Even as the Government called for an all-party meeting on July 3 to discuss the two drafts of the Lok Pal Bill, the anti-graft crusader Mr Anna Hazare on Wednesday said he would fast again from August 16. The Government move is being seen as an attempt to defuse the situation.
Announcing his ‘second struggle for independence” at a press conference here on Wednesday, Mr Hazare said “We have lost confidence in this Government. It has no will to make this a corruption-free country. If permission is not granted (for the fast), we are prepared to go to jail.”
A day after the joint panel meeting ended without any consensus, Mr Hazare criticised the Human Resource Development Minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, for saying that civil society members wanted a parallel government. “Is the Election Commission, which is autonomous, a parallel government?” he asked.
Listing out the areas of differences with the Government, Mr Hazare said, “Their draft excludes corporates and seems more like gunning at people's movements and 4.5 lakh NGOs in the country,” he said.
Activists Mr Arvind Kejriwal and Ms Kiran Bedi also termed the Government draft as a “hoax' and said there was nothing for the common man in it.
Civil society members said they were confident of greater people's participation this time. “We are getting a lot of support from overseas Indians. In fact, some them will demonstrate in front of the UN headquarters protesting India's violation of the Convention on Corruption, which the country had ratified,” Ms Bedi said.