Opposition slams PM on Anna Hazare's detention

Angered over the arrest of Anna Hazare, Opposition today dismissed as a "bundle of lies" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement on the issue, noting that the arrest of the Gandhian has brought people on the streets all over the country. "This government is not only corrupt but also repressive. Corruption is a big issue and the way you have acted the people are on the streets," Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj said, initiating a discussion on the issue in the Lok Sabha.

Speaker Meira Kumar allowed as a special case a debate on the issue after Prime Minister made a statement detailing the sequence of events that led to action against Hazare. "The long statement conceals more than it reveals," Swaraj said, adding that protection of civil rights was one of the most important principles in a democratic country and the Opposition parties which are for supremacy of Parliament as also the judiciary, will fight for it.

She lamented that the Congress-led coalition protects the civil rights of separatists like S A R Geelani who had sometime back held a meet here but comes out against elderly Gandhians like Anna Hazare. She said the way the police acted against Ramdev and his supporters at the Ramlila Maidan here on June 4 showed that this government was not a protector of civil rights.

"The government is shifting the responsibility from its shoulders to that of the Delhi Police Commissioner," Swaraj said, adding that the attitude and the conduct of the government inside and outside Parliament was beyond comprehension.