The opposition and the government took swipes at each other at the inauguration of the Central Vigilance Commission’s (CVC) golden jubilee celebrations. The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, who spoke before PM Manmohan Singh, said, “Recently there was a statement that institutions like CAG and CVC are an obstacle to progress. I would like to state from this stage that it is not healthy thinking. This thinking is harmful for democracy.” She was referring to Singh’s statement at the AICC session in January, where he said that the growth rate had slowed down because clearances were not granted by bureaucrats to infrastructure projects because of the fear of CAG and CVC. Singh, who spoke later, said that there is “trivialisation of debate on corruption and understanding complex public policy”. On the issue of autonomy of investigating agencies, he said, “Political executive should exercise oversight over the investigating agencies as expected in a democracy.” He added, “We must make sure honest officers are not harassed for bonafide mistakes that they might make while taking well-meaning decisions.” Singh called for “moderation of public debate about corruption as there is unwarranted condemnation of public policy and accusations fly thick and fast”. President Pranab Mukherjee, who released a commemorative stamp, said, “There is huge public outcry against corruption recently and CVC has a big role to restore faith in system and credibility.” Swaraj also said she was part of the previous BJP-led NDA government, which brought in the CVC Act in 2003 and highlighted that the CVC was functioning without the backing of the Parliament for close to 40 years, until NDA brought the legislation. Law Minister Kapil Sibal and Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanaswamy listed legislations brought in by Congress-led UPA to fight corruption.
