbolic "hunger strike" a few days ago in the "Jantar Mantar" area in the heart of capital city of New Delhi, asking the government not to delay action on enactment of the promised "Lokpal" law that is designed to curb, if not eliminate graft, from the country. It is the same place -- site of his first such programme early this year when he attracted attention of all concerned to the alarming stage of corruption in the wider Indian psyche. The authorities had assured him of doing something and he then postponed his action for some time, but returned later, demonstrating a bigger fury as he felt nothing was done in substance by those in power to help curb corruption. This time, the septuagenarian social leader went on to "fast unto death" until the government accepted and implemented his demands. It was an unbelievable spectacle as the streams of people attended his programme in Delhi's "Ramlila ground" and there was a discernible impact of the campaign across the country. This made the government to take a serious note of the developments and finally the ruling party heavyweights -- Prime Minister Dr. Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and law minister Salman Kurshid and, of course, last but not the least, ruling Congress party general secretary Rahul Gandhi -- all moved quickly, after some initial dithering, to reach a deal. Anna was told that the laws would be enacted soon and implemented while the most influential leader of the ruling circle - Congress chief Sonia Gandhi -- was then in the US for urgent medial treatment. Anna called off the hunger strike after several days as the government demonstrated its seriousness while accepting the demands. But Anna now complains of inordinate delays and creation of ambiguities about the proposed law while the government says it is moving ahead to meet the pledge it made before. Anna says the bill must encompass top brasses for punishment for corruption and other details should also be accepted to make the law really effective. But the ruling Congress Party spokesman Rashid Alvi accuses Anna of "seeking to dictate" terms, noting that the parliament is the sovereign institution to do the needful in this regard. The government is not fully unambiguous about the nature of the law. Anna warns about a fresh bout of tougher agitation unless the demands in their true spirit are implemented. It now remains to be seen how the government moves -- especially how quickly and in what form. One big achievement for the non-political Anna in the last symbolic one-day programme is that opposition parties -- both right and left -- attended the campaign to express their solidarity with him. Anna's aides expressed disappointment that Mamata Baneerjee, the chief minister of the Indian state of "Paschambanga" (West Bengal) has not responded positively to his movement, even though she speaks against all pervasive corruption. Well, she probably can not do it so easily as her party is also an ally of the ruling Congress-led coalition at the centre. But Anna's team points out that Mamata does not see eye to eye with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in New Delhi on many issues and then why she should not support such a noble programme! However, it largely depends on Prime Minister Dr. Singh and UPA chief Sonia Gandhi to decide when and how Anna Hazare's demands would be met. Anna has kept the pot boiling. zaglulbss@yahoo.com