New Delhi:
India will not get its anti-corruption Lokpal Bill this year. Minutes ahead of its midnight deadline, the government said the bill would not be put to vote in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday night. The announcement followed 45 minutes of chaos, commotion that the BJP alleged was choreographed because the government which knew it would lose the vote. "The government is running away from the House. A government that runs away from Parliament does not have the right to stay in office for a minute longer," said the party's Arun Jaitley. "It is a dark night for Indian democracy," tweeted Sushma Swaraj. (
Watch: UPA Govt stands exposed, says Ravi Shankar Prasad) The Prime Minister who was in the Rajya Sabha did not comment. Activists like Kiran Bedi who are a part of Anna Hazare's group said this proves that people have the right to be mistrustful of the government.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal said at 11.45 pm that it is the government's prerogative to decide when the vote takes place. He also said to extend this session of Parliament, which expired at midnight, the President's assent was required. "We are ready to sit all night," retorted Mr Jaitley. (
Watch: Biggest fraud on democracy, says Jaitley) But Mr Bansal said more than 130 amendments have been moved and the government needs time to study them and respond. The Left's Sitaram Yechury asked, "Do you have a plan for when the vote will happen? If you don't have a plan, say so," he said. (
Read: Lokpal debate - who said what)
By the evening, reports were surfacing that the government would try to dodge a vote by provoking chaos in the last stretch of the debate. At about 5 pm, Lalu Prasad Yadav of the RJD meeting Pranab Mukherjee. It was Lalu's MP, Rajniti Prasad, who tore up a copy of the Lokpal Bill shortly after 11 pm. (
Watch) That triggered shouts and protests. The Samjawadi Party, led by Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has often bailed the government out, added to the noise. Mulayam's MPs shouted "The majority of the House rejects this bill. Take it back." The House was then adjourned for a crucial 15 minutes.
By 7 pm, it was clear that the government had no dance partners. In the Upper House, where it is in a minority, every party it approached said it could not help. The government's isolation was the result of the staunch opposition to the bill from Mamata Banerjee, a senior member of the government. She wanted the Bill to be purged of all references to the Lokayuktas - the state-level anti-corruption bodies that are meant to replicate the Lokpal or national ombudsman agency. Ms Banerjee's party argued that the Bill violates the right of states to form their own laws to check graft. For the rest of the Bill, she said, she would back the government. When the Lokpal Bill was put to vote in the Lok Sabha, Mulayam and Lalu helped the government by walking out. Their abstention brought down the strength of the House and made it easier for the government to skid past the half-way mark. This time around, they said they could not repeat the favour - no party can afford to risk the perception that it did not fight to protect the constitution's federal principles.
For the BJP, the Lokayukta issue brought the chance to take on the government with a united Opposition. It wanted to push the government into a vote. In his impressive speech in the morning, Mr Jaitley had accused the government of serving up "a constitutional cocktail" by mixing together different articles of the constitution to impose its views upon state governments. "We are both tee-totallers but your constitutional cocktail lacks punch," replied the Congress' Abhishek Manu Singhvi, whose lengthy defence of the bill was also gripping. (
Read: Jaitley vs Singhvi - the big fight on Lokpal Bill)
In the evening, Mr Mukherjee met with Lalu Prasad Yadav and Satish Mishra of Mayawati's BSP, reportedly to ask for a bailout. With her 18 Mps, Mayawati could have been a game-changer. But sources say that both Lalu and the BSP told the government they would have to support Ms Banerjee's amendments.
When asked why it waited till the last minute to share its objections, Ms Banerjee's party said that the Congress had failed to seek its views. "States should be taken into confidence and consideration in a much better way than it has been. We were not taken into confidence," said Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar of the Trinamool Congress. The complaint was voiced last by Ms Banerjee's party when she forced the government to suspend its reforms in retail. Congress leaders responded by pointing out that the draft of the Lokpal Bill had been cleared by the Union Cabinet, where Ms Banerjee is represented. (
Watch: Hope the Lokpal Bill comes up in Budget Session, says Salman Khurshid)
If a single change had been made to the Lokpal bill on Thursday, it would have journeyed back to the Lok Sabha because the legislation cleared by the Rajya Sabha will be different than what the Lower House cleared two nights ago. Before the Lok Sabha vote, the government had altered the language on Lokayuktas to make it clear that state governments could choose not to notify it or enact it in their states. But Ms Banerjee felt that even after the changes, the Bill impeded upon the autonomy of state legislatures.