On the FDI issue, the Congress-led UPA government did not bother to consult its allies before it decided to bring the measure to Parliament. The result was an embarrassing retreat when some allies decided to go with the Opposition rather than the government of which they were a part. Learning from this, the Congress was more circumspect and took the allies on board Tuesday when the Union Cabinet cleared a clutch of three bills relating to curbing corruption.
The Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill, the Whistleblowers’ Bill, and the Citizens’ Charter and Grievance Redress Bill are significant measures whose impact is designed to be widespread. It is, therefore, just as well that the government was careful to ensure there were no cracks within the ruling combine.
The measures designed to check corruption in the judiciary and to protect whistleblowers were ready to be brought to Parliament last year. That could not happen as the 2010 Winter Session was washed away due to the tussle between the ruling party and the Opposition on the question of having a joint parliamentary committee probe the 2G issue. If better sense had prevailed among our parties on important national issues, these important anti-corruption measures would already have been part of the statute book, and not got mixed up with the debate on the Lokpal question. In the absence of this, the Anna Hazare movement was handed the opportunity of campaigning misleadingly that the government had no mind to take firm action against corruption.
Deciding on the anti-corruption measures in the Cabinet after the concurrence of the allies, the Congress can be sure of passage of the legislation in the Lok Sabha. But it could encounter some hurdles in the Rajya Sabha, where the UPA’s position is not comfortable, and it must depend on the goodwill of a section of the Opposition. On Tuesday, the Opposition prevented human resources development minister Kapil Sibal from moving the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, and law minister Salman Khurshid had to withdraw a bill setting up commercial divisions in the high courts. This essentially means that the government will have to keep the Opposition parties in good humour even if it gets the three anti-corruption bills through the Lok Sabha. This may entail accepting some amendments that they might propose.
It’s evident that the Congress can’t take its allies for granted. If the Trinamul Congress knocked out the FDI Bill from consideration, on Tuesday the NCP’s Sharad Pawar didn’t allow the proposed food security law secure Cabinet approval on account of subsidy considerations. This is hardly an enviable position to be in. If the UPA-2 is to last the distance until 2014, it will have to look for a new paradigm of politics.