Anna Hazare says govt has cheated entire country, Congress lashes out at him

NEW DELHI: Accusing Team Anna of "practising an extreme form of intolerance", Abhishek Singhvi, senior Congress leader and chairman of the Parliamentary panel on Lokpal, said attacking those who do not agree with their view is a negation of democracy.

"None of this is surprising. As usual and true to form Team Anna is practising an extreme form of intolerance, namely those who do not agree 100 per cent with their view must be condemned with personal attack and vilification," Singvi said.

He said this is a "negation of democracy" itself because Team Anna has decided that "no one in the nation, be it Parliamentary Committee, Parliament or the Cabinet, can ever disagree with them."

"This is most unfortunate and regrettable," said Singhvi who is also an eminent lawyer and spokesperson of Congress.

His remarks came close on the heels of Anna Hazare's attack on the Committee for its "weak report" on the eve of his day-long fast.

Govt has cheated entire country: Anna 

On the eve of day-long fast to protest against the Parliamentary Standing Committee report on Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare today said government has "cheated" the entire country and that he will carry on his campaign till next Lok Sabha elections to create awareness against UPA.

The social activist said he suspected that Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi was behind Standing Committee rejecting even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's promise to include the Citizen's charter, lower bureaucracy and establishment of Lok Ayuktas in the states.

"They have cheated the whole country. The Prime Minister had given in writing that these three issues would be brought under the Lokpal Bill...The Prime Minister's letter was thrown into the dustbin. Why this volte face? Is Singhvi's post higher than that of the Prime Minister," Hazare told reporters here.

"There is somebody behind... Who is bigger than the Prime Minister?... We suspect Rahul Gandhi could be behind this... Who else can dare to challenge the Prime Minister? That is why there are these problems," Hazare said, alleging that their intentions are "not good".

He was referring to Standing Committee headed by Abhishek Singhvi which has disfavoured inclusion of Group C and D employees and kept out Citizen's charter and Lokayukta.

Hazare, who will hold a day-log fast at jantar mantar tomorrow, said he will resume his anti-corruption agitation from December 27 and then carry on this for next two years till the Lok Sabha elections.

"We will continue to fight for the next two years. We will move around the whole country before the general elections to create public awareness," he said and asked "Why to retain those who have destroyed the country?"

Now, anti-corruption Baba Ramdev's yatra in Punjab

BATHINDA: At a time when political season is heating up in Punjab and yatras are being undertaken by various political parties, yoga guru Ramdev too has pitched in with his own brand of Swabhiman yatra. Having started the Punjab visit on Wednesday evening from this politically volatile town, Ramdev will remain in the state for ten odd days and will raise the demand for bringing back black money stashed away in foreign banks.

Starting the first day of his proposed yatra on volatile note, Ramdev vehemently targeted the UPA government in general, and Ccongress in particular. Before starting a yoga shiver (camp), the baba said he was determined to force the UPA government to contain corruption and bring back the black money. Supporting the Jan Lokpal Bill, initiated by Anna Hazare, Ramdev said a strong public movement was needed for bringing in the bill.

"Though, Art of living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and social reformer Anna Hazare are working in their own spheres at present, the three of us are united in opposing corruption, and would soon share a common platform, as Congress is not serious to contain corruption and giving a go ahead to inflation, price rise", said Ramdev. Yoga guru said trillions are stashed in foreign banks as black money, but here in India majority of people are living under poverty line and UPA is doing nothing to reverse the trend. He said there is dire need to frame such economic policies which suit the common men.

Ramdev later visited the temporal seat of Sikhs at Takhat Damdama Sahib and paid obeisance. He also visited Laleana village and adopted it to make it drug-free and asked the villagers to go for organic farming.

Box- Aggressive China worries Baba

Taking strong note of China's advancement towards India by building up its military paraphernalia, Ramdev said it is threat for sovereignty of India and the country must give befitting reply to China's nefarious designs.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to campaign against corruption in UP

LUCKNOW: Siritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will embark on an anti-corruption yatra in UP from November 7 in which he would be holding satsangs in various parts of the state, and would ask people to take oath for not indulging in corruption.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar would start from Jaunpur on November 7 and will be in Sonebhadra on November 8. He would go to Mirzapur on November 9 and Sultanpur on November 10. He would end his trip in Kanpur on November 11. He would also be visiting IIT Kanpur.

Significantly, the yatra is being conducted at a time when political parties in UP are gearing for 2012 assembly elections and Congress is in the back foot on the issue of corruption. While Baba Ramdev is already on a yatra targeting Congress, Anna Hazare has announced to tour UP asking people not to vote for Congress party in 2012 assembly elections in case Congress led UPA government fails to bring a strong lokpal in winter session of Parliament. In such a situation, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's yatra may create more trouble for the Congress.

The yatra also assumes importance in the light of Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh's statement that RSS has put up Sri Sri Ravin Shankar after its plan A (Baba Ramdev's campaign against corruption) and plan B (Anna Hazare's anti-corruption campaign) failed. Not only Digvijay Singh, even SP leader Azam Khan has alleged that RSS is behind Baba Ramdev, Anna Hazare and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar despite the fact that Anna Hazare has categorically denied any links with RSS.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has also made it clear that in his campaign is spiritual and not political or for lokpal. He had said that lokpal alone cannot curb corruption, hence he would be making a spiritual appeal to people to shun corruption. Last week, he had administered an oath to nearly one lakh people, asking them not to give or take bribe.

Sri Sri had supported the anti-corruption campaign of Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare. Responding to Digvijay Singh's allegations, he had also said that fighting corruption is no crime and he would go on educating people on the ill effect of corruption on society.

Anna exposes UPA’s incompetence

The events of the last few days leading to the arrest of social activist and Gandhian Anna Hazare and its political fall out have left no one in doubt that the present UPA government seems to be incapable of governance. The entire affair was so badly handled that it has galvanized the anti Congress forces throughout the country. The mishandling has contributed to the growing stature of Anna Hazare who is appearing to be setting the agenda and calling the shots despite backing unconstitutional arguments to press his demands.
Yes, so far as corruption goes, Anna Hazare has brought the issue into focus nationally and no one can take away the credit from him. In the times of these scams and scandals, he is seen as a crusader who wants to take this issue to the masses. But one is forced to disagree with him on the point of enacting a Bill merely on the strength of the belief of a section of the civil society. Yes, the civil society or its representatives have the right to put forward their view but it is Parliament alone which has the right to enact laws—whether one likes it or not. The sovereignty and authority of Parliament cannot be undermined under any circumstances.
The Congress has been making allegations of foreign funding to Anna’s movement without substantiating it. Even if it is true, people are not prepared to buy this viewpoint because the credibility of the party and the government is nothing to boast about. On top of it, the party has also accused Anna Hazare of being corrupt and mentioned a figure of 2.25 lakhs spent on his birthday. The whole thing looked to be a joke when one compares 2.25 lakhs to 1.78 lakh crores believed to be the loss in the 2G scam alone. The language used by the Congress spokesman was unpardonable and the party should show greater propriety and form while even attacking its adversaries. This is the least one expects out of the Grand Old Party.
The UPA government made a fool of itself with its poor handling of the situation and played straight into Anna’s hands.
By arresting him and denying him the permission to protest, the UPA has done incalculable harm to itself and its sagging image. I am sure there could have been better ways of dealing with the crisis, which has accentuated with some stupid and inept handling instead of being defused. The problem with this government is that either highly qualified Supreme Court lawyers who have scant knowledge of how law works at the CrPc and IPC level or those who have joined the party from other outfits are running the show. In addition, the lateral entries into politics are adding to the confusion. In short, the original Congressmen are by and large content at seeing things from the sidelines having been marginalized by those who controlled the levers of power for the past few years. In the process, there is only cosmetic support for the government. Secondly, there are some ambitious Congress leaders who are making use of the occasion to precipitate power politics. This is being done at the cost of the party and the government’s interests.
The BJP is no better and knows that strengthening of Team Anna is to its detriment. It is therefore happy playing second fiddle to the ill advised government and is only content with Performa protests.
I feel that Anna Hazare has put the UPA, NDA and the entire political class on the back foot. I do not think it is good for our democracy but that is how things are. Corruption is a major issue and Parliament has to now collectively address it in a big way and not merely by lip service. The solution has to be found by Parliament and not by any individual representing any civil society group. We must thank Anna for showing how impotent and ineffective those who run this political system have become. The Political class should treat it as a wake up call.