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WHO said WHAT at the dramatic Rajya Sabha debate on Lokpal
Arun Jaitley
Bharatiya Janata Party
"We, in politics, have to be big hearted. I have not the least doubt that this provision has been introduced to teach the Civil Society a lesson. It is a revenge provision."
"What we are trying to do is to create a government-controlled authority, a government-appointed authority, make it so intrusive that it will enter every area of even private life, not merely the government structures."
"The substance of this law is: You want to control appointments, you want to control removal mechanisms, you have created an impossible methodology of investigation, you have kept an investigative agency to be controlled by the government so that Lokpal, as an institution, becomes a toy itself, because its investigative mechanism can be influenced by the State. And, you want to use that Lokpal, whose credibility will be vulnerable to intrude into every area of civil society from temples to mosques, from gurudwaras to schools to rotary clubs to civil society and you want us to support this Bill. This, according to you, is a strong law"
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WHO said WHAT at the dramatic Rajya Sabha debate on Lokpal
Abhishek Manu Singhvi
Congress
"When you went to Jantar Mantar, Mr Jaitley, you never got up and said, "All of you are saying that Lokpal and Lokayukta must be under the same Act, we are objecting." Because, you wanted to get the claps. You wanted only to agree. But, you came out of that and said differently here."
"They (the BJP) have strongly written. Their written note says, "You must have Lokayukta and Lokpal under the same Act." You go and agree there, and you come to the House and oppose it!"
"Now, if you do not trust people (in selection of Lokpal) like the Chief Justice of India, the Speaker of Lok Sabha, all ex-officio, and if you say that there is a gGovernment, sarkari selection, then, I think, fundamental restructuring of a democracy must come about because democracy answerable through Parliament must not select; outsiders must select."
"There is a method in the madness what we have in India. There is a huge method. That method in the madness does not exist in our neighbouring countries. But we should be proud and not destroy it merely because of the expediency of one particular Bill. These are our systems which have endured the test of time."
"This Bill does not have any reservation at all! You are first putting something in our mouth and then, shooting it down as unconstitutional and saying, 'I have got a great victory; I have won'."
"You are in search of an elusive perfect to deny the good. No perfect exists. My Professor used to always say, 'don't let perfect be the enemy of the good.' You are trying to make the perfect; no perfect, no good, nothing, have no Lokpal at all."
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WHO said WHAT at the dramatic Rajya Sabha debate on Lokpal
Sitaram Yechury
Communist Party of India-Marxist
"We say the same thing there and here. We want this process to be not merely valued and cherished, but we wanted it to be strengthened. So, the question is not trading charges and saying, "Why did you go there and why did you not come here?" The question is not that. Did we ever question as to why five of the most senior Ministers went to the airport to receive some saffron robe Guru? Did we raise that question? Did we raise that saying, "Have you sat on a yoga posture along with him in order to express solidarity?" Did we raise those issues? No. You did all that. You did your yoga."
I remember, when President Obama came and signed our Golden Book he said, "Greetings from the world's oldest democracy to the world's largest democracy", and we were trying to remind him that all the African Americans got the universal right to vote in the United States of America the year after he was born, while we gave it from day one. We gave it from day one. That is the pride of our country and that is the supremacy of this Constitution that you can't violate."
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WHO said WHAT at the dramatic Rajya Sabha debate on Lokpal
Sukhendu Sekhar Roy
Trinamool Congress
"Many eyebrows have been raised as to why the All India Trinamool Congress, being a partner of the government, is opposing this Bill to the extent that I have stated. It is because I represent a party which is transparent; I am led by a leader who is transparent. And, she has set an example in this country as to how to fight against encroachment of civil liberties and how to fight against abridgement of fundamental rights."
"Now, Sir, I would like to quote two-three lines from the proceedings of the Standing Committee. The arguments for preventing instability and those relating to national security or the image of the country do not apply in case of a Chief Minister". The image of the country does not apply in case of a Chief Minister! This is the wording there. Is the Chief Minister outside the country? Is any Chief Minister outside the country? If the image of the Chief Minister is affected, then, the image of the country is also affected. If a Chief Minister is put on trial, his or her image is denigrated, then, the image of the country is also denigrated."
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WHO said WHAT at the dramatic Rajya Sabha debate on Lokpal
Dr V Maitreyan
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
"Two days ago Lok Sabha passed the Lokpal Bill. It passed the Lokpal Bill with amendments. But it rejected the provision of constitutional body status to the Lokpal; it's a split verdict. The government thought it wise to present a weak Lokpal and, at the same time, pretending to give a constitutional body status to that. But Lok Sabha proved to be wiser. Operation succeeded but patient died."
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WHO said WHAT at the dramatic Rajya Sabha debate on Lokpal
Dr HK Dua
Veteran Journalist
"He is not the only person who would like to give away is life for the country. There are millions of people who would like to give away their lives for the country's sake. Patriotism is also not anybody's monopoly. There are more people who would line up for giving away their lives to serve a national cause. But for passing of the laws, tomorrow another group can come at Ramlila Ground, and that worries me more. Another group can come and say, "Well, we represent the people of India. You should abolish Parliament, Judiciary or Executive and we will pass the law".
Not passing the Bill will send a wrong signal to the people of India that Parliament has again shirked its duty in passing the Bill. There has been a delay of over four decades. That is an argument for passing the Bill rather than delaying it further."
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