History Almost Unmade By Last-Minute Hitch

ANNA WINS IT FOR THE PEOPLE

To Break Fast At 10am Today As Parliament Bows To Hazare's Khwahish And PM Sends Letter 

New Delhi: History was made in Parliament on Saturday when the two Houses bowed to Anna Hazare's campaign, powered by a groundswell of popular support, for a strong and independent Lokpal. 
    The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha unanimously resolved that the Standing Committee 
would consider Anna's three demands—including the lower bureaucracy in the Lokpal's purview, a central law for creating Lokayuktas in states and a citizen's charter for government departments providing public service. This finally paved the way for Anna's 12-day fast to end. 
    This is the first instance of Parliament explicitly agreeing to accommodate demands raised by an 'outsider', that too when the official bill had already been moved. A jubilant Anna Hazare responded to Parliament's endorsement of his demands by announcing that he would call off his fast at 10am on Sunday. 
    But the historic moment almost didn't come about. Anxiety hit the process once again when in the afternoon Team Anna members announced that the government was going back on its word. It was later learnt that the agreed upon draft resolution was changed, and this almost scuppered the deal. Eventually Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped in, and with the help of top BJP leaders and his own colleagues, pushed through an acceptable resolution. 
    Later, the PM publicly threw his weight behind the reconciliation. "Parliament has spoken. Parliament's will is the will of the people," he said, bringing a closure to the standoff. 
    There was momentary confusion when Parliament opted to unanimously adopt the resolution through the 'sense of the House' instead of passing it by voice vote. However, civil society activists accepted it. As Medha Patkar said, "The important thing is that our three demands have been accepted." 
    Parliament's extraordinary gesture on Saturday brought out its capacity to adapt and innovate in response to an extraordinary expression of popular aspirations, reflected in the countrywide outpouring of support for Anna's anti-corruption charter. 
    A huge throng camped at Ramlila Maidan as Parliament debated Anna's demands.