Anna Hazare calls for nationwide fast
Sunday, 03 April 2011 04:01 (IANS)
New Delhi: After discussions between activists and government representatives on the anti-graft Lokpal bill failed to reach a discussion, veteran activist Anna Hazare has called upon the nation to observe a fast April 5. “We are appealing to the whole nation to observe a day of fast on 5th April and pray to whoever God one believes in, for a corruption free India. Let the whole nation pray against corruption,” Hazare said in a letter to leaders of all political parties.
“I shall be sitting on an indefinite fast from April 5 at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to persuade the government to enact the Jan Lokpal Bill, which is a strong anti-corruption law drafted by some of the best brains in the country including Justice Santosh Hegde, Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Shanti Bhushan and many others,” he said.
Hazare had announced on February 26 that he would go on an indefinite fast if the government did not include the civil society in the formulation of the anti-graft Lokpal Bill by April 4.
Even as representatives from the activists met the members of a recently formed sub-committee on the Lokpal Bill led by Defence Minister A K Antony, no conclusion could be reached.
The activists have been saying that the anti graft bill cannot be drafted by political leaders and bureaucrats as it is supposed to be against them and urged the government to include civil society members in the process of forming the bill. They have formulated their version of the bill, named the Jan-Lokpal bill.
Forwarding support to the campaign, former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev also wrote to prime minister urging him to take action against corruption.
Message from India Against Corruption, Mumbai in support of Anna Hazare's Fast which will start on 5th April, 2011:-
Greetings.
Today, we are having a large Public Meeting at Nare Park - Parel, Mumbai where AnnaJi Hazare and other leaders of civil society will address the initiative of India Against Corruption and the need for a strong law against corruption and black money.
This will be web cast from the following links:
You may want to try the alternative too:
PLEASE PASS THIS INFO ON TO ALL THOSE WHO YOU KNOW ALL OVER THE WORLD.
Subject: Anna Hazare fast activities - taking up on Swiss Government
Date: Sunday, April 3, 2011, 2:48 AM
As NRI's plan on activities in support of Anna Hazare fast, let us step back and think about what activities will bring in more returns. Here are some thoughts:
1) While we may take token fast in front of Indian Consulates, the more effective way is to do in front of Swiss Consulates. As Global Financial Integrity, a highly respected organization showed, this corruption is not just about corrupt people in poor countries, but it is in fact more about rich countries providing safe havens in highly secretive numbered accounts. The outcome is staggering with more than half of human race impoverished by these. If Swiss can get Mubarak assets frozen, why cannot it freeze the assets of Gandhi family and other corrupt Indian politicians? Doing in front of Swiss consulates is strategic because it gives international attention to the whole issue. Even if the money was moved away from Swiss banks, as Obama Govt did, they can declare the assets they held and later moved out.
Ian Birrell, who is independent reporter (and happens to be speech writer to Cameron) had this excellent article 'We help Dictators to steal', that appeared in Guardian on this issue: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/13/we-help-dictators-to-steal
2) The Corruption conference at New Delhi on Dec 1st and 2nd at New Delhi is a great success. You can view preliminary videos at http://SaveIndiaFromCorruption.org (it will come on Aastha channel). We need to have such conferences around the world, particularly US (and UK). We have to bring in luminaries such as Baba Ramadev, Dr. Swamy, Govindacharya, Gurumurthy, Arvind Kejriwal, JP, Vaidyanathan and others who are fighting a valiant battle in India.
3) We need to make call to all Indians working in finance having access to any Indians (including Sonia family) accounts in safe havens to come out and declare (or leak) their assets. In the conference, former director of CBI Mr. Lal made such a suggestion. As he said, all revolutions are illegal and when laws are made by corrupt people then any activity to expose corruption comes under illegal category. This is another place where NRI's who are highly placed especially in finance world can make a difference.
Here is some verbiage that can be used for banners in front of swiss consulates (for demo and fast).
1) NUMBERED ACCOUNTS ==> NUMBERLESS (BILLIONS) STARVING AND DYING.
2) SAFE HAVENS ==> MASS HOMICIDE
3) SAFE HAVENS ==> NEW IMPERIALISM
4) YOU ARE CORRUPT WHEN YOU PROTECT CORRUPT
5) WHY WILL CORRUPT GOVERNMENTS EXPOSE THE CORRUPT?
6) YOU ARE PARTY TO MASS MURDER OF HUMAN RACE
We can think more.
|
