Indian lawmakers slam govt for not passing Ombudsman Bill

Leaders of various opposition political parties slammed the federal government for not being able to pass the Lokpal (Ombudsman) Bill in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament. They also termed it as a conspiracy to adjourn the house sine die.While interacting with media persons in New Delhi today (Friday), federal lawmaker and politburo member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), Sitaram Yechury slammed the federal government by saying that since the government wanted to bring in a weak Ombudsman bill it was not supported by the opposition parties.The minister of the federal government cleared that the government will decide the business of the parliament and the reason was clear that they didnt have the numbers in the Rajya Sabha, they didnt have majority in Rajya Sabha. They didnt want changes to be made in the Lokpal Bill and they wanted an ineffective Lokpal Bill to work as an institution, so stop all these things, a conspiracy has been hatched and I believe that it is very unfortunate for our democratic country and it is huge defeat of the federal government, said Yechury.The Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die late Thursday on amid uproar created by several MPs, without voting on the bill.The anti-graft legislation for which social activist Anna Hazare and his team have fomented a successful mass movement may now be taken up in the budget session of parliament, probably in March.Leader of Indias regional Bahujan Samaj Party, Satish Chandra Mishra said that the government completely failed today in the floor of the house and it never wanted to present a strong Ombudsman bill.Definitely, the government has completely failed today, because it was in minority, it continued the debate deliberately till 12 O clock, we kept on insisting, when we smelled the mind of the government, we insisted that it should continue for the whole night, if required, said Mishra.The bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha - lower house of parliament - on Tuesday (December 27), was taken up for a discussion and vote in the upper house on Thursday. But after a marathon debate that stretched until midnight, the vote failed to take place for lack of time.Regional Trinamool Congress party lawmaker Sukhendu Sekhar Roy termed the whole episode in the upper house as sad day for Indian democracy.We wanted the Lokpal Bill to be passed properly but the amendments which we wanted to make on the Lokayukta were necessary and we wanted the government to pass them. We also wanted part three to be omitted from the Bill. This is what we asked for and we also gave amendments but its very unfortunate that when we were waiting for voting suddenly an atmosphere was created to disrupt the house proceedings and according to us it is very sad for the democratic country, said Roy.The Congress-led government had extended the winter session of parliament until December 29 to meet a deadline set by Hazare to pass the anti-graft legislation before the end of the year.