Minority organisations want Lokpal issue in 2014 election manifesto

Several Dalit, OBC and minority organisations have reiterated their urgent appeal to political parties to include the Lokpal bill issue in their election manifesto.

Coming together under the aegis of Citizens for Social Justice (CSJ), civil society activists and minority leaders on Tuesday urged Union Ministers, political parties and Members of Parliament to make Lokpal bill a 2014 Lok Sabha election manifesto.

Expressing apprehensions about the Lokpal bill being talked about by Anna Hazare and his close confidants, CSJ said methods used by Team Hazare stood a threat to the democratic system of the country.

Dr. Joseph D' Souza, President of All India Christian Council, said the Citizens for Social Justice have written to Parliamentarians demanding that the Lokpal Bill go to the people during 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

"Political parties should take their version of the Lokpal Bill and so should Team Anna and see if the whole nation is with their version of the Bill as claimed by them and the corporate houses which are funding them," he said.

Prof. Kancha Ilaiah, a Dalit intellectual and Director of the Study of Social Exclusion & Inclusive Policy, added: "We all oppose corruption with all the might at our disposal. But we do not want outside forces like Anna Hazare to blackmail the system and get their way through even at the level of Standing Committee of the Parliament."

CSJ urged upon Union Ministers and Parliamentarians not to be swayed away by the media and Team Anna "which seem to have a larger agenda than corruption and pass the bill in the parliament before 2014 General Elections".

If any draconian clauses of the Jan Lokpal get into the Bill and that Bill becomes the law the credibility of Parliament will be lost, they observed.

"Corruption and Caste Discrimination has a strong linkage in our society. We request you to keep this dimension in mind when you discuss the Lokpal Bill in future."

The letter was signed by, among others, Prof. Kancha Ilaiah, Dr. Joseph D' Souza, Asifuddin Muhammed, Dr. John Dayal and Dr. Udit Raj.