New Delhi: Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and accused him and the government of not paying heed to the people's demands on the Lokpal Bill and betraying the country - the people and Parliament alike.
"The government has betrayed us. The Lokpal Bill presented in Parliament did not have the Citizens' Charter. Nor did it include the lower bureaucracy under its ambit," the letter said.
He further lashed out at the government for formulating a bill that was "powerless" and could not initiate investigation "on its own".
"It is also a betrayal of Parliament, as the sense of House which was promised to us, was not kept in your Lokpal Bill. In a way, you did not keep the supremacy of Parliament," he wrote.
"It needs government agencies to initiate investigation. Is this bill a strong bill?" he asked.
"Why is your government so scared of liberating the CBI from government control? This is the first law since independence which will provide legal help to an accused person. This shows how much pain you have for the corrupt. Do you have the same pain for the common citizen, who always suffers at the hands of the corrupt?
"You have left the whistleblower agency at the mercy of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). Does the CVC have police power? Can the CVC protect honest people," asked Anna.
Anna added, "The Lokpal selection process, its members, its dismissal are all in the hands of the government. Is this Lokpal powerful and independent? Will the Prime Minister swear and say that it is a strong Lokpal?"
Anna requested in his letter to the Prime Minister to show some courage. "The country wants a strong Lokpal. Could you show same courage as you shown during the Nuclear Bill? You might not return as the Prime Minister again but if you show some courage, the country will remember you as the one who got strong Lokpal to this country."
He further said that while the government ignored the people's demands to include the Citizens' Charter in the Bill, it paid heed to Rahul Gandhi's demand to accord constitutional status to the Bill.
"Democracy is for the people. Is this your democracy?" he asked.
He wrote in his letter that Team Anna had decided to tour poll-bound states and inform the general public about the Jan Lokpal Bill. He said that their agitation would continue till the government formulated a strong Lokpal Bill, that kept the citizens' demands in mind.
Hazare also wrote to Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi asking him why the government gave in to his demand to give the Lokpal Bill a constitutional status, but ignored the people’s plea to include the Citizens' Charter in the Bill.
He further asked Rahul to explain why the CBI was kept under government control.
"Is it because it can protect corrupt leaders like P Chidambaram or is it because you can arm-twist small political parties to garner support for your government? Do you support this logic? Two years back, you yourself said that the CBI is misused by all ruling parties. If that is so, then why not free it?" he asked.
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