Today, on july 28, Anna Hazare team dismissed the lokpal bill
approved by government as a "cruel joke" which will be smacked down
as unconstitutional by Supreme Court "within a minute" and said the
Gandhian will sit on an indefinite fast here from August 16 demanding its
withdrawal. Accusing the government of bringing a "fractured lokpal"
for corporates and to "fool" people, the activists said they may
challenge the bill if passed by Parliament in its present form by keeping the
Prime Minister out its ambit.
"Anna said in Maharashtra's Ralegaon Siddi “the entire
country will protest with him at Jantar Mantar on August 16...This is not
Hazare's protest but the entire country's. The people need to look at this as a
second fight for their freedom and they should all come out on the streets” .
His associate Arvind Kejriwal told reporters in New Delhi
that Hazare's fast will be to demand withdrawal of the bill cleared by the
Cabinet and bring a stronger law in place of the bill, which he allged would
not give any succor to common people in the fight against corruption.
The bill proposes to keep the office of Prime Minister
outside its purview during his term in office besides excluding higher
judiciary and conduct of MPs inside Parliament.
Dissatisfied at the government "leaving out
majority" of the points raised by the civil society, lawyer Prashant
Bhushan said the government's decision to exclude the office of Prime Minister
from the ambit of Lokpal would not stand the scrutiny of court.
Alleging
that the five senior ministers who were part of the joint drafting committee
had displayed "total illiteracy" of Constitutional law, he said,
"this bill will be struck down by the Supreme Court within a