It is a sign of sagacity on the part of all concerned — the UPA-2 government and the Jantar Mantar movement led by the eminent social activist with a flair, Anna Hazare — that the campaign to appoint an effective Lok Pal, or ombudsman, with the aim of checking corruption in high places has ended to the satisfaction of protagonists on both sides in just under four days. The campaign had attracted a ground swell of sympathy and support across the country in the backdrop of a spate of cases in recent months suggestive of self-aggrandisement by top officials charged with national responsibilities, as the national leadership looked on while irregularities were being committed. In the prevailing atmosphere, the case of establishing the institution of an ombudsman with teeth appealed to the country as a whole, particularly the articulate middle class. “If not now, then when?” can be said to have been the underlying motif of the campaign. If it had been allowed to drag on, a mood of bitterness is apt to have set in with unpredictable consequences that might have emerged as a challenge to the idea of rules and procedures, to the notion of due process, and to the structures of the politico-administrative system which — for all its flaws — rests on the sound template of a parliamentary order animated by an idea of democracy that has been won in decades past through the sacrifices of countless women and men of this country, not by a chosen few, or a few who consider themselves wise or righteous. Mr Hazare had given a call for “jail bharo” after April 13. Not a few in his ranks were advocating the overturning of the Constitution in the interest of speedy justice, “hanging” the guilty without recourse to established judicial norms — in effect, kangaroo courts — and lynching politicians.
It is clear that in the end Mr Hazare himself took charge of the proceedings while letting other notables, and not a few self-styled eminences, by his side engage in contact and discussions with the government. The appointing of a co-chairman from the side of civil society, and not insisting on chairmanship of the committee that would work out the details of the proposed legislation to create the institution of the Lok Pal, is a manifest contribution on his part. It brought to a finale the hugely popular civil movement that had centred on the selfless personality of this doughty warrior for community and national causes. It is also to the credit of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose intervention from the side of the establishment readily recognised the validity of the national aspiration for governance free of corruption, highlighted most specifically through the persona of Mr Hazare. The committee, with equal representation from the government and outside (of which Mr Hazare will be a member), to offer concrete ideas on the province, composition and authority of the national ombudsman, must now fulfil its mandate with due thoughtfulness and dispatch. In line with established procedures, the proposed bill then must go through the Union Cabinet to be ready for introduction in the Monsoon Session of Parliament in July. This will be a complex exercise in which expertise from the field of politics, law and administration — not to mention a social conscience — must come together to give us something meaningful. The committee that has been brought into being does appear to meet these considerations, although some may wonder why a father and son pair are represented on it from the side of civil society. But this cannot impair the exercise. In the 40-odd years that the idea of the Lok Pal has been on the table, successive governments have not quite warmed to the essence of the idea. The Manmohan Singh government has the opportunity to change this record.