Anna Hazare threatens to restart protest against corruption
New Delhi, Jun 16 : Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare today once again threatened to restart his protest here in the wake of government's "non-seriousness" towards Jan Lokpal Bill, a day after Lokpal panel's sixth meet failed.
"If they bring in a weak bill, certainly we will have to go back to agitation. It appears that the government is going back on its promises. We may have to revive our Jantar Mantar agitation which was stopped for sometime," he added.
The statement comes a day after the sixth meeting of the Lokpal panel was held which ended after three-hour intensive discussions without any consensus.
The 72-year-old Gandhian alleged, "They (government) have wasted our time. We had our draft ready earlier and they too had theirs. They why did they not bring this to the Cabinet earlier. The government is playing tricks." In yesterday's meet, though the government maintained that the Draft Lokpal Bill would be ready by June 30 and would be sent to the Cabinet, it would have versions of both the teams on the ten-member Committee.
Hazare alleged that the government did not have the "will" to enact a strong Lokpal Bill. "Bringing Lokpal Bill is not in government's mind. We are not getting any personal benefit from this. What is the point of having such a draft that cannot help India get rid of corruption," he said.
The civil society group had proposed constituting an 11-member Lokpal institution to supervise and administer all issues dealing with corruption at all levels with its own independent investigation and vigilance machinery.
Arvind Kejriwal, another member of the civil society group, described the talks as a "mere formality" as the government had already made up its mind on the issue. He accused the government of pursuing a hardline attitude. The government did not have any intention to end corruption, he added.
The next meeting would be held on June 20 or 21.