One of the most important mass movements in modern India was for the establishment of Lokpal. A massive movement was held in Delhi under the leadership of Anna Hazare, which continued for many days. Lakhs of people were directly or indirectly associated with this movement. This movement, named ‘India Against Corruption’, changed the politics of the entire country. The then Manmohan Singh government was forced to pass the Lokpal bill. On the wave of that Lokpal movement, Arvind Kejriwal’s government was formed in Delhi and Narendra Modi’s government at the Centre. But it took five years for the Narendra Modi government to form the Lokpal as per the law passed by the outgoing Manmohan Singh government.
In five years, this Lokpal has not convicted a single person on charges of corruption. A parliamentary committee has found the performance of the Lokpal to be much worse than expected. According to a report last year, the Lokpal had received 2,760 complaints, out of which 2,518 complaints were rejected by the Lokpal on the ground that they were not in the prescribed format. No significant action has been taken on the remaining 242 complaints. Just think, the Lokpal, which was expected to completely end corruption in the country and restore complete transparency from the Prime Minister to the Chief Minister and from government officials to the institutions working on government grants, has not found anyone guilty in a single case of corruption in five years.
This record of Lokpal is in its place but an even more surprising case has come to light recently, when Lokpal refused to take action on the complaints filed against SEBI chief Madhavi Puri Buch and gave many arguments like Madhavi Buch’s lawyer. Lokpal instead questioned the complainants. He said that people download reports from the internet and come to complain. Lokpal even asked the complainants to show what efforts were made to check the authenticity and credibility of the Hindenburg report? The question is that will Lokpal take action only when the common man presents evidence while investigating the allegations of corruption or if Lokpal sees substance in the allegations of corruption at first glance, will it get the investigation done by the agencies?
When BJP MP Nishikant Dubey complained against former Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren and his family members with some documents, the Lokpal asked the CBI to conduct a preliminary investigation. But when Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and former IPS officer Amitabh Thakur complained against Madhavi Buch on the basis of the Hindenburg report and other facts that came out after it, the Lokpal asked what efforts have you made, i.e. what investigation have you done? There is not only Hindenburg’s complaint against Madhavi Buch, but there have been reports of irregularities from many other sources. The Lokpal defended her like her lawyer. It even said that if there is income from investments before joining the government service, then how is it wrong. The reality is that Madhavi Buch has been accused of earning from other sources while being a member or head of SEBI.