Lucknow, May 1 (IANS) Social activist Swami Agnivesh Sunday hit out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for the ‘rampant corruption’ in her government and asked her to appoint a Lokayukta (ombudsman) in the state.
Reacting to Mayawati’s objection over the absence of any Dalit on the Jan Lokpal Bill drafting committee, Agnivesh said: ‘I do welcome her objection and thank her for raising the issue, but I would also like to ask the UP (Uttar Pardesh) chief minister to declare whether she had taken any effective steps to curb the rampant corruption in her government.’
‘If she were truly concerned about the plight of poor Dalits, then it was time that she initiated concrete anti-corruption measures and one of these could be to pass the new Jan Lokayukta Bill and have a Jan Lokayukta in place in the country’s most populous state,’ he said, addressing a press conference with activist Arvind Kejriwal, a civil society member of the Lokpal Bill drafting panel.
Kejriwal and Agnivesh arrived here Sunday morning along with satirist Jaspal Bhatti to represent Anna Hazare, whose sudden illness prevented him from visiting Lucknow to address a public rally Sunday evening.
Replying to questions, Kejriwal said the civil society activists have ‘neither allowed any political party to share our forum nor do we have any intention to associate ourselves with any political outfit in any manner’.
‘There are good and bad people in all political parties, just as there are good and bad people in the bureaucracy and other areas of governance; therefore, if anyone with a clean reputation comes forward in his individual capacity to extend support to this movement of the common masses, we will accept such support,’ he added.
Reposing a lot of faith in the youth, Kejriwal said he would like to call upon youth leaders in different political parties to raise the issue of corruption.
Noting how Anna Hazare’s movement had spread throughout the country, he said: ‘As I speak here today, thousands of people are voluntarily taking out marches and demonstrations in different cities of India to express their support for Anna.’
‘As many as 6,000 people gathered at the Marina Beach in Chennai this morning, while several thousands gathered in Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur and a huge march that was taken out from Jantar Mantar to the Boat Club in New Delhi to express solidarity with civil society a day before the second meeting of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee Monday.’
The committee comprises five cabinet ministers and five activists.
Earlier in the day, Agnivesh and Kejriwal were joined by leading local activists including former Allahabad high court judges Kamleshwar Nath and S.C. Verma, former state director general of police Prakash Singh, among others for an interaction with intellectuals, professionals, religious scholars and trade union leaders on the burning issue of corruption.
