Four days after anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare compelled the government with his satyagraha to draft the anti-graft Lokpal Bill, Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily described satyagraha as “unconstitutional”.
Moily was addressing students at the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University on the occasion of the 120th birth anniversary of Ambedkar.
“We must abandon the bloody methods of revolution. We must abandon the method of civil disobedience, non-cooperation and satyagraha. Where constitutional methods are open, there can be no justification for such unconstitutional methods,” he said.
Mahatma Gandhi had successfully employed all the three methods of protest during India’s struggle for Independence against the British. Moily is a member of the 10-member committee comprising ministers and civil society activists, which will be meeting on April 16 for the first time, to draft a Lokpal Bill.
The 10-member committee is headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Apart from Moily the other ministerial members on the panel are Home Minister P Chidambaram, Law Minister Veerappa Moily, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal and Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed.
The government agreed to include the civil society leaders in the committee after Hazare went on indefinite fast in Delhi, which was called off after 97 hours April 9.
{{/usCountry}}The government agreed to include the civil society leaders in the committee after Hazare went on indefinite fast in Delhi, which was called off after 97 hours April 9.
{{/usCountry}}PM Manmohan Singh has said the bill will be introduced in the monsoon session of parliament, which begins in July.
With inputs from IANS