New Delhi, August 13: The government and Team Anna appeared headed for another round of battle on the Lokpal Bill issue. After allowing the civil society group led by Anna Hazare to hold fast at the Jai Prakash Narayan Park in central Delhi, the Delhi Police are reported to have told the activists that they can protest at the site only for three days.
The Gandhian activist and his supporters, on the other hand, want to sit on fast against the government’s Lokpal Bill for at least 30 days.
Further, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), which looks after the park, has yet to grant permission to Team Anna to go ahead with their proposed fast on August 16.
Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who is part of the core group of civil society team, today hit out at CPWD and Delhi Police for their delaying tactics, saying the government and its agencies were trying to delay the proposed fast.
The government had yesterday said that Anna Hazare’s plan to go on fast is “unjustified” at this stage, when it is moving forward on the passage of the Lokpal Bill.
“At this stage an extra Parliamentary protest seems unjustified,” Home Minister P Chidambaram said when asked how the government views Hazare’s proposed agitation at a time when the draft bill for Lokpal is being deliberated before the Standing Committee.
Noting that “everybody has a right to protest and the context and circumstances will decide whether the protest was right or not”, Chidambaram said Hazare team’s earlier fast, when the Lokpal Bill was not in place, was perhaps right but not now when a Bill has already been introduced in Parliament and the government has “moved forward” on it.
To another question on whether the government can intervene in case Hazare’s health is affected, the home minister said, “Certainly, if anyone’s life is in danger, the government has not only a duty but a right to intervene.”
He was, however quick to add that the statement was not in context of Hazare but a general one.
—Agencies