New Delhi:
The government insists that it did not play dirty to ensure that last night, the Lokpal Bill was not put to vote in the Rajya Sabha. "The BJP are the real assassins of democracy," said the Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi. But every major political party today - including Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress - said the government down the country by manipulating the proceedings in the House to ensure a vote did not take place before the session of Parliament expired at midnight. "We are very very sad... the government handled it very badly. What happened yesterday was a caricature," said Derek O'Brien from the Triamool Congress. The BJP said that the government "ran away" from facing a vote. "India once had freedom at midnight," said the BJP's Arun Jaitley. "This was fleedom at midnight." The BJP highlighted that both the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, were present in the Rajya Sabha; both had blessed the swindle, said BJP leader Sushma Swaraj. (
Watch angry responses to govt's Lokpal farce)
But the government today defended itself and blamed the BJP for the fiasco with Home Minister P Chidambaram saying the BJP tried to force amendments down government's throat in the Rajya Sabha. "The BJP had no intention of passing the Lokpal Bill, its demands could not be reconciled in a few minutes. The BJP disappointed us as the government had succeeded in passing the bill in Lok Sabha.
He also defended the government's decision to not go for a vote in the Rajya Sabha. "The government has discharged its obligations bill has not been not defeated in the Rajya Sabha, we will take up the Lokpal Bill in Budget Session."
The Lokpal Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha earlier this week. The government says it will now be considered by the Rajya Sabha in the Budget Session of Parliament. "The government has once again betrayed the country," said Arvind Kejriwal, one of the activists who has spent the year fighting for a tough Lokpal Bill in a campaign led by 74-year-old Gandhian Anna Hazare. The Lokpal refers to a new ombudsman agency with nine members who will investigate politicians and bureaucrats for corruption. (
Read: Rajya Sabha ruckus scripted by government, says Team Anna) | (
Watch)
At 11 pm last night, during the last stretch of the debate on the Lokpal bill, the House slipped into chaos - orchestrated commotion, alleges the BJP. Rajniti Prasad, a member of Lalu Prasad's party flung papers around, provoking a 15-minute adjournment. He said today that he is proud of his actions, which he described as spontaneous. (
Watch) When the House reconvened, the government said the vote would have to be deferred. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal said the government needed time to go through the nearly 200 amendments that had been moved by different parties. (
Watch: Pawan Bansal on Lokpal Bill fiasco) "We are prepared to sit here all night," said the BJP's Arun Jaitley, but the offer for an all-nighter was not accepted. "The game plan was to ensure that the government did not accept important amendments," charged the Left's Sitaram Yechury. "They should have had decency and courage to openly state their position on what they wanted, why they were against our amendments," he added. Mr Jaitley said today that the BJP was in favour of passing a Lokpal Bill last night, but not without some major amendments.
Distraction and delays during the debate were a strategy that NDTV had predicted several hours earlier. The government drew up its sabotage plan after it became clear that it was totally isolated over a new flashpoint in the Lokpal Bill - the issue of federalism. It's new starring role came courtesy Ms Banerjee, who is a senior partner in the government. Her Trinamool Congress moved two amendments asking for the bill to be purged of all references to Lokayuktas or state-level anti-corruption agencies. The Trinamool said the section on Lokayuktas undermines the right of state governments to form their own graft laws. Despite reassurances and appeals from senior Congress leaders like Pranab Mukherjee, Ms Banerjee said she wanted her amendments to be put to vote. (
Watch: 'Case of assassins blaming victims', says Congress on BJP's allegations)
Ms Banerjee's MPs say that their opposition to the Lokayukta section or Part 3 of the bill had been expressed at the parliamentary standing committee, where the bill was discussed and reviewed between August and December. The Trinamool Congress says that like on other matters, the Congress showed little interest in or sensitivity to the concerns of its partner. (
Transcript: Lokpal Bill debate in Rajya Sabha)
The government today said that there are differences with allies, and that they will speak to them. "We have differences, but won't say Trinamool Congress' approach is confrontational," said Home Minister P Chidambaram.
Every regional party - from Mulayam Singh Yadav's to Mayawati's - used the Lokpal debate yesterday to assert that a violation of federal principles could not be tolerated. The BJP's Arun Jaitley had argued the same point ardently in his speech. The opposition seemed to have found a unifying cause, and the BJP was confident that the government could be defeated. By 5 in the evening, the government's status update was obvious: The emperor had no clothes. Mr Mukherjee met with two potential saviours - Lalu Prasad Yadav and Satish Chandra Misra of the BSP. Both parties had walked out before a vote on the Lokpal Bill in the Lok Sabha earlier this week. That helped the government push the bill through the Lower House. Yesterday, however, they said they could not repeat that strategy. (
Watch: BJP's agenda 'Support Anna, defeat Lokpal', says Narayanasamy)
The blame game has been extended by the Left to Ms Banerjee, an arch-rival in West Bengal who won the state election with historic margins this year. The Left accuses her of being the government's partner in crime. Referring to the fact that the same bill had been passed by the Lok Sabha earlier this week, Mr Yechury said, "TMC's sudden aggression to federalism issue was strange because two days in the Lok Sabha, they did nothing about this. "He also pointed out Ms Banerjee is represented in the Union Cabinet which cleared the Lokpal Bill before it was sent to Parliament.