Appoint lokpal, now

It was the anti-corruption movement, also dubbed the 'janlokpal movement', of 2011 that perhaps turned the tide against the then UPA government. The allegedly apolitical 'rising' - many important proponents of which subsequently went on to occupy high political offices - gave rise to a national hope for a corruption-free India. The biggest beneficiary of the public angst was the BJP, which in 2014 was swept to office with an astonishing majority, giving it powers to make and amend laws as it wished. The irony is that it was the UPA that passed the law to institute the office of lokpal in the last months of its government, and the BJP government more than three years later is yet to make the appointment.

The Supreme Court, at the end of many admonishments over the years, has finally made it clear to the government that there is no legal hurdle if it were to appoint the lokpal. There is the niggling issue of the absence of the Leader of the Opposition, required to be on the selection committee for the lokpal. But that, as has been made clear by the Supreme Court, cannot be seen as a debilitating impediment under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013. What baffles most citizens is that any solution to the supposed hurdle is entirely in the hands of the government! There can be no resistance from the Congress if the government were to push through any law or precedent to declare the leader of the largest opposition party as the Leader of the Opposition. 

For the time being, the Supreme Court has relieved the government of any legal liability if it appoints a lokpal without the Leader of the Opposition. Morally, the government should be obliged to take the crucial step towards curbing corruption in high offices, of which it made something of a fetish. Above all, there can be no better opportunity than this to appoint a lokpal without the consent of the Opposition, and yet make huge political capital. If the government still does not do it, it would invite serious suspicions about its intention.