‘When we were in power, no lobbyist had our ear’: SUSHMA SWARAJ

The winter session of Parliament comes to an end on Monday with almost no business transacted because the opposition remainss adamant in its demand for a joint parliamentary committee to look into the 2G spectrum scam. In pole position is Sushma Swaraj, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha. Is she simply being stubborn? No, she tells Mohua Chatterjee.Excerpts: 

An entire Parliament session and no business done. Won't the opposition be blamed ?
• When Bofors happened, Parliament was stalled for 45 days. Earlier, on two occasions when aJPC was demanded, Parliament was stalled for 15 and 17 days respectively. It gives me great pain that Parliament could not function. But I blame the government entirely for this impasse. Their obstinate and stubborn attitude is responsible. 
A JPC has been demanded about four times before this -- twice during Congress’ time and twice during NDA regimes. So both the main parties have demanded it. As the ruling party, both parties have conceded the demand. And if JPC is not an appropriate forum to probe a scandal of this extent, then what is the purpose of having JPC in the rule book? We firmly told the government that today you constitute JPC and tomorrow there will be Parliament. We offered to compensate the loss of hours, but I do not know why government has adopted this negative approach, in spite of its own allies supporting this demand. 

Why do you think the government won’t agree to a JPC? 
• The only reason that comes to mind is that they don’t want the issue to remain alive. After the House adjourns, the issue gets lost. But if a JPC is constituted, the issue remains alive after every meeting. The chairperson of the JPC briefs the press. Members are privy to documents; even confidential papers come into the public domain. The government did not want such a probe by MPs because that would have been a continuous embarrassment for it. 

Why must it be only a JPC probe and nothing else? 
• Especially after the Radia tapes, many aspects of 2G have surfaced. Earlier it looked like one man's doing, i.e A Raja. After the Radia tapes’ disclosure, it became evident that lobbying was done even to put Raja in the ministry. There were two telecom lobbies and both wanted their favourite ministers to get the portfolio. Intrigues and manipulation was done through politicians, journalists, other lobbyists -- all these disclosures have put a question mark on the very existence of Indian democracy. All these aspects cannot be probed either by PAC or by the Supreme Court. Only parliamentarians have to sit and discuss and introspect about these new revelations. 

It’s easy to sound self righteous but wasn’t there lobbying etc when the NDA was in power? 
• No, never. Secondly, when this proposal was made, the DMK said they wanted the JPC probe from 1998. I immediately intervened and accepted the proposal and told Pranabda that you accept the terms and have 
the JPC. If we had anything to hide, we would not have accepted it. Let it cover the entire NDA period. 

So, are lobbyists a new breed in Indian politics? 
• Yes, to this extent it is new. Even in the US where lobbying is legitimate, they don't influence portfolio distribution and government policy formation. They only tell their interests to some MPs and want them to pursue it. 

Would you support legitimate lobbying in India? 
• Politics is an instrument of public service. We do n’t become MPs to further some corporate group's interests. I am not in favour of lobbying in any manner. 

Do you think you’ll be able to carry on playing up the corruption issue when Parliament ends? 
• When we go to the public, the issue of corruption will widen and include CWG, 2G, Adarsh, corruption in Assam, in Arunachal, NREGA and more... those that people can easily connect with. We are chalking out our programme for three months before the Budget session. We will roll out our plans on December 14. Not just metro cities but districts and tehsils would be covered so that the issue percolates down to the common man. 

Might the stalemate spill over to the Budget session then? 
•The strategy for the Budget session will be chalked out before that. Today, the strategy is for the intervening period. Things will take a turn depending on what happens during this period. After all, new revelations are coming up every day. 

There are charges of corruption against the BJP’s CM in Karnataka so you can’t be too highminded. How will you deal with this? 
Arunji (Jaitley) has been assigned the duty to oversee Karnataka affairs. He is very well versed with the other opposition parties’ views and privy to documents. I am sure he will set things right. 

Karnataka CM Yediyurrappa named you as one of the party leaders who worked against him. What do you say? 
• He never complained against me. He contradicted this in writing. 

How has it been to interact with Sonia, Rahul Gandhi and Pranab Mukherjee? 
• My experience has been good. Especially with the leader of the House (Mukherjee), the comfort level is very high because when I was parliamentary affairs minister, he accompanied me in a parliamentary delegation abroad. The respect that I showed to him during that time is still remembered by him and he mentions it quite often. That is reflected in his attitude while dealing with me. Soniaji's comfort level has also increased lately because in both my constitutional positions, earlier as parliamentary affairs minister and now as LoP, I have given her full respect that is due to her. Rahulji has been very respectful towards me.
Times of India, 12 Dec 2010, P-18