Kejriwal said that the govt is reluctant to bring the agency under Lokpal so that it can continue using it to arm twist opponents.
RTI crusader Arvind Kejriwal, a key figure in Anna Hazare’s campaign against corruption, on Tuesday criticising the government’s decision to exclude CBI from the ambit of RTI, alleging that it was not bringing it under an independent Lokpal to ‘arm twist’ political opponents.
“You see the RTI Act clearly says that only security and intelligence related agencies can be kept out of its purview. CBI is neither a security agency nor an intelligence agency. RAW is an intelligence agency. IB is an intelligence agency. CBI is an anti-corruption agency and, like the police it deals with crime-related incidens.
It is a completely illegal order and if it is challenged in a court of law, we are very confident that the court will strike down the notification. But, it clearly shows the intentions of the government. It is interested in keeping the CBI a dishonest agency because in that situation the government can arm-twist its political opponents and it can scuttle all the enquiries against its own party people,” he added.
Kejriwal further said that if the people of the nation feel that corruption can be curtailed with Anna Hazare’s bill, they should join him in his struggle.
“If people feel that the government’s position is right, then they should not join Anna Hazare’s protest. But, if the people feel that the government’s position is wrong they should join him in his struggle,” he said.
Asked about the previous meetings of the Lokpal drafting committee, he said they had a feeling that the decisions of the government side were “pre-decided”.
However, he said, the silver lining was that they were able to hold a country-wide discussion about Lokpal and its various provisions.
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