Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has expressed reservations about the right to recall of elected representatives that activist Anna Hazare and others have been campaigning for.
“There are some people who are demanding the right to recall. It is easy to demand it, but difficult to implement it,” he said at a State-level convention organised by the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) on panchayati raj here on Sunday.
Mr. Mukherjee said that if right to recall was implemented, questions would arise about the criteria on which elected representatives could be recalled and whether the Constitution would allow it at all.
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He pointed out that a large number of people exercised their franchise and nearly 15 lakh people voted for a single parliamentary constituency. “Today's political scientists describe India as the largest functional democracy,” he said.
All India Congress Committee general secretary Shakeel Ahmed also raised the pitch against Team Anna and Baba Ramdev at the convention.
Mr. Ahmed said “these movements need to be understood” as even in the past there were attempts “to mislead the people.” In 1977, a “false propaganda” against the Congress allowed a non-Congress government to come to power. Again in 1989, on the Ayodhya issue, attempts were made to divide people. “Whether it is Anna Hazare's movement or Baba Ramdev's — they are attempts to divide the people of this country a third time.”
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