FROM JAN LOKPAL TO GERMAN LUXURY: WHEN INDIA'S ANTI-GRAFT BODY FELL IN LOVE WITH THE MOTORCADE

From candlelight vigils at Jantar Mantar to a tender for seven BMW sedans costing Rs 60 lakh each, the Lokpal’s journey warns against institutions embracing privilege.

- TDG NETWORK

A line of white Hindustan Ambassador cars wait outside North Block in New Delhi. Such vehicles were the government's default "official cars" for decades.

On 16 October 2025 the Office of the Lokpal of India quietly floated an open tender on the Central Public Procurement Portal for seven BMW 330Li M Sport long-wheelbase sedans. The notice - asking that the cars be white, delivered preferably within two weeks and no later than 30 days - specified that the vendor provide both classroom and on-road training for drivers at their own cost. Each 330Li, a German-built luxury car with a stretched wheelbase and an on-road price of roughly Rs 60 lakh (about US$72 000), was to be purchased “for the use of the Lokpal”.

The start date for bid submission was 17 October 2025, and evaluation of bids was scheduled for 7 November 2025. By the time the procurement document circulated on social media, outrage had begun.

Activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, one of the prominent faces of the 2011 Jan Lokpal movement, derided the tender, saying the institution had been “ground to dust” and that its members were now buying Rs 70 lakh BMWs for themselves. Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed reminded the public that the Lokpal was born out of the India Against Corruption movement; she asked why a body meant to curb corruption was “buying luxury foreign cars”. The phrase “Lokpal to Shockpal” trended online. The controversy was not just about cost; it was about optics. How could an institution created through mass protests against VIP culture justify a fleet of imported sedans? To appreciate the irony, one must travel back to the movement's roots.

FROM JP TO JANTAR MANTAR: THE LONG ROAD TO A LOKPAL LAW

Early proposals and eight failed bills (1960s-2001)