IndiaAgainstCorruption

A119,Kaushambi,Ghaziabad201010.UPPh:09868069953 www.indiaagainstcorruption.org

Date:April6,2011 To, Dr.ManmohanSingh, HonblePrimeMinisterofIndia NewDelhi

DearDr.Singh, IhavestartedmyindefinitefastatJantarmantar.Ihadinvitedyoualsotofastandprayforacorruption free India on 5th April. Though I did not receive any reply from you, I am hopeful that you must have donethat. Iampainedtoreadandhearaboutgovernmentsreactiontomyfast.Iconsideritmydutytoclarifythe pointsraisedonbehalfofCongresspartyandthegovernmentbytheirspokespersons,astheyappearin media: 1. ItisbeingallegedthatIambeinginstigatedbysomepeopletositonthisfast.DearManmohan Singhji,thisisaninsulttomysenseofwisdomandintelligence.IamnotakidthatIcouldbe instigated into going on an indefinite fast. I am a fiercely independent person. I take advice frommanyfriendsandcritics,butdowhatmyconsciencedirectsmetodo.Itismyexperience that when cornered, governments resort to such malicious slandering. I am pained that the government, rather than addressing the issue of corruption, is trying to allege conspiracies, whentherearenone. 2. ItisbeingsaidthatIhaveshownimpatience.DearPrimeMinister,sofar,everygovernmenthas showncompleteinsensitivityandlackofpoliticalcommitmenttotacklingcorruption.62years after independence, we still do not have independent and effective anticorruption systems. VeryweakversionsofLokpalBillwerepresentedinParliamenteighttimesinlast42years.Even these weak versions were not passed by Parliament. This means, left to themselves, the politiciansandbureaucratswillneverpassanylawwhichsubjectsthemtoanykindofobjective scrutiny. At a time, when the country has witnessed scams of unprecedented scale, the impatienceoftheentirecountryisjustified.Andwecalluponyou,nottolookforprecedents, butshowcouragetotakeunprecedentedsteps. 3. ItisbeingsaidthatIhaveshownimpatiencewhenthegovernmenthasinitiatedtheprocess.I wouldurgeyoutotellmeexactlywhatprocessesareunderway? a. YousaythatyourGroupofMinistersaredraftingtheanticorruptionlaw.Manyofthe members of this Group of Ministers have such a shady past that if effective anti corruptionsystemshadbeeninplace,someofthemwouldhavebeenbehindbars.Do

youwantustohavefaithinaprocessinwhichsomeofthemostcorruptpeopleofthis countryshoulddrafttheanticorruptionlaw? b. NAC subcommittee has discussed Jan Lokpal Bill. But what does that actually mean? WillthegovernmentaccepttherecommendationsofNACsubcommittee?Sofar,UPAII hasshowncompletecontemptforeventhemostinnocuousissuesraisedbyNAC. c. IandmanyotherfriendsfromIndiaAgainstCorruptionmovementwroteseveralletters toyouafter1stDecember.IalsosentyouacopyofJanLokpalBillon1stDecember.We didnot getanyresponse. ItisonlywhenIwrote toyouthatI willsitonanindefinite fast, we were promptly invited for discussions on 7th March. I wonder whether the governmentrespondsonlytothreatsofindefinitefast.Beforethat,representativesof IndiaAgainstCorruptionhadbeenmeetingvariousMinistersseekingtheirsupportfor the Jan Lokpal Bill. They met Mr Moily also and personally handed over copy of Jan Lokpaltohim.Afewhoursbeforeourmeetingwithyou,wereceivedaphonecallfrom MrMoilysofficethatthecopyofJanLokpalBillhadbeenmisplacedbyhisofficeand theywantedanothercopy.Thisistheseriousnesswithwhichthegovernmenthasdealt withJanLokpalBill. d. Dear Dr Manmohan Singh ji, if you were in myplace,wouldyouhaveanyfaithin the aforesaidprocesses?Kindlyletmeknowifthereareanyotherprocessesunderway.If you still feel that I am impatient, I am happy that I am because the whole nation is feeling impatient at the lack of credible efforts from your government against corruption. 4. What are we asking for? We are not saying that you should accept the Bill drafted by us. But kindlycreateacredibleplatformfordiscussionsajointcommitteewithatleasthalfmembers fromcivilsocietysuggestedbyus.Yourspokespersonsaremisleadingthenationwhentheysay thatthereisnoprecedentforsettingupajointcommittee.AtleastsevenlawsinMaharashtra weredraftedbysimilarjointcommitteesandpresentedinMaharashtraAssembly.Maharashtra RTI Act, one of the best laws of those times, was drafted by a joint committee. Even at the centre, when 25,000 tribals came to Delhi two years ago, your government set up a joint committeeonlandissueswithin48hours.YouyourselfaretheChairpersonofthatcommittee. Thismeansthatthegovernmentiswillingtosetupjointcommitteesonallotherissues,butnot oncorruption.Why? 5. Itisbeingsaidthatthegovernmentwantstotalktousandwearenottalkingtothem.Thisis utterly false. Tell me a single meeting when you called us and we did not come. We strongly believe in dialogue and engagement. Kindly do not mislead the country by saying that we are shunningdialogue. We request you to take some credible steps at stemming corruption. Kindly stop finding faults and suspectingconspiraciesinourmovement.Therearenone.Eveniftherewere,itdoesnotabsolveyouof yourresponsibilitiestostopcorruption. Withwarmregards,

(KBHazare)