‘Law can’t be made on the streets’

Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal had to face some tough stance from two UPA government ministers — Pranab Mukherjee and Ambika Soni — on flocking Delhi streets to get its version of the Lokpal Bill.

Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal had to face some tough stance from two UPA government ministers — Pranab Mukherjee and Ambika Soni — on flocking Delhi streets to get its version of the Lokpal Bill.

Finance minister Mukherjee said protesting on streets was not the best way to draft a law, and added that having a joint drafting committee for Lokpal Bill with civil society representatives was an experiment. He did not term the experiment as a failure, saying society has to adopt new ideas.

I&B minister Soni was more forthcoming and said whatever has to be done should be within the Constitutional framework and within a democratic process. “There is no impetus to bypass the democratic process,” she said.

Kejriwal, who was awarded Indian of the Year award by NDTV, responded that team Anna has not done anything anti-Constitution. “We value elections,” he said, adding that Lokpal can be a strong instrument to check corruption.

Kejriwal also declared that he will not fight an election ever. “If the government fails to pass the Lokpal Bill in the winter session, we will be forced to launch an agitation,” he said. Anna Hazare, in a live interaction from his village in Maharashtra, said he was open to having a dialogue with anyone, including Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi.