Can Anna Hazare guarantee Lokpal would end all corruption in India? asks government

NEW DELHI: The Union government on Sunday launched a broadside against Anna Hazare who has vowed to go on a fast from Tuesday over the Lokpal issue.

A Group of Ministers on Sunday addressed the media over the proposed fast of Anna Hazare from August 16.

Information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni on Sunday said that the proposed Lokpal Bill would not end all corruption in India.

Taking a dig at Anna Hazare, Soni asked whether Anna Hazare would provide a guarantee that all corruption would end in India once the Lokpal Bill is passed. "Anna and his team are misleading the nation.'

"The right to protest does not mean a right to protest at the place of your choice", Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal said. "Rights come with corresponding responsibility," Sibal said.

Kapil Sibal said that Anna is a publicity seeker and wants to be covered by TV and news media. He also said that the Team Anna's outrage against the Prime Minister is completely unjustified.

Replying to the charges of the govt being undemocratic, Sibal said that no one is more undemocratic than Team Anna.

"Who is financing Anna Hazare's campaign?" Kabil Sibal asked.

"So far as the Constitution is concerned, it is the state authority to make laws and not a third authority. Nobody can be compelled that a law has to be drafted as per his or her desire. It is for Parliament to decide," Mukherjee told reporters in Kolkata.

"And what Anna Hazare is doing is akin to challenging the constitutional authority of Parliament which is not acceptable," the finance minister said a day after Hazare, who had sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention over the conditions imposed for his indefinite fast from August 16, was snubbed by the PM and told to approach the Delhi Police.