New Delhi: Arguing that Anna Hazare should
not deride democratic institutions, NAC member Aruna Roy on Saturday said the Gandhian was "ill-advised" as there was still scope
for the civil society group to change the government's version
of Lokpal Bill.
Referring to the Hazare camp's assertion that sending the
government Lokpal Bill to the Standing Committee as a waste of
time, Roy said such committees are an important institution
and one should use it as much as possible.
Roy said the National Campaign for People's Right to
Information (NCPRI), with which she is associated, has
prepared a version of Lokpal Bill and would present it before
the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice and
Personnel.
"We must assert our rights. But to get rid of these
institutions would be a great disaster for all the people in
this country. Therefore we must make it work," she said.
"Our argument is that democracy is people's right in our
system. So we must make these democratic institutions work for
us and they must work for us," she said.
Roy noted that Hazare and his associates should take
their version of Lokpal Bill to the Standing Committee.
In an apparent reference to Hazare setting a deadline to
pass the Jan Lokpal Bill, she said, "I think Annaji is ill-
advised...anyone who says my view should be the only view is
wrong."
"I still believe if we all go and depose before the
Standing Committee and sufficiently with well stacked
arguments, we can change the bill around because the
government bill leaves a lot to be desired. It is a bad bill,"
she said.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, August 20, 2011, 19:26