Anna’s bill wins but numbers are not the whole story

The results of Team Anna Hazare’s referendum on the Jan Lokpal Bill at Delhi’s Chandni Chowk encapsulate the public anger at corruption and the general frustration at the political class.

The numbers don’t surprise - 85 percent of the respondents agree with Team Anna that Lokayukta should be set up in each state under the same bill; 82 percent and 89 percent agree that the prime minister and all government officials respectively should be within the jurisdiction of the Lokpal; 88 percent favour the MPs’ conduct in Parliament should be investigated by the Lokpal; and 86 percent want the judiciary under the ombudsman.

In the prevailing environment of public anger and hopelessness, the numbers could not have been otherwise. But numbers have a problem. These reflect absolute, monochromatic positions, with little room for nuances. The success of Team Hazare’s battle over the Lokpal Bill, unfortunately, depends to a large extent on a nuanced approach, not an absolute one.

According to Team Anna, four lakh forms with eight questions each were distributed in Chandni Chowk. As many as 86,000 of these have been collected so far. The forms carried a questionnaire of eight posers on several contentious aspects of the separate bills submitted by the government and Team Hazare.

“The interim poll shows that the majority is with our version of the Lokpal Bill. The people’s view is that the Jan Lokpal Bill version should be accepted. There should be a public debate. There was overwhelming response from people in Kapil Sibal’s constituency,” said Arvind Kejriwal, member of Team Anna. The referendum was conducted in Chandni Chowk, the constituency of Kapil Sibal since he is the face of the government on the Lokpal Bill.

Kejriwal added that in Maharashtra’s Amravati Lok Sabha constituency, 98 percent of respondents were in favour of their Jan Lokpal Bill.

One must give it to Team Anna. Its determination is astounding as is its indomitable spirit. It does not matter if the referendum is a bit misplaced right now and does little beyond stating the obvious. The Lokpal Bill is in Parliament’s domain at the moment. There’s little chance that maintaining the combative tone and sticking to the maximalist position would change the course of the bill, which might look different from what it is now after the House debate. But the credit must go to the team for putting up a dogged fight and keeping the national attention focussed on corruption.

Sibal has scoffed at the report, saying he was surprised that the result was not 100 percent in favour of the Jan Lopkpal Bill. He can ridicule the numbers but he cannot ignore public frustration over corruption.

The civil society has scored a moral victory. But how does it translate the referendum numbers into something concrete? How does it convert public anger into results? It has not gained much except public sympathy in the last three months. It has to find a way, fast.

If only there was better planning to back its entire effort.