Threatens bigger agitation if roles of 14 Ministers are not investigated
Anna Hazare on Sunday returned to Jantar Mantar here, the scene of his five-day hunger strike last April, for a daylong token fast to protest against the murder of several whistle-blowers and denial of justice to their families.
Addressing his supporters, the social activist warned the UPA government of defeat in the next general elections if a strong anti-corruption law was not passed.
Mr. Hazare said he would return with a more powerful agitation in August if the roles of the 14 Union Cabinet Ministers, named by Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal as facing allegations of corruption, were not investigated. He brushed aside worries about his health, stating that he was not “afraid of dying for the country.”
Targeting the 14 Ministers with a name and shame approach, Mr. Kejriwal had said that if the Lokpal became a reality, FIRs would be registered against all of them and at least a few would find themselves in jail.
Responding to the privilege notice against him for defaming MPs, Mr. Kejriwal said it was the “high commands” of various parties which had given ticket to tainted MPs who had insulted Parliament.
The 14 Ministers whom Mr. Kejriwal named along with the allegations against them, while repeatedly stressing that these were allegations that had appeared in the news media, are P. Chidambaram, Ajit Singh, Farooq Abdullah, G.K. Vasan, Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal, Sharad Pawar, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Vilasrao Deshmukh, M.K. Azhagiri, Virbhadra Singh, S.M. Krishna, and Praful Patel.
Mr. Hazare said a “Right to Reject” option should be given to the electorate to ignore candidates put up by political parties. He conceded that Team Anna's earlier demand for “Right to Recall” of elected representatives was an issue to be taken up later.
Stressing his demand for more powers to Gram Sabhas to resist forcible acquisition of village land, Mr. Hazare said the lot of farmers had worsened while middlemen continued to thrive. Mr. Hazare first visited Raj Ghat before proceeding to sit on fast at Jantar Mantar.
Family members of several whistle-blowers were seated close to Mr. Hazare's pandal and many of them, including the uncle of the slain IPS officer, Narinder Kumar, came forward to address Anna supporters. All of them hoped that a strong Lokpal would give them justice.
“Stay alert”
Another Team Anna member Kiran Bedi said, “Right now the BJP and the Left parties want the CBI to be part of the Lokpal. A weak Lokpal Bill has been passed by the Lok Sabha. We have to stay alert to the Bill's fate in the Rajya Sabha. If the Upper House also passes a weak Bill, we will have a long fight ahead of us. We will have to prepare for the general elections in 2014. We will have to go to our homes, neighbourhood, villages, and cities, to tell people to vote for candidates who support a strong Lokpal.”
The former Union Minister and senior advocate, Shanti Bhushan, said the support garnered by Mr. Hazare's campaign since January 30, 2011, when India Against Corruption held a rally on Ramlila Maidan reminded him of the people's protest led by Jayaprakash Narayan against Indira Gandhi's government in the mid-1970s.
Another Team Anna member and former Supreme Court judge, Santosh Hegde, who had distanced himself from several Team Anna decisions, reiterated that he was not leaving Mr. Hazare's anti-corruption campaign.
we all in support of anna hazare and we all wish that our politicians will accept our demands in order to revive our country,the collective effort will definetly stand a inspirations for other countries to raise its voice against corruption.
Dear Anna, UPA will go, NDA or third front will come to power in 2014. Then you will ask us to wait for 5 more years and not to vote for the then ruling NDA or the third front. Tackling the cause is important not the party. Did everyone in the opposition vote in favour of the Lokpal bill? Your focus on Congress alone is misplaced. Is there no corruption in non-congress ruled states. Your silence on other parties has already led to many corrupt people being elected in the state elections because you ignored them. Uprooting the cause is the objective. Secondly, a common man faces harassment corruption in day to day life- from Babu's and Police of the state and not not from Cabinet ministers. hence the corruption at all levels must be the target not just cabinet ministers. You have got rid of a few corrupt ministers in your state, has that stopped other ministers in the state from being corrupt. Please target CORRUPTION AT ALL LEVELS. The nation will love you.
UPA11 should be routed out. We have a weakest PM MM Singh who never open his mouth about the various scam reported I think He just want to safeguard his PM's post.
Now the debate should start to ascertain the importance of whom in a democracy though it is same in any form of government). It is for the people a government is required. It is by the people a parliament comes into existence. Of late, by the behaviour of politicians, one wonders whether the fundamental premise has changed. Even a monarch who was not elected by the people remained in power because he protected all creatures of his kingdom and took care of their welfare. If we realize this fact sooner it would be better for the country.
How it is possible to bring back black money to India when those account holders are having the power to pass the law for it?
Democracy is a shame in India as it is ruled by corrupt politicians who are using the police to quell dissent. When will the people of India wake up and change the system and bring in a credible 'Rule of Law' provided the laws are changed and justice is served. It seems like the people cannot voice their dissent against nuclear plants as they will be jailed. Yes, the puppet head of government must be abolished with all the trimmings and trappings of a monarchy. Support the Anna Hazare movement.
Indian govt would not pass Lokpal bill either it is congress,BJP or any political party in power ,because if it passed, all the political leader and bureaucrat will be behind bars,our next five year plan will be improvement/augmentation of prison for VVIP.
Indeed all these 14 ministers as indicated by team ANNA are corrupt and due to CBI and fear of UPA and Congress leaders action has not being taken,the day the LOKPAL is effective all these 14 culprits will find place in Tihar jail. Hence people should unitedly fight for to expose these corrupt leaders as early as possible.When 50% of people are not getting a square meal in our country but the President is spending 50 crores per annum what a shame to our democracy and social pattern Govt.
For taking the job in a company we have the need to fulfill the eligibility criteria but for running the Country NO criteria I think the leaders must be Graduate or Army retire And the IAS and PCS will take the Interview after that the candidate will Stand in the elections or Parties will give him the ticket of Election. I am with you Team Anna...
We need politicians to pass law that restricts themselves. Smart thing to do might be take the Lokpal as is acceptable to them, or else we will be talking about Lokpal in 2020. Once the Lokpal is made law, we can work on improving it. Rome was not built in a day. Also, why are we losing focus? Why are we changing our demand from Lokpal to FIR against 14 ministers?
Corruption is well entrenched and reaches all the way up to include the well financed figurehead of the government. The President's son was caught with crores of unaccounted money and there are reports that President Pratibha Patil's wanderlust has cost the public exchequer a whopping Rs 205 crore on her foreign visits, surpassing the record of all her predecessors. Since assuming office as the country's first woman President in July 2007, Patil has undertaken 12 foreign trips covering 22 countries across four continents. She has four more months to go for her five-year tenure and a trip to South Africa is said to be on the anvil. Air India incurred over Rs 169 crore on use of Boeing 747-400 chartered aircraft on the foreign visits by Patil, mostly accompanied by family members. Nearly Rs 36 crore was spent by external affairs for these fiascos. Abolish the Presidency - the Minister of Culture can assume all the 'duties' and none of the extravagances of the head puppet.
Santosh Hegde is playing cat-on-wall and waiting for opportunity to jump sides.
Nothing of this sort will help. Did we not see the elections in Panjab,UP, Uttaranchal and Goa ? Did the voters give any credit to what Anna is saying and doing? So also in the national election. Nothing will happen if Anna keeps on only shouting on the streets. Let him form a party, get into the electrol fray , get elected and then change the system. Otherwise, he is wasting his time.
Poor Anna is being misled by a few around him. He should read political history of this country first before embarking on any adventure. There are good number of history books in his language Marathi. He should also read and understand literature on and by Gandhiji. Justice Markandey Katju has rightly said that a couple of slogans are not weapons to fight corruption.
It is indeed true that Anna's movement reminds one of JP's movement. so, Team Anna should directly enter electoral politics like JP rather than asking the voters to choose better of the devils. It will be fresh lease of live for people who always have to switch votes between two parties without liking any of them.
Why only 14? All 163 MPs with criminal records should be flung out of Parliament. There cannot be any justification for including criminals in the govt. Parliamentary privileges are a device to enable MPs to conduct legislative business comfortably. It is not to silence people who protest induction of criminals into Parliament. And in a legal system where the defendants pass away leaving lawsuits pending the "innocent till proven guilty" line is no justification outside of the court.
The Highest court of Justice and the Investigation bureau are always available for Anna Hazare to put forth his concerns. Taking up agitations every now and then might not be the solution for Anna Hazare. The supreme court has intervened time and again everytime there was a sign of corruption and 4g spectrum case is an example. Let Anna Hazare and team take it up in courts if they believe in the Democratic system in india rather than resorting to agitations which public will lose interest if the focus to fight corruption is diverted to gain media attention.
Demand of the Anna Hazare is very much reasonable
Mr.Anna Hazare one day token fast is welcome and the public should support it whole hearted.This public will be surely relieved of the corrupt practices and we have to be optimistic and even the God can not solve this problem immediately and this movement requires sustained struggle. The present day corruption has created number of problems we are facing today. Our Nation has lagged in progress and development and employment and in removing of the poverty our country is facing.
I saw this synergy dying out since that is what ruling party wanted. Annaji 's strong will & determination has enlightened the public once again reminding them that our war against corruption is not over yet. I think Annaji has rightly pointed out a finger on Ruling party regarding it's willingness to bring effective & strong Lokpal bill. His opinion about Right to Reject should also be meaningful step towards eliminating charge sheeted people getting debarred from contesting Elections. It is evident to lower class that tantrums during Election would not improve their living conditions. We heard but nothing substantial upon Free Education till Secondary School has been implemented. I wish atleast educated people should support this cause making India a better place to live. Jai Hind
Fasting itself cannot make Anna Hazare Gandhi no.2. Gandhi's ideas were more powerful than fasting, the way the Mahathma spoke, the way he wrote, the way he lead etc. all counted. Whereas it seems all that Anna knows is to fast, and speak something rudely against the government without any politeness whatsoever. He still thinks he is above the political class. It remains to be seen if he will fast with the same vigour if the government changes at the centre.
Mr. Anna, we like you and support the cause you are fasting for. However, don't you hink that you are fasting too frequently which is, not only bad for your health but also undermining the purpose and value of fasting as a form of protest?
People who r criticizing anna,is forgetting that the motive of eradicating corruption he is fasting for, will benefit this country at the end, as it will protect needy people from harrasment, innocent deaths, due 2 corruption, bolster the people who is fighting against this disease. but criticizers will not do anything for want of unwillingness, obsession with particular party or selfishness. this motive has not 2 get despondent with country FOOLISH persons.
In india , i don't think we can eradicate corruption until we eradicate corruption from our heart. The only way to remove corruption is everyone should stop giving money for employees to do their duty and accepting money to do your own duty. It is the simple way. Unless, if we make laws also it won't work like other laws
Thanks to Team Anna for continuously fighting against corruption.But we feel that they are not adequately aggressive to some genuine discrepancy which are not less significant than corruption.Even these are interrelated.Special Armed Force Act for which Sharmila is fighting is an example out of so many problems in the North East region.We hope they should have unbiased broad spectrum.All states should get equal weightage.
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