Even as social activist Swami Agnivesh sought to use the support for anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare as a lever to restart talks between the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and the central government, the Maoists have issued a statement for “united, well-organized and militant mass struggles” to tackle corruption in the country.
In an interview with IANS, Mr. Agnivesh said, “Anna's victory on the Lokpal bill issue has given hope that he can help solve the Maoist issue.”
In a press statement emailed to this correspondent, Maoist spokesperson Abhay called upon, “workers, peasants, students, intellectuals, employees, pro-people Gandhians and all other patriotic forces to come forward and to form a broad alliance to fight against corruption which has affected our country,” yet claimed “it would be innocence” to assume that the proposed Lokpal Bill would eliminate corruption.
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Mr. Abhay described the Indian judiciary as “an inseparable part of this exploitative state machinery,” and claimed that “None can be under the illusion to end corruption through these laws and court rooms.”
Referring to the formation of a joint community of parliamentarians and civil society activist to draft the Lokpal Bill, Mr. Abhay said, “The ruling classes accepted to this demand only because any numbers of laws like these in no way affect the present system.”
In a recent opinion piece in The Hindu, lawyer Prashant Bhushan has noted that that Lokpal Bill shall not solve the problem of corruption in itself, but pointed out that “an independent, credible and empowered Lokpal is a necessary, though not a sufficient, condition to effectively control corruption.”
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