Salman Khurshid admits to errors in judgment during Anna Hazare protests

New Delhi: UPA’s Law minister Salman Khurshid has conceded that there may have been "errors in judgment" in handling the Anna Hazare protest.

"Errors of judgment have been made; errors of judgment are made whenever you are involved in a difficult situation. Errors of judgment are not mistakes," the minister told a television channel.

The cautious acknowledgement echoes the widespread discernment in the party and the government that the interlocutors did commit a mistake. On Saturday, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had said in Lok Sabha that people were free to "call it bungling" or "mismanagement".

Several Congress members have also criticized the way the government dealt with the protest. Last week, senior Congress MP Satyavrat Chaturvedi said the way the issue was dealt with indicated disconnect between the government and the "ground realities". He said had the government framed a political response to the problem then the current situation would have never arisen.

Minister of state for parliamentary affairs Ashwani Kumar has told a newspaper that sending Hazare to Tihar Jail on August 16 was an incorrect decision.

Although people in the party and several in government have liable home minister P Chidambaram and telecom and HRD minister Kapil Sibal for mistreatment the situation, Khurshid defended them.

Asked if the two were withdrawn from consultation, the law minister said they were not pulled out. "They did what was required to do. You may not be popular with the crowd at a particular moment. I am not prepared to accept that they were discredited… They were involved at a very difficult stage. They have to take difficult calls."

Defending the way the government handled the agitation, he said, "It is courage of assurance. We are not easy targets. We might have made errors of judgment. We may have lost ground somewhere but we are determined to get that ground back… It is very sensitive, complex situation that has just unfolded into a good resolution."

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