Anna Hazare, whose fast for the passage of Jan Lokpal Bill entered the third day, on Thursday shot off a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office, calling the government’s attitude on the issue “a fraud on democracy” as it was not even on Parliament’s agenda.
“The attitude of the government on the bill is very irresponsible and is a fraud on democracy,” Hazare said in his letter addressed to Minister of State in the PMO V Narayanasamy.
“I won’t end my fast till the bill is passed,” he declared, adding, “I am ready to make the supreme sacrifice for the country.”
The anti-corruption campaigner’s letter came on a day when Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said the government will list the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha tomorrow as it was its “priority”.
“Our priority is Lokpal Bill. The Lokpal Bill has to be taken up in Rajya Sabha, and then it will come up in Lok Sabha,” Nath said in Delhi, dismissing reports that the government was contemplating adjourning Parliament sine die by Friday.
“The Winter Session of Parliament has started and the bill is not on the agenda. This clearly means that the government is deceiving me and the people of the country,” Hazare said in the letter.
“It is due to this deceit that the people have taught you a lesson in the recent Assembly polls in four states,” he said and warned that if the bill did not come in the ongoing session people would teach a lesson to Congress party and UPA government in the Lok Sabha polls too.
Hazare’s letter came shortly after Narayanasamy, appealing to the social activist to end his fast, said unless Parliament was allowed to function passage of the bill was difficult.
“Anna Hazare is a veteran person. He had written three letters to the PM, and, on his behalf, I replied to him. I told him about the status of the bill. I appeal to Anna Hazare on government’s behalf to end his fast because he knows the parliamentary procedure. Until and unless Parliament comes to order, passage of the bill is difficult,” he said.
—PTI