Dalits to rally for Bahujan Lokpal Bill

Dalits, backward castes and minorities came together against Team Anna’s Jan Lokpal Bill on Wednesday.

They held a rally from India Gate that grid-locked peak hour traffic, proposing a Bahujan Lokpal Bill.

“We will draft the Bahujan Lokpal Bill within two to three days and submit it to the Parliamentary standing committee,” Udit Raj, chairman of the All-India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations, said.

“We want our representative in the lokpal committee as and when it is formed.”

“We neither support Team Anna’s draft nor the government’s draft of the Lokpal Bill,” he said. “While the former will make the lokpal authoritarian, the government draft is very weak.”

Confederation member Indira Athawale said, “This civil society (Team Anna) comprises people opposing reservation. Moreover, they want to create a lokpal that would be over and above the Constitution.”

First Published: Aug 24, 2011 14:28 IST