Lets end corruption together! This is the ultimatum that the members of India against Corruption, Loksatta and other civil societies will give the Union and the state governments as they come together for a rally on January 30.
Lets end corruption together! This is the ultimatum that the members of India against Corruption, Loksatta and other civil societies will give the Union and the state governments as they come together for a rally on January 30.
About 40 cities from all over India will participate in the rally, the Bangalore leg of which will begin at the Mahatma Gandhi Statue on MG Road.
The rally in Delhi will be led by Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal, Anna Hazare, Prashant Bhushan, Maulana Mahmood Madani and Rev Vincent M Concessao (Archbishop of Delhi).
“Corruption has always been a part of the Indian system, which is perhaps why it took us this long to wake up. But the astronomical level of corruption today is unprecedented,” said Ajit Phadnis, from Loksatta, adding that corruption had now gone beyond mere politics and hits hard when our “identity as Bangaloreans and Indians is degraded because of this”.
The rally, which is expected to witness the participation of at least 1,000 people from the Art of Living Foundation, Loksatta, Corruption Saaku, SmartVote, iPaidABribe.com, Public Affairs Forum, the Consumer Society of India and others, will conclude at the statue, where an alternative to the Jan Lokpal Bill will be released.
“The present Lokpal Bill, which the government has proposed, is weak. It does not have anything concrete in it that will actually help curb corruption, and is just for show,” said Phadnis.
“The bill that we will release after the March, has been drafted by Santosh Hegde, Prashanth Bhushkar, Arvind Kejriwal among others. It gives the Lokayukta definite powers to take action against corruption and also proposes setting up a Lokayukta in every state. We need strict rules against corruption,” he said.
“This is the beginning of India’s voice. We are frustrated and angry. Our representatives have failed us. But now, we are going to make them do something and set the situation right,” said Srinivas Alavilli, member of the Loksatta.
“Never before has a mass movement against corruption come together in this way. The fact that we, the educated, people have woken up and come together is a sign that things are about to change,” he said.
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