Confrontation between the government and the civil society could intensify following Gandhian Anna Hazare’s plan to follow late Jayprakash Narayan’s total revolution programme . It has included reforms in the electoral system, along with the provision for “right to recall” of elected representatives from the gram panchayat-level.
After winning a battle on the Lokpal Bill following his five-day fast at Jantar Mantar here, the noted social activist said on Saturday that his next fight will be for a right to recall public servants like sarpanch, corporator and so on if they failed in their duty. He also sent a message to the Election Commission asking it to change the present electronic voting machines as they were “faulty”.
He batted for a “none of the above” provision in the ballot or EVMs and for provisions to check use of money power in elections. “This will set their (candidates using money power) mind right,” Mr Hazare said. The government failure to check growing election expenditure, curb corruption and political parties inability to play a constructive role in this regard is creating space for the civil society and leaders like Mr Hazare. This is because these issues are directly affecting the commonman and weakening the governance. No political party can blame coalitions for this after enjoying power.
Mr Hazare is confident of influencing the government with the help of youth and the civil society members across the country.
In fact, he insisted that the agitation on the Lokpal Bill had given him great strength and urged that “people with a clean image” to join the movement to cleanse the system.
Meanwhile, difference of opinion has cropped up among the civil society groups over the inclusion of father-son lawyers duo Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan in the committee to draft the bill.
Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, who was one of the prominent backers of the agitation, said in Hardwar why there was nepotism in the committee of the civil society.
“Why is there nepotism in there committee? Why both father and son are accommodated in the committee?” he said.
Mr Hazare, however, disagreed with him. At a press conference in Delhi, he said, “You can level any allegations against me. I am a person who follows Gandhian principles. Nothing wrong in having two members of the same family in the panel. We need experience. We need expertise.”