New Delhi: Eminent social activist Anna Hazare, along with Swami Aginvesh, Prashant Bhushan, Shanti Bhushan and Kiran Bedi will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday to discuss the enactment of the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill.
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had March 3 invited Hazare for a discussion on the bill after he threatened to go on an indefinite fast in the capital.
"It was only when Anna Hazare threatened to go on an indefinite fast that the prime minister invited us to discuss the bill. It's good news for us," Kiran Bedi, former top cop and Magsaysay award winner, told reporters on the sidelines of an award function.
She said the group may also include yoga guru Baba Ramdev.
Veteran activist Hazare had announced Feb 26 that he would go on an indefinite fast at the Jantar Mantar from April 5 if the prime minister does not act decisively on the Lokpal Bill.
An anti-corruption rally was organised Feb 26 by eminent social leaders like Swami Agnivesh and Arvind Kehriwal under the aegis of Baba Ramdev demanding stringent laws against corruption and black money stashed in foreign banks.
The Lokpal Bill 2010, which awaits a select parliamentary committee's nod, creates an ombudsman body and also provides for filing complaints of corruption against the prime minister, ministers and MPs.
However, the activists say that the bill in its present form is toothless and that they have drafted a separate Jan Lokpal bill taking view and suggestions from civil society and common people in account.
The activists' bill demands that the Lokpal and Lokayukta, who will be the corruption watchdogs, be independent bodies unlike the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is under the government and can not function independently.
It also emphasises on time-bound investigation.
We all know that our prime minister, Manmohan Singh is honest.
Well this time he can prove that he can make the government honest unlike J L Nehru who allowed corruption to flourish under his eyes.
If one were to say that J L Nehru was the father of corruption in India, he would not be wrong.
The congress had steam-rolling majority during the first three elections and J L Nehru could have anything to root it out in India like Lew Kuan Yew. However, he chose to shut his eyes and see what the small seeds which he sowed have grown into massive poisonous trees which is eating up the whole nation.
Let not Manmohan say that he has zero tolerance for corruption. Let him act now.
Let him cooperate with these august people to make a water tight anti corruption oriented LOK Pal Bill, free of loop holes, leaving out nobody, even the President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Election Commissioner or the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
He will go down in history as the person who saved India.
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