Social activist Swami Agnivesh on Thursday said the whole of India will support the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government if a “strong draft” of the Lokpal Bill is placed before Parliament in August.
“I am hopeful the government would place a strong draft of the Lokpal Bill in Parliament in the first week of August and if they do so, not only the entire Anna Hazare team, but the whole of India would support and praise the UPA government,” Swami Agnivesh told journalists here. He, however, warned of an adverse reaction if the draft of the anti-graft legislation was not to the satisfaction of the people of the country. “If it doesn’t happen, then I would like to appeal to the people of Assam to launch a mass movement to recall the representative in Rajya Sabha,” the Swami said, referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is a Rajya Sabha member from Assam.
Swami Agnivesh termed Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s pro-farmer campaign in Uttar Pradesh as “politics" to embarrass chief minister Mayawati. “Instead of speaking for the farmers in Uttar Pradesh and trying to embarrass Mayawati, Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh should launch a padyatra (march) in Assam to pay their respects to those farmers who died in the June 22 police firing in Guwahati,” he said.
Three people, including a child, were killed, when the police opened fire on a mob that went violent. The protest was launched demanding land deeds for people settled in and around the hills of Guwahati.