Jan Lokpal Bill is very regressive: Says Arundhati Roy

Writer Arundhati Roy on Tuesday cast doubts over Anna Hazare's anti-graft campaign saying the civil society's Jan Lokpal Bill is a "dangerous piece of legislation".


"I am skeptical about the legislation (Jan Lokpal Bill) itself for a good number of reasons. I think the legislation is a dangerous piece of work," Roy told CNN-IBN in an interview.


Alleging that the civil society used public anger in their favour, the Booker Prize winner novelist said "You (civil society) used the real and legitimate anger of the people against corruption to push through this specific piece of legislation which is very regressive. It could have turned from something inclusive to destructive and dangerous."


Calling the Hazare-led movement a "copy book World Bank agenda", Roy said "It was an NGO-driven movement byKiran Bedi, (Arvind) Kejriwal and (Manish) Sisodia.


"Three of them run NGOs and all the three core team members are Magsaysay Award winners... World Bank and Ford Foundation fund the anti-corruption campaigns. This is copy book World Bank agenda though they might have not meant it."


The writer said "Anna Hazare was picked up and propped up as the saint for the masses. He was not the brain behind the movement. We really need to be worry about it."


She also said the Hazare-led movement was not the same thing as a people's movement and accused the media of engineering it.


"Obviously people joined in but all of them were not middle class and many came for a sort of reality show well orchestrated by media campaigns," she said.


"For a nation of one billion people, the media did not find anything else to report. Certain major TV channels campaigned for said to be doing so. That's a kind of corruption for me at first place," she said.


"If it was only for TRP then why not to settle for pornography or something which gives more TRP?" she asked.

"Jan Lokpal Bill is very regressive: Says Arundhati Roy"

Read More »

Lokapl Bill: How the government stumbled at every bend

From the very beginning of the Jan Lokpal movement led by Anna Hazare, the government failed to understand the popular sentiment behind it. Here are some mistakes the government could have avoided.

Blunder No. 1

PM Manmohan Singh on March 3, 2011, invited Anna for a discussion and legitimised Anna's standing vis-à-vis the issue of the appointment of an ombudsman

Blunder No. 2

As the number of Anna's supporters at Jantar Mantar began to swell, the government panicked and announced a joint drafting committee. The unprecedented step accorded full legitimacy to Team Anna in drafting an official Bill

Blunder No. 3

The govt courted Ramdev, but its midnight crackdown at the Ramlila Maidan showed its determination to suppress dissent

Blunder No. 4

When the stand-off between Anna and the govt began to climax, neither side budged. Perched on its ivory tower, the govt failed to assess the extent of public anger across the country on the issue of corruption in public offices. The govt started treating Anna as a rival, its ministers began to openly deride the civil society members. This alienated the govt from the masses

Blunder No. 5

The govt 'took on' Anna and his core team by itself. It chose to exclude other political parties from negotiating with Team Anna on the Lokpal Bill In the process, the govt distanced itself further from the Opposition parties, with the BJP reacting strongly

Blunder No. 6

The PM kept wavering on the issue of including his office in the Lokpal's ambit His "helplessness" in the I-Day address conveyed that the govt had no will to take on the corrupt The personal attacks byCongress leaders Kapil Sibal and Manish Tewari painted the ruling dispensation in poor light The offensive mellowed down only after Rahul Gandhi advised his partymen not to launch personal attacks on Anna

Blunder No. 7

City police commissioner B. K. Gupta (right) did repeat flip-flops on allotting Anna a venue for his protest The govt's decision to arrest and release Anna within 12 hours was like eating the proverbial humble pie. It led to a groundswell of public support for the septuagenarian crusader

"Lokapl Bill: How the government stumbled at every bend"

Read More »

Anna Hazare breaks his fast, his team thanks PM for ending Lokpal logjam

Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare on Sunday ended his 12-day long fast against corruption at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi, ending months of deadlock over the Lokpal Bill issue.

In a symbolic gesture, a Dalit girl offered coconut water and honey to the 74-year old Gandhian whose campaign galvanised widespread support against corruption. (In pics: India celebrates Anna's victory)

On Saturday, the anti-corruption crusader had announced he would call off his fast after the government accepted his key demands. He said what had happened in Parliament on Saturday was a victory of the people. He said this after Deshmukh read out the letter appealing to him to end his fast.

Earlier, the eight-hour long extraordinary debate in Parliament on the Lokpal issue on Saturday ended with the government finally agreeing to a resolution that includes all three of Anna Hazare's demands. 

Soon after the resolution was passed, the prime minister said, "Parliament has spoken. The will of Parliament is will of the people."

Although there was no vote, the "sense of House" resolution was passed unanimously in the House with the thumping of desks.

Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee requested Speaker Meira Kumar to adopt the sense of the House as a resolution and forward it to the standing committee.

The resolution says that the House agrees in principle for a strong and effective Lokpal and also for establishment of Lokayuktas in the state. The House has also agreed to set up a citizens' charter. It also recommends the setting up of an appropriate mechanism to bring lower bureaucracy under the Lokpal.

"Anna Hazare breaks his fast, his team thanks PM for ending Lokpal logjam"

Read More »