Anna Breaks 13-Day Fast: Gives Call For Right To Recall, Right To Reject [ Updated 28 Aug 2011, 13:45:54 ]
New Delhi, Aug 28: In front of a huge near-delirious
crowd of vociferous supporters at the historic Ramlila Maidan, noted
Gandhian activist Anna Hazare on Sunday ended his 13-day-long fast by
taking coconut water mixed with honey from a Dalit girl (Simran) and a
Muslim girl (Ikra), and after a brief speech left for Dr Naresh Trehan's
Medanta Medicity Hospital in Gurgaon in a well-equipped ambulance.
In his significant speech, Anna made the following salient points:
- He would not rest with the Lokpal issue and would take up the demands for Right to Recall and Right To Reject
-
Right to Recall relates to voters being allowed to recall their elected
representatives, an old point raised by the late Jayaprakash Narayan
in 1975 during his Sampoorna Kranti movement
-Right to Reject
relates to inclusion of a provision in the ballot wherein the voter
shall have the right to reject all the candidates seeking election. If
the majority of voters chose this right, the election shall be
countermanded.
-Hazare is going to raise issues relating to
forcible acquisition of farm lands and indiscriminate exploitation of
land for mining
-Hazare assured he would soon go on a nationwide tour to raise awareness about these new demands.
"The
battle for change has just begun", said Hazare. "You need not remain
silent even after a powerful Lokpal is set up. The torch must not be
extinguished so long as we do not see change."
On Right to
Reject, Hazare said, a politician who spends Rs 10 crores on a single
election will get a befitting lesson if the voters opt for the right to
reject. "Deemag thikane lag jayega" (He will be shown his place), he
said.
The Gandhian also talked of the right of Gram Sabhas to vote out an elected Gram Panchayat if the latter does not perform.
"Today
the entire power is concentrated in the Mantralaya (secretariat). Such
concentration of power is not true democracy. Power has to be
decentralized", said Anna.
In his thanksgiving speech, Anna's
aide Arvind Kejriwal also spoke of the right to recall, right to reject
and judicial reforms. He also urged Anna's supporters to take a vow
never to give bribe or receive bribe.
source: www.indiatvnews.com