A balanced view of the Anna-Lokpal issue ..

I have been swinging from one end of the spectrum to the other about this lokpal issue .While i find the idea of having a body that is independent of executive control to investigate and prosecute the corrupt people very appealing i am consumed by the logic of creating such an institution when we can expand the mandate of a body like CVC and CBI and reform those institutions to incorporate all the powers that are being proposed to be given to the Lokpal .

CVC is supposed to investigate and prosecute corrupt people , but the impediment to this is the powers the politicians and the chief secrataries have to prevent such an investigation from happening . The two preliminary things that need to be done to take this anti-corruption movement to the next level in our country is to remove that immunity that government employees and politicians enjoy and insulate the CBI and CVC by ensuring that the CBI and CVC stays independent the way election commission does .

Certainly Anna is not going to kill himself if the government does not bring the bill as per his wishes . That is a political hyperbole into which the naive people could be scared into . Neither is the Anna team expecting to get everything they seek nor their intentions are dictatorial or to create a super powerful body that is capable of swallowing everyone . This 'Anna is monster' story spread by his political opponents is just a defensive tactic of those politicians in the congress who have realized that Anna has touched the raw nerve and it would be suicidal to slander him . Instead they project him as a dictator . He is neither an inflexible authoritarian nor a delusion ed megalomaniac . He is someone in between who has genuinely good intentions of creating a strong anti corruption body but doesn't have the intellectual rigour to understand the flaws of existing institutions . He has derived his strength from the popular outrage and he thinks only on terms of creating a fresh institution which is independent .

I recall an old chinese proverb which say that 'A solution to a problem could create a new set of problems ' . I feel that Anna's team rided on a wrong and a more complex proposal instead of something that is far more catchy less complex and easily understandable to the people . Had Anna asked for an independent CBI and CVC on the lines of election commission he would not have faced this big a wall to climb . Ultimately Lokpal is going to address the complaints of citizens and have them investigated by the CBI or the CVC , had it been as simple and direct as the demand for the autonomy of CBI and CVC he would not have attracted this kind of flak . Now the entire political community is getting together to plot against Anna to sabotage lokpal . They will never give up the control of CBI or the CVC because that is the real thing . Anna made it easier to firewall him by demanding that CBI be placed under Lokpal . The lokpal which is a group of people(god knows how they will choose them) will be heading the CBI sounds even more precarious to a lot of experts on governance and the CBI itself finds the idea of being supervised by an appointed body even more abhorrent than being supervised by the home minister . That is why the CBI opposed it tooth and nail and the government will fully publicize that view to keep it's control over CBI .

The need of the hour is a constitutional autonomy to CBI and CVC the countries premier investigative bodies . Anna has ruined the soup by failing to understand this basic thing . His idea of moving the control of CBI from the home-ministry to a group of appointed people who are supposed to be independent is nauseating . He gave the government that hole to escape from and the congress party will take that hole to come out of it . I am for the independence of CBI i can never agree to place that under a Lokpal or any group of people . As far as the other demands of the Anna's team is concerned it's better to reform CVC and give it the mandate the Lokpal has instead of creating a whole new bureaucracy ..