Mumbai/New Delhi, Dec 28 (IANS) Team Anna Wednesday described the Lokpal bill passed by the Lok Sabha as ‘useless’ and a ‘threat to democracy’ and also dismissed reports of low turnout at their protest venues.
‘Lok Sabha passed the Lokpal bill yesterday (Tuesday), but the bill passed is dangerous and a threat to democracy,’ said Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal in Mumbai.
Addressing a gathering at Ramlila maidan in the national capital, senior lawyer Shanti Bhushan, echoed the sentiment, saying: ‘The bill passed Tuesday is a lame and weak bill.’
He alleged that Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) MPs abstaining from vote in the Lok Sabha Tuesday night was a ‘tactics played by the ruling Congress party to allow smooth passage of a weak Lokpal bill’.
Another Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan said there was no point in giving a constitutional status to a ‘weak’ Lokpal.
‘We are not against the Lokpal getting constitutional status. But it should be given to a powerful Lokpal and not a toothless and useless institution,’ said Prashant Bhushan.
‘The kind of Lokpal bill that was passed in the (Lok Sabha) is useless,’ said the advocate.
He also dismissed reports of low turnout at their protest venues in Delhi and Mumbai, stressing that people’s support for the movement had not decreased.
‘The turnout at the grounds is not as low as some people think,’ Bhushan told reporters at Ramlila Maidan here.
He said 7,000-8,000 people gathered at Ramlila Maidan Wednesday afternoon.
But he admitted the numbers were low compared to August when Hazare fasted for 12 days in Delhi.
According to police, only a thousand people were present at the Ramlila ground Wednesday morning.
