New Delhi:
On Day 5 of Anna Hazare's hunger strike, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has hit a conciliatory note saying there is a lot of scope for give and take.
"We have presented a Lokpal Bill in Parliament. This was the demand of all political parties when I convened that conference (on July 3). They said we can't give you our viewpoint unless and until you come out with a draft. We have fulfilled that obligation. We are open to discussion and dialogue. We would like a broad national consensus to emerge. We are all in favour of Lokpal which is strong, which is effective. And, therefore, there is a lot of scope for give and take and our hope is that we can enlist the cooperation of all thinking segments of Indian public opinion to ensure that the end product is a strong and effective Lokpal, which all sections of our community want," said the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister urged everyone to respect the Parliamentary process; he said the Lokpal Bill was in front of a Standing Committee where everyone could give their opinion.
"There are difficulties. Certain stages have to be crossed and we hope people will appreciate that there is a dynamic of legislative process that takes time to get over. We must work together to push forward the case for strong and effective Lokpal, and should remove obstacles in the way," the Prime Minister added.
The government is engaged in a battle with the civil society activists over the Lokpal draft bill. The civil society, led by social activist Anna Hazare and his team which includes RTI activist and Magsaysay Award winner Arvind Kejriwal, prominent father-son lawyer duo Prashant and Shanti Bhushan, and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, wants their version of the bill - which they call the Jan Lokpal Bill - to be passed by Parliament. The government, on the other hand has presented its own version of the bill on the floor of the House.
While Team Anna has outright rejected the government's version of the bill saying it supports the corrupt, the government says the civil society's draft proposes too much power in one single body which could be dangerous.
The Opposition points out that the government first invited Anna and his associates to help draft the Lokpal Bill, which is aimed at sterilising public office from corruption. When Team Anna's agenda for the bill proved to be different from the government's, the activists' suggestions were discarded. "You led them up the garden path and then you deserted them," charged BJP leader Arun Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha earlier this week, salting the wound. Because the Opposition was not invited either to negotiate with Team Anna or to examine the bill that was being drafted, the government finds little support for its charge that by challenging the bill, Team Anna is undermining Parliament.