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'What has Mayawati done to curb corruption?'
Saffron-clad social activist Swami Agnivesh on Sunday hit out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati when he alleged that corruption was 'institutionalised' in the state.
Agnivesh made the remarks while addressing a press conference jointly with Arvind Kejriwal, a close associate of Gandhian Anna Hazare and an active member of the recently constituted Jan Lokpal Bill Draft Committee.
Reacting to Mayawati's objection over the absence of any Dalit on the Jan Lokpal Bill draft committee, Agnivesh said, "I do welcome her objection and thank her for raising the issue. But I would also like to ask the UP chief minister to declare whether she had taken any effective steps to curb the rampant corruption in her government."
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'What has Mayawati done to curb corruption?'
He added, "If Mayawati was truly concerned about the plight of poor Dalits, it was time that she initiated concrete anti-corruption measures and one of these could be to pass the new Jan Lokayukta Bill and have a Jan Lokayukta in place in the country's most populous state."
Kejriwal and Agnivesh arrived in Lucknow on Sunday morning along with popular satirist Jaspal Bhatti to represent Hazare, whose sudden illness prevented him from visiting the Uttar Pradesh capital to address a public rally later in the evening.
Hazare will, however, keep his date with the city by addressing the rally over cellphone from his village in Maharashtra.
Replying to questions, Kejriwal made it loud and clear: "We have neither allowed any political party to share our forum nor do we have any intention to associate ourselves with any political outfit in any manner."
'What has Mayawati done to curb corruption?'
He, however, sought to add, "but there are good and bad people in all political parties; just as there are good and bad persons in the bureaucracy and other areas of governance. Therefore, if anyone with a clean reputation comes forward in his individual capacity to extend support to this movement of the common masses, we will accept such support."
Reposing a lot of faith in the youth, Kejriwal said, "I would like to call upon the youth in different political parties to raise the issue of corruption within their respective forum because they alone could act as effective agents in fighting corruption at the roots."
Citing how the spark ignited by Anna Hazare had spread far and wide, he said, "As I speak here today, thousands of people were voluntarily taking out marches and demonstrations in different cities of India to express their support for Anna."
'What has Mayawati done to curb corruption?'
He said, "As many as 6000 people gathered at the Marina Beach in Chennai on Sunday morning, while several thousands gathered in Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur besides a huge march that was taken out from Jantar Mantar to the Boat Club in New Delhi to express their solidarity with the civil society a day before the send round of meeting of the Jan Lokpal Bill Draft Committee on Monday."
Earlier in the day, the Anna team was joined in by leading local activists, including former high court judges Kamleshwar Nath and S C Verma, and former state director general of police Prakash Singh among others for an interaction with intellectuals, professionals, religious scholars and trade union leaders on the burning issue of corruption.