Kiran Bedi | Voice from the rooftop

Anna and Arvind part ways

Posted on September 22, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal have parted ways. The issue was political formation. Many in IAC wanted to form a political party to fight corruption. Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi and some others were opposed to it. The meeting on 19/9/2012 lasted nine hours. Yogendra Yadav was the moderator. Anna Hazare said those who want to form a political party can go ahead with it but should not use his name or photograph. Arvind Kejriwal said Anna Hazareâ€™s decision was shocking, unbelievable and sad.

Baba Ramdev and some other people wanted a split between Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal. Arvind Kejriwal was opposed to all political parties. Kiran Bedi was in favour of BJP. Arvind Kejriwal did not want to join with Baba Ramdev as there were tax evasion cases against him. RSS people wanted to use IAC against Congress. Industrialist Sitaram Jindal had a role in arranging meetings of Anna Hazare with people opposed to Arvind Kejriwal.

Fight against corruption must continue

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

India Against Corruption seems to have lost direction and momentum in fight against corruption. IAC wanted a Lokpal Bill. That did not happen. They wanted right to reject and right to recall. Both are unlikely to happen soon. Anna Hazare seems unable or unwilling to lead the agitation. Other members should resume the fight against corruption.

IAC members need not go on indefinite fast. They can go on chain hunger strike. Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan can fast for some hours every day. Then Shazia Ilmi, Gaurav Bakshi and Manish Sisodia can take their turn. Then some other people fast. Every day the cycle is repeated. The fight for Lokpal should be separate from fight for Lokayuktas.

Gang of Four

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Gang of Four originally meant Jiang Qing, Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan who were powerful during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) in China. Anna Hazare spoke of Gang of Four in UPA government without mentioning names. One of them is P. Chidambaram. Second is likely to be Kapil Sibal. Who are the other two? Some talk of Digvijay Singh and Manish Tewari but they are not ministers.

Parliamentary privileges

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

MPs are free to move privilege motion against anyone including PM. Sometime back BJP had moved a privilege motion against PM. Article 105 of the Constitution does not define the privileges of MPs. It does not say Parliament can send someone to jail. Some MPs want to punish Om Puri and Kiran Bedi for what they said against MPs. MPs say the dignity of Parliament has been violated. Om Puri has issued a qualified apology on TV channels. He said he was offended when Manish Tewari accused Anna Hazare of corruption. Kiran Bedi has stood by her words. She said it was a game changer.

Where is the dignity of Parliament when MPs repeatedly disrupt Parliament? Days pass without doing any work. Sometimes whole sessions are disrupted. Many MPs donâ€™t attend Parliament for most of the days. Foul means are adopted to get majority in Parliament. When there is need of SP, BSP and RJD votes CBI finds no evidence in cases against Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Laloo Prasad Yadav. MPs are not to hold offices of profit however they declare them as not offices of profit and hold them.

Lokpal Bills

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Anna Hazare had told that if his Lokpal Bill, known as Jan Lokpal Bill, is not passed by 15/8/2011 he would begin his fast on 16/8/2011. The government had introduced its Bill in Lok Sabha which was different from the one drafted by Anna Hazare group. That bill was sent to a standing committee. Prashant Bhushan called the government Bill Promotion of Corruption Bill.

The government did not want a strong Lokpal Bill. Monsoon session usually begins in the middle of July. The government postponed it to the beginning of August. The government hid behind Delhi police to put restrictions on the fast and when arrests backfired it released the members. Anna Hazare was not in a hurry to leave Tihar jail and left it when Ramlila Ground, famous or notorious for crackdown on Baba Ramdev and his followers, was ready for his fast.