The Sangh Parivar backed Jan Lokpal Movement has subverted representative democracy enshrined in Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution. Street and media power backed by corporate finance has clearly destroyed the fabric of Babasaheb's constitution by allowing self righteous people to dictatae Parliament and Government. The Jan Lokpa drafted by some individual colleagues of Anna Hazare shows numerous instances of suppressing the democratic rights and constitutional safeguards accorded to the Bahujan Samaj and other weaker sections of society like ST/MBC/OBC and Minorities. The Jan Lokpal exclusively drafted by self-appointed individuals has totally suppressed the democratic and constitutional rights of the Bahujan Samaj and other weaker sections.Some of the major loopholes and weaknesses of the Jan Lokpal are:
1). Bahujan Samaj and other weaker sections of society are denied to have a say in the process of drafting and enacting the crucial law as some select individuals appoint themselves to draft it and the same is forced upon the Government and parliament without ascertaining the views of all stake holders including Bahujan Samaj and other weaker sections. This ensures that the will of only a small elite section of the society is considered in drafting and enacting the law which is nothing but a clear case of raping the democratic and constitutiional rights granted by Babasaheb Ambedkar's constitution to the Bahujan Samaj and other weaker sections.
2). There are no adequate safeguards for proportionate representation of Bahujan Samaj and other weaker sections in the panel of Team Anna's Jan Lokpal. This will ensure that Bahujan Samaj will have no representation in a superpower supra-constitutional authority enjoying powers of a Dictator over the President, Prime Minister, Parliament, Supreme Court, Defence forces, Police and the entire Bureaucracy. The dangers of not ensuring proportionate representation in this Dictator body can not be over emphasized.
3). There are no adequate provisions for preventing misuse of anti-corruption laws to victimize upcoming leaders of Bahujan Samaj and other weaker sections of society. The case of Justice P.D Dinakaran clearly shows the need for such special provisions.
4). There are no adequate provisions for special investigation and prosecution of corruption cases relating to mismanagement of funds and benefits and subtle deprivation of public services to members of Scheduled Castes and other weaker sections of society. Awarding highest punishment to offenders in these cases will deter recurrence of such cases. The case of Kiran Bedi's daughter obtaining medical seat meant for Tribal natives of Mizoram is a worthy example of how Tribals are continually deprived of their benefits and the biased attitude of society as well as governmental agencies when Tribals complain about these incidents. It is imperative for any effective Lokpal to bring such incidents within its purview by providing special provisions for speedy investigation and prosecution. The Jan Lokpal unfortunately has no special provisions in this regard.
5).The Jan Lokpal has no provisions for tackling malicious attacks on vulnerable employees and upcoming leaders belonging to Bahujan Samaj and other weaker sections through false, frivolous and vexatious complaints. The manner in which Right to Information (RTI) Act has been misused in some cases raises the need for special provisions in this regard.
6). Jan Lokpal envisages to bring only Government funded NGOs under its purview. Many fake and mischievous NGOs indulging in various forms of attrocities and exploitation like human trafficking where members of Scheduled Castes/Tribes are the main victims have been surprisingly left out of its purview.
7). Sources of funding of political parties that support anti-Tribal forest, land and mineral resources policies and spew venom on Minorities and other weaker sections not included within the purview of Jan Lokpal.
8).Sources of funding of cultural organizations and unregistered pressure groups indulging in high profile campaigns for uprooting constitutional safeguards of Bahujan Samaj and other weaker sections like the anti-reservation champion Youth for Equality (YFE) excluded from the purview of Jan Lokpal. While Arvind Kejriwal can accept anonymous donations worth crores and deposit them in his Trusts, Bangaru Laxman was penalized by his parent party for merely accepting Two lac ruppees on behalf of his party. This speaks volumes about the sense of corruption in Indian society.
9). There are no adequate provisions in the Jan Lokpal for special protection of whistle blowers belonging to Bahujan Samaj and other weaker sections of society though past events have clearly shown the need for it.
10).Jan Lokpal contains no provisions for setting up special benches in High Courts to hear corruption cases related to mismanagement of funds and benefits meant for Bahujan Samaj and other weaker sections and to fast track them.
11).Jan Lokpal has no provision for second opinion in respect of punishing employees belonging to weaker sections and Bahujan Samaj from constitutional bodies like NCSC/NCST/NMC to prevent victimization.
12). Jan Lokpal contains no provision for including constitutional bodies like NCST/NCSC/NCOBC/NCMBC/NMC in the commiittee to select Lokpal panel members.
13).There are no provisions for proportionate representatin of civil society members from tribals and other weaker sections in the Independent Search Commiitte.
14).There are no provisions for making Jan Lokpal transparent through regular updating of cases in the websites using all the Scheduled languages and other major Tribal languages.
15).Jan Lokpal does not envisage special safeguards in the composition,nature,function and powers of the Independent Authority that will hear complaints against the Jan Lokpal/
This deliberate exclusion of necessary provisions in the Jan Lokpal will ensure that it becomes a khap panchayat misused for flogging the Bahujan Samaj besides targeting "pseudo-secularists" and "social appeasement fanatics". The Sangh Parivar backed elements have succeeded in dictating the Government and Parliament from Ramlila Maidan clearly destroying the principle of representative democracy enshrined by Babasaheb's constitution. Once representative democracy is destroyed, the next target will automatically be secularism and social justice in that order. Bahujan samaj is clearly in danger!
By launching the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, the BJP could come into power. By launching this Jan Lokpal movement, the Sangh Parivar backed elements have usurped power without getting formally into power. This is nothing but destreuction of Babasaheb's constitution. The critical role that KALYAN SINGH played in the Ram Janmabhoomi is now played by MAYAWATI who has openly supported this RSS backed Jan Lokpal Movement.
The betrayed Bahujan Samaj has the right to raise legitimate questions. Is the RSS exploiting Mayawati's CM PM ambitions to trap her into supporting this anti-Bahujan Movement? Why is she going against the interests of the Bahujan Samaj ? Why is she blowing the shankh while Anna Hazare and his team are going forward to destroy the Constitution ? Is there any secrect agreement between RSS and Mayawati to enable her to come back to power in Uttar Pradesh like the past alliances with the BJP ? If not why is she on the same side with RSS in this Jan Lokpal Movement ? Why is she acting as the NEW KALYAN SINGH OF UTTAR PRADESH ? BSP under the leadership of Mayawati must answer these questions honestly to the Bahujan Samaj.
I am no supporter of the mombatti-holding Anna brigade. So let us put that to rest.
ReplyDeleteYet, to declare the entire Anna phenomenon as a so-called "upper"-caste movement merely because it did not sing songs about Dr Ambedkar or came up with an inadequate citizen's bill is not only naive but also incorrect.
You talk about how Anna's supporters are substituting parliament and thus going against Baba Saheb's constitution. As if the netas sitting in parliament are all saints! Dr Ambedkar would have probably sided with Anna if he could see what today's Congressi netas are doing.
You seem to have a special grudge against the RSS. Fact is, the RSS was open in saying it supported anti-graft movements. Nothing wrong with that! The Sangh Parivar was also the only large social body that supported Km Mayawati when she was building the Dalit Prerna Kendras in her state.
I do feel that the ultimate law-making ought to be done inside parliament.
May I add that today, thanks to people like you, a great mass leader like Dr Ambedkar simply does not captivate the minds of a large number of non-dalits because he has been turned into a weapon of mass divisiveness rather than a symbol of hope and reconciliation. Of course, the English media and our educational system too has to share the blame - their incompetence and bias is reflected in many other spheres too. Perhaps that's why the same people who have a hard time recalling Dr BR Ambedkar's lessons also have a hard time chanting even one shloka from the Gita. You see, many of our social ills reflect ignorance. Mass ignorance. And perhaps a bit about fear - today's dalits have turned Dr Ambedkar's name as a war cry against "them" ("them" being the alleged upper castes, who in turn believe they are unfairly being made to pay for the omissions/commissions of their forefathers!).
It is imperative that we talk more about Baba Saheb's teachings that apply to all of us Indians and while debating it, dalit activists ought to spend less time lambasting everything Indian (its religion, systems, symbols) and more time talking about equality, fairness, affirmative action, and reconciliation.
Otherwise, the same ills that plague rural parts will happen in urban areas too. Hate-driven change tends to have such negative side effects.
At the end, I would like to submit that by combining two disparate issues - corruption and casteism -- you might be weakening the attempts to uproot corruption which affects the poor and weak the most!
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