Alternate Agenda

AS the prospect of a hung Parliament looms large,there are initiatives f rom many quarters, political and non-political, toprevent the instability that will ensue in such an event. On March 15, RashtriyaJagriti Sansthan, an apolitical body, invited about 50 eminent citizens to aworkshop to shape a national agenda. At the end, it decided to approachpolitical parties with some consensus demands— electoral reforms, denial oftickets to criminals, decentralisation of power to municipalities andpanchayats.

The idea behind these moves, say the votaries, isthat even if there is a hung Parliament, there would be issues uniting theparties— a common, national agenda.

The workshop follows the release of a 15-pageMinimum Programme for National Regeneration by another group of politicians,journalists and economists— including R.K. Hegde, B.G. Verghese and A.M.Khusro. The paper seeks 30 per cent representation for women in alllegisla-tures, autonomy to states and local bodies, reorganisation of largerstates, institu-tions to deal with corruptionat all levels, and autonomy to the police as well as the stat e 'sinvestigating apparatus.

"Competitive populism for electoral gainscould threaten the national economy and spell the disintegration of the socialfabric," the document says.

The participants decided to act as a catalyst group for political, social and moral reformswithout contesting elections. In an interesting counter to Biju Patnaik'srecently expressed desire for a brief spell of army rule, the workshop got Gen.K. Sundarji (Retd) to rebuff him. "It will be total disaster if themilitary rules this country. It's possible only in a democracy that neitherthe executive nor the legislature can muzzle the Supreme Court. And who knowswhat lies still undisclosed in the hawala case?" he asked.

The idea is to "corner the political partiesinto acting according to the programme." That, precisely, is the catch. Thefate of this well-meaning initiative hinges on how, if at all, politiciansrespond to it.