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I am not saying to save it for the history to keep the memory alive. I really believe we will need it perhaps more than once between now and the end of August 2011. We should also reserve the ground at Jantar Mantar because we will need it again. I am not an alarmist and I am not saying it to make news.
I finally had the time to review in detail the draft of the Lokpal Bill 2010 proposed by “our beloved government”. I could not believe what I read so I went through it several times.
It is a slap on the face of the public.
| You cannot take these politicians lightly. As I said earlier most of them are power & corruption addicts. They are not going to kick their habits that easy. |
The group that composed it (I wish the names of the ministers were written on it) was full of arrogance and drunk in power.
It is an insult to public’s intelligence. It devised a system to reduce the Lokpal’s powers to practically nothing.
These people still want the free rein to pillage the country with corruption. They are addicts of unchecked power & corruption. They cannot function without it.
In Chapter III on Jurisdiction and Procedure in Respect of Enquiry here is what it says:
“Subject to other provisions of this Act, the Lokpal shall enquire into any matter involved in or arising from or connected with, any allegations of corruption made in a memorandum of complaints:
Provided that the Lokpal shall not enquire in any matter involved in, or arising from or connected with any such allegation of corruption against any Member of either House of Parliament unless the recommendation of the Speaker of House of people or the Chairman of the Council of States, as the case may be, is received by it.”
In another place, to our astonishment it states:
"Provided further that memorandum of complaints in case of Minister, Minister of State, or Deputy Minister of the Union and Member of either House of Parliament shall be made to the Speaker of House of Peoples or the Chairman of Council of States, as the case may be, and the Lokpal shall consider only such memorandum of complaints as are referred to it by the Speaker of House of Peoples or the Chairman of Council of States, as the case may be.”
Not only the Lokpal cannot prosecute the corrupt politicians without the approval of their superiors, the general public cannot directly file the complaint against them to the Lokpal. Instead, the complaint has to be filed to the Speaker of the House or the Chairman of Council of States, who would then decide if and when it should be referred to the Lokpal. It will be a cold day in hell before that happens.
As if this was not enough, they insult our intelligence further by naming the following who would recommend to the President, the appointment of the Lokpal:
a. The Vice President of India
b. The Prime Minister
c. The Speaker of the House of the People
d. The Home Minister
e. The Law & Justice Minister
f. The Leader of the House
g. The Leader of the Opposition
Virtually all these posts except the first one are political and most of them belong to the ruling party. May God have mercy on the Lokpal who is schizophrenic enough to try any of these people or their party members for corruption!
Does it remind us of the British in the colonial India? We still have a Ruling Class and it tells us to Shut Up and Put Up!
So back to Anna’s Fasting Dais and Jantar Mantar Ground:
You cannot take these politicians lightly. As I said earlier most of them are power and corruption addicts. They are not going to kick their habits that easy. An intense pressure has to be maintained on the Committee (remember there are 5 ministers on this Committee) that drafts the bill and the Parliament that eventually enacts it. More crusades might be needed between now and then. Let us pray that Anna maintains good health to go through couple more bouts of fasting. I am sure there will be plenty of volunteers but none as galvanizing as Anna.
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