This refers to the edit “And now to the House” (December 22). There are many in the intelligentsia who have been critical of Anna Hazare’s agitation for the Lok Pal Bill. Their main argument is that it is only Parliament that has the sovereign right to make laws that it deems fit in its collective wisdom since parliamentarians are supposed to represent the people of India. Nobody, not even Team Anna, denies that. However, it is time these critics also realised that democracy does indeed give people a right to demand what they think is fit and even keep agitating for it, if necessary, as long as they want. In short, both Parliament and the people have freedom in their own respective spaces. Also, the government of the day is free to respond to people’s agitation in any manner that does not transgress the legal and constitutional framework laid down in our democratic set-up. It is a different matter that the government will tend to moderate its response based on its assessment of possible political and electoral consequences. But that is an occupational hazard that any elected government must face.
Kishor Kulkarni, Mumbai
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