Anna Hazare weakens, government succumbs to his demands

Eight days after Anna Hazare went on a fast demanding a strong Lokpal Bill, Team Anna met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and it was almost a victory of sorts for the team but for three major issues.

Team Anna told Mukherjee that both the senior and the lower bureaucracy have to come under the Lokpal’s ambit. Also, all states should have Lokayuktas and every department a citizen’s charter that will mark out the duties of every official. Should an official fail in his duty, his/her salary should be deducted.

After the meeting, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan said the government had acceded to their demand that the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Bureau be kept under the Lokpal.

Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal told the protesters that it was a big achievement as the government had accepted almost all their demands, including that of keeping the PM under the Lokpal.

But Team Anna too accepted the government’s suggestion of a separate bill for the judiciary. Bedi said another meeting with the government, most likely with Mukherjee, would be held at 10am on Wednesday.

Government sources expressed confidence that the Lokpal issue would be resolved by Wednesday morning. As soon as the talks finished the government called a meeting of the committee on political affairs to decide the next course of action as Anna Hazare’s health continued to deteriorate.  

Bhushan told the media that “the government had agreed to many issues”.

Arvind Kejriwal said, “We are insisting that their bill be allowed to lapse and our version be introduced and passed in this session itself.” If need be, the government should extend the session, Kejriwal said.

Earlier in the day, prime minister Manmohan Singh finally called in his senior cabinet colleague and veteran crisis manager Mukherjee to open a channel with the Hazare’s associates. But the groundwork for the meeting was carried out in a series of secret meetings that had begun a day earlier on the initiative of East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit with key Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal.

Top government sources told DNA that the Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit called on the PM in the morning to come up with a radical solution to resolve the deadlock. She suggested that her son, Sandeep, and her political secretary Pawan Khera be deployed to bring in a recalcitrant Kejriwal to the talking table.

Both Sandeep and Khera have a substantial background in the NGO circuit because both of them have worked together for years in Rajasthan on various development issues. While Sandeep had built up a relationship with Kejriwal, Khera had a working understanding with Bedi and was also an “advisor” to her NGO, India Vision Foundation. Both of them appealed to Kejriwal to come and meet them on Monday afternoon. Once the meeting ended on Monday, both sides agreed to meet again on Tuesday.

The day began early on with four meetings before the final meeting with Mukhejee could be worked out. First, Sandeep and Khera met Kejriwal after which both sides called in Union law minister Salman Khurshid.

As the day progressed Khurshid rushed to meet Mukherjee while Khera continued to hold meetings with Kejriwal and his associate Akhil Gogoi, activist from Assam. Gogoi, who had taken on the Congress leadership in Assam, proved to be an asset in the talks, a source said. Khera took Kejriwal and Gogoi to meet Khurshid where Bhushan and Bedi joined them for a final round of talks before going to meet Mukherjee.

Sources told DNA that the decision to field Mukherjee came after Dikshit and Khera managed a breakthrough in the morning. But it was made clear to the senior party leader and the government that Team Anna would never agree to a meeting with ether home minister P Chidambaram or telecom minister Kapil Sibal.

With options running out and general secretary Rahul Gandhi not too keen to be seen playing a role at this stage, they decided to bring in Mukhrejee. “Rahul felt this should be dealt by the government and not the party,” a senior party source told DNA. “He argued that if he stepped in, it would make the government look weak.”

What helped both sides to soften their stand was Hazare’s deteriorating health as doctors looking after him raised an alarm on Tuesday evening. While they felt that Hazare be moved to hospital and put on a saline drip, the veteran Gandhian remained adamant on not moving out of Ramlila Maidan without a concrete commitment from the government on the bill.

In fact, even as talks began with Mukherjee in North Block, Hazare stepped out on stage to appeal to the crowd to prevent anyone from taking him to hospital. “The doctors have told me that there are some problems with my kidney but I refused to take any medicine. Form a human chain if they try to take me away,” he said before going back to his makeshift resting quarters backstage.

During the day, the PM sent a personal letter to Hazare that was more verbose than substance. “...In view of my deep and abiding concern for your health our government is prepared to request the Speaker, Lok Sabha, to formally refer the Jan Lokpal Bill also to the Standing Committee for their holistic consideration along with everything else,” he said.

But Hazare was in no mood to buy anymore hollow assurances and stuck to his guns for a more substantive agreement.