Upping the ante, Anna Hazare on Wednesday again reiterated the August 15 deadline for passage of the Lokpal Bill, failing which he would initiate another hungerstrike for “second freedom struggle”.
While the joint drafting committee co-chairman Shanti Bhushan called for a referendum on Lokpal Bill, Hazare maintained that he would continue to “blackmail” the government if the legislation does not come within the stated timeframe.
The civil society members on Wednesday also served an ultimatum to Parliament to pass the Lokpal Bill. “If Parliament fails to pass the legislation, its credibility will also come under question,” said the member of the joint drafting committee, Arvind Kejriwal during the day-long fast at Raj Ghat.
Taking potshots at Union home minister P. Chidambaram, Hazare told his followers: hamein bhi jail mein daaliye agar hamse khatra hai to...mantriyon ko prashikshan dena padega (jail us if we pose threat to Parliamentary democracy...we need to train the ministers if they do not know what is parliamentary democracy)”. Mr Kejriwal quoted Mr Chidambaram having said that the civil society’s campaign was a threat to parliamentary democracy.
Giving no sign of any compromise on bringing the conduct of parliamentarians in the House under the ambit of Lokpal, Mr Kejriwal said: “If they (MPs) think that after getting the vote they have become dictators, we would hit the street against them.”
Mr Shanti Bhushan on his part said that let there be a referendum on the government and the civil society versions of the Lokpal Bill and whichever is chosen by the people be passed by Parliament.
In a public interaction, Mr Kejriwal said that there would be no compromise on the issues of bringing the Prime Minister and the judiciary within the ambit of the proposed Lokpal.
The day-long fast was held at Raj Ghat to show solidarity with Baba Ramdev and to condemn the police action at Ramlila Grounds. However, Mr Kejriwal refused to endorse the assertion of Ramdev to raise an armed contingent and said that the civil society does not support this and all protests have to be non-violent. Mr Kejriwal also hit out at Union minister Kapil Sibal, asking him what was wrong in civil society members calling ministers “liars, cheats and conspirators.” “If we have said so, what is wrong in it? There is so much corruption, is it not cheating? If we are cheated, shouldn’t we call them liars? Why shouldn’t we call them conspirators?,” asserted Mr Kejriwal.