Mumbai:
Social activist Anna Hazare and former Army Chief General VK Singh attacked the UPA government in a press conference in a Mumbai today. Later, they released this statement:
As per our Constitution, India is a welfare state, in which a democratically elected government is duty bound to protect and improve the life of the masses. However, the current system has completely ignored these principles enshrined in the Constitution and has surrendered to the market forces.The government is not at all concerned about the well-being of common people. Irony is that not even a single Member of Parliament (MP), the representatives of people, has cared to raise this issue.If India has to move from being a welfare state to a neo-liberal state, then how would it be decided and who will take this decision? Can this decision be taken by the government or a few political parties? The answer obviously would be 'NO'. Only the people of our great country are empowered to take this decision. It is their right to decide how they want to be governed. Therefore, there is a demand for dissolving Parliament, which is not following the constitution, so that the people can decide the nature of the government and the state - whether it should be a welfare state or a neo-liberal state.
The existing governmental system has completely disregarded the soul and spirit of the Constitution. Part 4 of the Constitution, the Directive Principle of State Policy, has been blatantly ignored. Not just the government but also the Opposition is silent over this issue. The question that comes up is as to who has given the right to ignore the core philosophy of Constitution? Government's policies are supposed to be for the well-being of poor masses but these are somehow being made to help the private companies to make profit. No one is questioning these policies in the Parliament. Therefore, the demand for the dissolution of current Parliament without any delay. Let all political parties put forward their stand on this breach of trust and let the people decide whether they want a government to be run according to the soul and spirit of the Constitution or driven by the market of neo liberal policies.
The horrible saga of farmer's suicides also brings out that the current Parliament has lost the moral right to represent the people. On the issue of water, forest, land and mineral wealth (jal, Jangal, Zameen and Khanij) people have lost faith in the government. Rivers and all possible sources of water are being privatized. Forests are being sold to the private companies in the guise of mining, and consequently tribal people are being displaced from their traditional habitat and occupation. The governments are not even hesitating in selling cultivable land to private companies after acquiring it from farmers. The land that should naturally belong to the people of the country is being distributed among private companies. People are feeling oppressed due to these policies. The MPs too have stopped raising the issues of ownership of water, forest and land in Parliament. Is it not necessary to determine who owns the forest, water, minerals and land of this country? Who else but the people of this country reserve the right to take this decision. To facilitate them in taking this decision it is imperative to dissolve this Parliament.
The constitution has conferred the responsibility on the Government to formulate policies in order to improve the lives of underprivileged sections of society like dalits, tribals, Ghumantus, fishermen, backwards and Muslims. However, the present policies have resulted in snatching food from one and job from another. Due to corruption, scams, price rise and unemployment, every section of the society has lost faith in in its representatives and the Parliament. Hence, the demand to dissolve Parliament immediately and conduct fresh elections, so that new government can work in accordance with the aspiration of the people.
On every decision that has been taken in recent time, the UPA Government has been in minority. On this count also the present Parliament should be dissolved. How could a decision be taken on FDI in retail, when the government is in minority on the issue? The Government has increased the price of diesel, which resulted in price rise in big way. Consequently, the fares have increased and the auto-rickshaw and tempo owners are agitating in some part of the country. The parties included in the UPA have started parting away on some of these issues leaving the Congress in minority. We must ask howa tough decision can be imposed on the people and termed as democracy?
The price of LPG, i.e. cooking gas, has been arbitrarily increased on the pretext that petroleum companies are suffering losses where as company accounts only show profits. On one hand the common man is suffering while on the other large number of political leaders in power are being charged with corruption. It appears that the mantra of collective responsibility of cabinet in democracy has been forgotten by the Prime Minister.
Earlier, the government was not taking decisions, but when it started taking these it has increased the sufferings of common people. That is why we call upon the government to dissolve the Parliament and conduct fresh elections immediately. This will allow all the political parties to put forward their points of view on these issues in front of people and let the people decide whether they want to formulate policies in accordance with Constitution or according to the market forces.
We believe that the 'people's parliament' is bigger and greater than the Parliament in Delhi, because the people have created the Parliament in accordance with the Constitution. The Constitution of India came into existence because of the resolve of the people - 'We the people ...' Therefore, people's parliament is far more greater than the Parliament in Delhi. The overtone of the people sitting in Parliament is quite conspicuous. They say the Parliament and not the people on streets enact laws. They are not even considering that it is the people who vote them to the Parliament and in democracy it is always the power of the people.Smt. Sonia Gandhi, the President of the Congress Party, had given a clear message to the party workers to come out on the street on the question of the coal scam. She told them to go to the people. BJP too is saying the same thing - 'we have to go to the people'. They all have conceded that people's Parliament is greater than Parliament in Delhi. No one in the Parliament seems to be willing to think about the future of the country; they are a divided lot, and the infection of corruption has singed every political party. The disturbing part of the corruption in government is that it has accompalices in other parties too. The coal scam and 2G spectrum scam are overt examples of this.
Whether it is corruption-free India or the rural development envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi, people today have been forced to think that those sitting in Parliament cannot give our country a bright future or take it out of the present logjam on all fronts. Gandhji believed that it was imperative to develop villages, if we wanted to develop and change the country. The country can not be changed as long as villages do not change or develop. With reference to the transformation of villages Gandhiji said that the exploitation of both humanity and nature should be avoided. These were two conditions Gandhiji had put forward for development. Today every one is involved in the rampant exploitation of nature. Petroleum, coal and forests are exploited; foreign capital is invited for this; big industries are set up by snatching land from the poor farmers resulting in environmental degradation in terms of air and water pollution and lowering of water table. The country will not progress by these measures; this development is not the right kind of development, and this ultimately will lead to destruction. This is what Mahatma Gandhi's views are. At few places in the country experiment of Gram Swaraj have been carried out, where people have become self-sufficient. The thrust of this type of development is to capture every drop of rainwater, store it and recharge the groundwater, prevent soil erosion and improve agricultural productivity. People get livelihood at their door steps and they stop looking towards cities for work.
It high time for the people of the country to contemplate this issue; if they do not reflect on this, then the survival of coming generation will be endangered. It is also doubtful if they will keep some thing for the use of future generations. Parliament today has been unable to prevent the loot of country's natural resources. Every one seems 'hand in glove' in this dirty game. It is being widely said that they have even surpassed the Britishers in plundering the resource of the nation. In fact in 65 years these people have exploited more than what the Colonial rulers accomplished in 200 years. It is clear that people sitting in Parliament have mismanaged and are incapable of giving the country a bright future.
Therefore, for the welfare of the people of the country the Parliament should be dissolved. People of the country have a right to seek dissolution to get their representatives back. A new parliament needs to be elected for which people must elect their candidates who measure up to their aspirations for ensuring that the Constitution is followed in letter and spirit. We will visit every nook and corner of the country to assist people in electing candidates who will deliver on the needs of people. The qualities to look for would be that the person should be honest, ready to serve the people, have better approach towards serving the society and the nation, that in short implies a good image, eager to serve and competence (Chhavi,Kshamta and Seva Bhav). The candidate must be asked to give an affidavit declaring that if he does not measure upto the trust reposed in him then the people reserve the right to recall him/her back. This will bring about a change that would be beneficial for the future of the country. Currently, there is no provision to recall the elected representatives, which emboldens them to think that they have become kings for five years no one can harm them despite what they do.
People have a right to elect a new parliament by dissolving the current one. They also have a right to put forth conditions in the formation of new parliament. When such a people's parliament get elected, then there will be all types of improvements like Lokpal, rural development, right to reject, empowerment of gramsabha, and amendments to all the redundant law enacted by the Britishers. All efforts will bve made to make the country self-sufficient. If there is true democracy in the country, then the laws should be in accordance with the democratic principles and the spirit of the Constitution.
Our Constitution envisages building an egalitarian society; it calls upon for removal of social and economic inequality and eradication of caste-based biases. Despite these salient features of the Constitution, during the elections our so called representatives are spreading the divisive venom of caste and religion to get themselves elected. They are playing the divisive games like the colonial rulers and are violating the Constitution. Hence, the people of the country have a right to build their future by seeking the dissolving of the current Parliament and electing new one which meets their aspirations.
We call upon the people to rise to the occasion to achieve these goals.