The Indian government sighed with relief on Wednesday after parliament’s Lower House passed an anti-corruption bill that has become a political albatross around the neck of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s coalition. The bill, creating a powerful ombudsman to probe graft among senior politicians and civil servants, was passed by a voice vote in the Lok Sabha late on Tuesday after a fractious debate. The legislation has dominated the political agenda in India for months, piling pressure on Singh’s administration which was already the target of fierce criticism over a series of high-profile corruption scandals.
The government had to redraft an earlier version in the wake of mass protests across the country in August, spearheaded by hunger-striking activist Anna Hazare who insisted the proposed bill was too weak. Hazare and opposition parties had opposed the re-draft on the same grounds, and the 74-year-old activist began a fresh, three-day public fast on Tuesday in Mumbai to try to pressure parliament into rejecting the bill. There was no immediate reaction from the Hazare camp to the vote in the Lower House. His supporters had promised to pursue a campaign of civil disobedience if the bill was passed.
The government’s victory was tampered by its failure to get the two-thirds majority required to make the bill a constitutional amendment. “This is a bit of disappointment that it could not be passed,” Singh said afterwards.
It was a personal defeat for Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty and widely tipped as future prime minister, who had initiated the move to give the ombudsman’s office constitutional status. There is also a strong chance that final passage of the bill could be delayed as it faces a rough ride in the upper house of parliament, where Singh’s ruling coalition is in the minority.
Nevertheless, analysts said on Tuesday’s vote would give a major boost to the government, which has suffered a series of legislative setbacks in recent months and battled repeated accusations of policy drift.
“They have proved that they can get things done and learn from their mistakes,” said Sanjay Kumar from the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
It will give an especially welcome fillip to Singh’s ruling Congress Party ahead of a series of crucial state elections over the next two months.
“The Congress has not just silenced the opposition but also the civil society members who were their biggest threat,” said Anjana Mathur, a political science professor at Delhi University.
It remains to be seen if Tuesday’s vote will take all the steam out of Hazare’s campaign, which had unleashed a tide of public anger and frustration over official corruption earlier in the year.
The first day of his hunger strike in Mumbai drew around 10,000 people, well down on the 50,000-strong crowds that supported his previous fast in August in New Delhi.
Only a few hundred turned out for the second morning of his strike Wednesday and a team of doctors was monitoring Hazare regularly, amid concern about the effects of not eating on top of a virus he has been trying to shake off.
“Anna is continuing his fast. He is feeling better but has been advised to rest,” said Preeti Sharma Menon, a volunteer with Hazare’s India Against Corruption campaign.
