Hazare flays new Lokpal Bill

Kejriwal has little faith in Parliament

PTI | December 23, 2011



Slamming the new Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare on Friday said the government should involve people in lawmaking and invoked Rajiv Gandhi's name to tell the Congress-led dispensation that he had written to all village heads before coming out with the Panchayati Raj Bill.

Hazare questioned as to why the government was drafting the bill alone.

"Why is it so? Why does it not take the advise of the people? People are the masters and they have sent MPs to serve them. So they have to listen to people. Late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi understood this. He wrote to sarpanches in all the 5.5 lakh villages in the country on the 73rd and 74th amendment. You cannot do it on your whims and fancies. Then what is the difference between autocracy and democracy?" he told reporters in Ralegan Siddhi.

Hazare said the new Lokpal Bill was "very weak" and a "wrong one" which will not help in eradicating corruption.

Asked whether he read the bill last night, Hazare said, "leave it" and went to say that the government should involve people in the process of drafting law.

Queried about his proposed fast from next Tuesday, he said if he does not get a venue, he will go to jail and fast.

"They will keep creating hurdles. In August, they did not give me a venue till last minute. I had to fast in jail...this time also, if they don't give me venue, I will go to jail," he said.

Taking a dig at MPs, Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said he has little faith in parliament after seeing the debate over Lokpal Bill in lok sabha.

"They say (MPs) 'have faith in parliament'. My mother says 'have faith in Lord Shiva'. I now tend to agree more with my mother," Kejriwal tweeted.

He said he watched the debate in parliament on Thursday during the introduction of Lokpal "with great pain".

"Is this parliamentary democracy? Can it ever deliver India out of poverty, corruption and illiteracy? Is this parliament really supreme? Are we to treat Lalu (Prasad), Mulayam (Singh Yadav), (Kapil) Sibal, P Chidambaram, and A Raja supreme? Will they ever allow strong anti-corruption law?" he said.

His remarks came as MPs, including RJD chief Lalu Prasad, attacked Team Anna and said government should not move in haste to pass the Lokpal Bill.

On Thursday, actor Anupam Kher had tweeted, "They have never been and they will never be serious about Lokpal. Heard Lalu Yadav. And they want to me to respect parliamentarians."

Comments

 

Other News

India faces critical shortage of skin donors amid rising burn cases

India reports nearly 70 lakh burn injury cases every year, resulting in approximately 1.4 lakh deaths annually. Experts estimate that up to 50% of these lives could be saved with adequate access to skin donations.   A significant concern is that around 70% of burn victims fall wi

Not just politics, let`s discuss policies too

Why public policy matters Most days, India`s loudest debates stop at the ballot box. We can name every major leader and recall every campaign slogan. Still, far fewer of us can explain why a widow`s pension is delayed or how a government school`s budget is actually approved. That

When algorithms decide and children die

The images have not left me, of dead and wounded children being carried in the arms of the medics and relatives to the ambulances and hospitals. On February 28, at the start of Operation Epic Fury, cruise missiles struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh school – officially named a girls’ school, in Minab,

The economics of representation: Why women in power matter

India’s democracy has grown in scale, but not quite in balance. Women today are active participants in elections, influencing outcomes in ways that were not as visible earlier. Yet their presence in legislative institutions continues to lag behind. The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was meant to addres

India will be powerful, not aggressive: Bhaiyyaji

India is poised to emerge as a global power but will remain rooted in its civilisational ethos of non-aggression and harmony, former RSS General Secretary Suresh `Bhaiyyaji` Joshi has said.   He was speaking at the launch of “Rashtrabhav,” a book by Ravindra Sathe

AI: Code, Control, Conquer

India today stands at a critical juncture in the area of artificial intelligence. While the country is among the fastest adopters of AI in the world, it remains heavily reliant on technologies developed elsewhere. This paradox, experts warn, cannot persist if India seeks technological sovereignty.


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter