Open to extending Aug 15 deadline if he finds the govt on the right path
In an apparent softening of stand, Anna Hazare today said Parliament was supreme and he would accept its decision if it rejected the Lok Pal Bill.
Hazare also showed some flexibility on the August 15 deadline he had set for the passage of the Bill by Parliament, saying he was open to extending it if he found the government was on the right path.
“We will have to accept it. We believe in democracy,” Hazare said in reply to a question on what would be his stand if Parliament rejected the Lok Pal Bill drafted jointly by the government and representatives of the civil society.
Hazare, who called off his fast on April 9 after the government notified a joint draft committee, had set an August 15 deadline for passage of the Bill, failing which he would again go on a fast.
“There can be some flexibility once we are convinced that the Bill is on the right track,” he said in an informal interaction with a group of journalists.
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However, he felt it could be possible for Parliament to take a decision on the Bill within a month.
Hazare agreed that his method of agitation could be called “terrorism on principles,” so long as the motive behind it was public good.
“It is not wrong to say that we are engaging in terrorism on principles. But it has to have an element of public welfare in it. This is necessary, otherwise it would lead to dictatorship,” he said.
Hazare said he was open to have wider consultations on the Lok Pal Bill and was also willing to involve the political leadership of the country.
“We have to take everyone into confidence, including the political class. If they have doubts, we will discuss with chiefs of political parties,” he said.
He said he was open to discuss other drafts of the Lok Pal Bill which the government had said it has received from various other organisations.
Hazare admitted that corruption would not end with the passage of the Lok Pal Bill, but it would definitely help curb such practices to some extent.
Dismissing allegations of links with the RSS, Hazare said “I never went close to them nor have I allowed them to get close to me. I have never shared the same dais with the RSS.”
CD was doctored and fabricated: Bhushan
Prashant Bhushan, a member of the Lok Pal Bill joint drafting committee, on Sunday said the CD carrying a purported telephone conversation between his father, Shanti Bhushan, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh was “doctored”. The CD has been subjected to forensic tests in two laboratories — one in the US and other in Hyderabad — and both the laboratories have confirmed “clear signs of doctoring”, he told a press conference here.
“There are multiple signs of electronic editing in these conversations,” Prashant said, terming the CD “doctored and fabricated”. “There was a clear conspiracy on part of some people which appears to have blessings of many powerful people in the country,” he said.
He said, “both the laboratories have confirmed multiple electronic editing in these conversations at very, very critical places.”