Ahmedabad: Social activist Anna Hazare on Thursday
exuded confidence that the Jan Lokpal Bill will have "enough
tooth" to send the corrupt to jail.
"The multi-crore scams like Adarsh, CWG are surfacing...
but scamsters are not being sent to jail. For sending such
scamsters to jail there will be this Jan Lokpal Bill," Hazare
said at an event here.
"In the last 62 years, no law has been enacted in the
country to put brakes on corruption, which is not good in a
law-driven democratic country like India," he said.
"The government was saying why do we need people (civil
society) from outside for drafting the bill, I told them they
are not outsiders," Hazare said, adding people in democracy
are politicians' boss as they vote them to power.
On January 26, 1950, a day when India became sovereign
republic, people of the country turned your bosses, Hazare
said.
"When I spoke like this the government went silent... In
a democratic set up it is necessary to take civil society with
you if the nation has to make progress," he said.
If a law is to be enacted then the public must be
consulted on it, "like we are doing," Hazare said, adding an
effective legislation like the RTI Act came into existence in
a similar fashion.
Swami Agnivesh, while sharing dais with Hazare said the
Jan Lokpal bill draft is likely to get finalised before June
30.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 23:07