New Delhi, June 17 (agencies): A day after the civil society members of the Lokpal panel lashed out at the government for trying to kill the anti-corruption bill, Anna Hazare said he was being harassed by the government. He says the government is raising unnecessary issues regarding his Hind Swaraj Trust.
A team from the charity commissioner’s office had visited Ralegan Siddhi on June 6. It had obtained a few records from the trust for inspection. The government team also recorded statements of the trustees in connection with allegations of financial irregularities. Hazare says the charity commissioner’s office was charging his trust with financial irregularities, only to harass him.
The anti-corruption activist, who is leading a campaign against the government, has dared the authorities to file a case against his trust. “We have submitted all papers to the charity commissioner office. If we are at fault, let them file a case against us. We are ready to fight the case, because we are clean,” said Hazare.
At a public Lokpal debate, conducted by Headlines Today on Thursday, Hazare said while the government was making all sorts of allegations against his team instead of engaging in a constructive discussion on the Lokpal bill, his trust was also not spared. However, the investigating agencies would not be able to find anything, because he had “no bank balance”, Hazare said.
‘Scams put govt on defensive against Anna, Ramdev’
New Delhi, June 17 (HT): A series of scams pushed the government into “defence” and gave civil society an opportunity to pressure for their demands, said union minister Salman Khurshid on Friday. “If there were no 2G or CWG we could have treated the matter (civil society’s demand for a strong lokpal) differently. We went into a bit of defence,” said Khurshid while speaking to senior editors of Hindustan Times. He was referring to alleged irregularities in the 2G telecom spectrum allocation and waste and mismanagement in organization of the Commonwealth Games in 2010.
Khurshid admitted the government had difficulty in dealing with activist Anna Hazare and yoga guru Ramdev, who both went on fasts to protest against corruption, but insisted it had regained political ground. He accused civil society members of undermining the constitution and wanting to run a “parallel government”.
“They want a lokpal representative present everywhere; they want to run a parallel government. We did not expect them to be so unreasonable. Their approach puts a serious question mark on their perception of democracy,” said Khurshid, who is minister for minority affairs and water resources.
“They want the lokpal walk into living rooms for a probe. Their idea of servants of the people is like the servants at home.”
He accused Hazare’s team of misleading the public by confusing corruption with misadministration. “The way a law is made can be disagreed but there are ways for that disagreement. And we are making those distinctions,” said Khurshid, adding a draft of the lokpal bill will be ready by June 30.
Khurshid is a member of the lokpal bill drafting committee which is headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and comprises members from the government and civil society. Talks between government and civil society members of the drafting committee have reached a stalemate with Hazare declaring that he will sit on a second fast in Delhi from August 16 “if the Lokpal is not according to (our) aspirations”.
