Latest News Anna Hazare From Lokpal
Latest News from Anna Hazare arrived at Rajghat for a day-long hunger strike against corruption. And then pin-drop silence as he began to speak exhorting people gathered to fight what he called the second struggle for Independence. In Later Even as he spoke, the crowds swelled by the hundreds at a time. The 72-year-old activist, who has become the face of a campaign named India Against Corruption, said though the country had got Independence it was not truly independent from corruption, from goonda raj and other social ills.
And to rid the country of these, "this is the second fight for Independence and we have to make sacrifices," Anna Hazare said.
In keeping with that theme of Independence, Mr Anna Hazare gave the Indian government a deadline of August 15, Independence Day, to agree to their demands. From August 16, Anna Hazare said.
he would begin another fast and "if the government does not listen I shall fast till I breathe my last," he said.
Latest News from Mr Anna Hazare made clear that his protest was peaceful and scoffed at the government's attempt to provide him security.
"If our freedom fighters had sought security we would not have got Independence yet now," Anna Hazare said. Anna Hazare strongly criticized the police action at latest news Baba Ramdev's camp against lokpal on Saturday night.
Anna Hazare then waved to the crowds, the national flag fluttering behind him on the sizeable stage.
Along with the huge crowds, the Delhi Police is present in hundreds at Rajghat today.Latest News from Delhi Police Commissioner BK Gupta was seen reviewing the arrangements on site.
Latest News from The point of Mr Anna Hazare's fast is to prove to the government that India is hungry for a tough law against corruption, and that it continues to count on Mr Anna Hazare and his team to deliver that law.
In April news, fast taken by Mr Anna Hazare that stretched for almost a week became the rallying point for middle class India to demand more accountability from its elected representatives.
The government news was ripe for attack.
Since Latest News from September, a slew of scandals have hurtled across the political landscape exposing politicians and bureaucrats who conspired, often with India Inc, to swindle the country of thousands of crores.
Latest News from Mr Anna Hazare got what he wanted from a reluctant govt - a committee would be set up to draft the long-delayed Lokpal Bill (Citizen's Ombudsman bill) and it would give Mr Anna Hazare's activists equal input with the govt. So 5 ministers teamed up with Mr Anna Hazare and 4 of his nominees to start work on drafting the new law.
It has been a rocky road since then. The govt and Mr Anna Hazare have clashed over basics like whether the new law should cover the Prime Minister.
But the biggest blow to their working relationship was delivered late on Saturday night. Baba Ramdev, a yoga icon with followers who run into lakhs, was on an indefinite hunger fast - a sort of spin-off movement from Mr Anna Hazare's. 65,000 people were at the Baba's camp in Delhi, many of them fast asleep, when the police set out to arrest the Baba and dismantle the camp. As the Baba tried to disappear into the crowds, the police lathicharged and tear-gassed the camp. The Baba was tracked down and flown back to his ashram in Uttarakhand.
"Murder of democracy" was how Mr Anna Hazare's team and an eager Opposition described the govt's action. The Prime Minister took more than 50 hours to explain his stand on the action against the Ramdev camp - and it seemed out-of-synch with the overwhelming sentiment that the government had shown poor judgment. "It is unfortunate that operation had to be conducted but quite honestly, there was no alternative," Anna Hazare said.
Today's protest by Mr Anna Hazare was planned for Jantar Mantar in Delhi. The police refused permission for that location, agreeing that the hunger strike could instead be held at Rajghat, which houses Mahatma Gandhi's memorial.
No Intention To Quit Lokpal Panel, Says Team Anna Hazare
After the action against Baba Ramdev, Mr Anna Hazare and his team boycotted a meeting of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee scheduled for Monday. The govt struck back publically, accusing the activists of exiting the negotiation process over unrelated issues like the Ramdev crisis. Senior minister Kapil Sibal said that the government intends to deliver the Lokpal Bill by the end of this month, with or without the involvement of Team Anna Hazare.
Yesterday, Mr Anna Hazare's team said it would attend the next meeting of the drafting committee on June 15.
"Kapil Sibal has said that whether we come or not, they will go ahead (with the drafting of the Lokpal Bill). Why did that question arise? We had written to (Finance Minister) Pranab Mukherjee that we will not be attending June 6 meeting. We also said that Anna Hazare will not be available on June 10 and so the meeting on that date be postponed. So it makes it clear that we are going to attend meetings. We are not going to leave the committee just like that," said activist Arvind Kejriwal who is one of Mr Anna Hazare's nominees to the drafting committee.
Anna Hazare also accused Sibal of "putting words in their mouth" and said the government should "tone down arrogance." Despite the five civil society members boycotting the meeting on Monday, the ministers went ahead and finalised some provisions of the proposed Lokpal Bill.
Later, Sibal took objection to the boycott of the meeting by civil society members and said that the committee would do its work "whether or not someone comes".
No comments:
Post a Comment