The Lok Sabha saw a verbal duel between Leader of the Opposition, Ms Sushma Swaraj, and the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, during the Lokpal Bill debate on Tuesday.
Accusing the UPA Government of “sowing the seeds of a second Partition” by proposing religion-based reservation in Lokpal, Ms Swaraj said, “Accept our amendments or withdraw the Bill... Send it back to the standing committee for further discussion.
Tearing into what she called a “patently unconstitutional” legislation, the Leader of the Opposition also objected to the creation of Lokayuktas through the Lokpal Bill and the process of appointment and removal of the ombudsman and demanded inclusion of CBI under its ambit.
Ms Swaraj said the way the Bill had included the Prime Minister in its purview was nothing but a “farce”. “You have brought the Prime Minister with a lot of protection so that no one will be able to touch him,” she added.
Rising up to counter Ms Swaraj's arguments, Mr Sibal hit out at the BJP saying it had “political motives” to delay the Bill so that it could benefit in the upcoming State polls through Mr Anna Hazare's campaign.
“If you oppose this Bill, you will be violating the sense of the House and people will never forgive you,” he said.
The war of words intensified as the debate progressed with Ms Swaraj criticising the provisions on appointment and removal of Lokpal. “How can the Lokpal be independent if it is completely in the grip of the Government?” she said.
On making State ombudsmen mandatory, Ms Swaraj said Lokayuktas being formed under Article 253 of the Constitution would amount to an attack on the federal structure.
Mr Sibal asked her how she could state that Lokayuktas would not be appointed as per the provisions of the Bill when this had been agreed to in the “sense of the House” agreement. He said whether the Lokayukta provision should be brought in under Article 252 or 253 should be decided by the courts.
Lacing his reply with sarcasm, Mr Sibal cited the case of Karnataka and said corruption was more prevalent in States ruled by the BJP. “For the past nine years, the Gujarat Government has not appointed Lokayukta... Why have you not appointed Lokayukta in Gujarat,” he said.
On the Opposition's charge that the Bill sought to “bullet-proof” the Prime Minister from the Lokpal, Mr Sibal said this had been done as the “Opposition fires without thinking”.