Press Briefing
Tuesday, 13th December 2011
Shri Abhishek
Singhvi addressed the media today.
Shri Abhishek Singhvi said we bow our heads in
reverence and respect and of course in
remembrance for the bravery and the heroism
displayed by our fearless security staff that on
the sad day many years ago when this temple of
democracy was subjected to a dastardly attack.
The participation at Jantar-Mantar by some
political parties is clearly opportunistic and
based upon narrow and temporary political
expediency. These parties include the BJP, whose
President had officially written on behalf of
the entire party to Team Anna earlier,
committing his party to march under Anna’s
leadership. These and other political parties,
not only BJP, have assumed that riding piggy
back on the Anna’s band wagon whether through a
so-called anti-corruption yatra not involving a
single concrete anti-corruption step or getting
a duplicate Jan Lokpal Bill passed in
Uttarakhand. They assume that all this will get
them political power for which they are urgently
hungry and urgently greedy. We want to tell them
whether you have power or you do not have power,
get it or lose it on your own steam. Show your
own political spine. Do not lean upon others. If
you, we are saying this through you, were in
power and if you then would not have done all
the totally self-serving acts of bye-passing
sovereign constitutional and parliamentary
processes, do not do it merely because you are
now in opposition. If you set wrong precedents
and follow wrong precepts today, the hand which
you think feeds you today will bite you and bite
you ferociously tomorrow. If you predicate your
stand and your comments on the basis of approval
or approbation from Team Anna, you are clearly
admitting your own non-representative character.
If you give commitments to non-elected non
representative individuals outside parliament,
then you are admittedly rendering parliament and
all its organs superfluous and redundant. You do
not realize that your actions for grave and
potentially irreversible adverse comments on the
same concept of parliamentary democracy., We
want to tell such individuals and people that in
the ultimate analysis governance cannot be
allowed to suffer on account of obstructive or
intimidating techniques by any section of
society. We are certainly dogmatic on any issue
but equally no one can and no one should be
swayed by starry-eyed rhetoric to pass
unworkable legislation. It is time that all
political parties, both within the UPA and
outside, sit together and try to evolve a
political consensus whether on the convergence
or consensus, yields a legislation that is good
or bad or indifferent, it will at least be the
decision of those whom the constitution of India
and the Indian parliament has designated as
decision-makers. It will not be and should never
be allowed to be an outsourced decision making
process based upon an unconstitutional
delegation of sovereign parliamentary power to
non-representative third parties.
On the question of the reaction of the Congress
party that it was the government who had made
Team Anna a part of the process and also to make
the stand of the government clear whether PM
should be brought under the ambit of the Lokpal
or not and the situation arising out of the
opposition parties showing their support to Team
Anna by participating in the discussion at
Jantar-Mantar, Shri Singhvi said it has nothing
to do with venue. It has nothing to do with the
seminar/conference. There are political parties
who have chosen to go out and give extra
constitutional commitment in public to a third
party non-representative set of persons
pre-empting and freezing their stand which is
yet to come in parliament and the commitment is
given to seek approbation and approval – for
whom – not from this parliamentary gathering. In
fact, if you remember, 90% of the addressed you
saw on Sunday were fully strongly in
detail-seeking approval whenever the details
were given and 10% when some degree of a
different view point was sought to be expressed,
it was immediately jeered and booed down and
therefore, the descent never went into
specifics, it ended in rhetoric. This is a
reality. This is not a conference/seminar. It is
officially sending of party representative to
declaration of commitment not to parliament, not
to a closed-door well thought stand in the
national interest but to get claps and perceived
support which they think and we think
mistakenly, will grease their path to power
which they appear to be desperate for.
Shri Singhvi added that once the bill of
legislation becomes parliamentary property,
everything changes. Prior to the introduction of
a bill, you can have all type of
seminar/conference. Shri Singhvi said that we
have not seen any of our allies present at
Jantar-Mantar and requested the media to leave
our allies to us. We are trying to reach a
consensus on the issue of bringing a strong
Lokpal. We will try our best that non-UPA
parties should be brought on board on the Lokpal
issue.
On the question that UPA is lacking
co-ordination, Shri Singhvi said it is very
important to dispel this misconception. It is a
misconception to suppose that periodically,
frequently regularly on all important issues, we
do not interact or meet with our allies. We do
so regularly. It is a different matter that some
issues are controversial and high profile and
therefore, they reach press. Other issues are
discussed unanimously behind closed-door but the
basic take away of all that I have said is that
it is important to generate consensus and a very
significant amount of convergence on fundamental
issues in relation to Lokpal Bill which
transcend and go well beyond even our UPA
allies. This involves principle and it will be
our endeavour to generate consensus even with
non-UPA segments of the political spectrum and
lastly please don’t try to have it your way, all
the way, all the time when we make efforts to
engage and involve all sections within the UPA
and without UPA, you should really approbate it.
This is really in that spirit of co-operation
that we are moving forward.
Shri Singhvi also added that it is the standing
committee which in its report has openly said
that all three issues of PM being in with
safeguard, being in without safeguard etc. and
therefore, in the interest of fairness, we are
giving all three views. So, therefore, let the
people think in calmer manner and if they are
working towards a consensus, please do not
belittle it.
Shri Singhvi said obviously the parliament is
sovereign, it can make further amendments. They
can dilute it more. They can make it different
but certainly I have a lot of optimism because I
believe that parliamentary wisdom and sense
collectively in the ultimate analysis transcends
all this ‘tu-tu’ ‘main-main’ and ‘chik-chik’.
(Tom Vadakkan)
Secretary, AICC
