“It is not just us (activists) who want a greater role in framing laws, society as a whole wants that,” she said after the Hazare fast wound up today. Though Patkar wasn’t willing to specify if she wanted social activists nominated to the Lok Sabha in addition to the Rajya Sabha, she said that “people’s organizations” were already playing a big role in legislation, either in their drafting or lobbying or both.
“To avoid conflict the government, we want a joint drafting committee for the Development Planning Act too,” she told The Telegraph before heading to Swami Agnivesh’s office for a meeting.
The act, she said is a combination of the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill which the union government is working on. Patkar wants a comprehensive bill on both the issues.
Patkar’s demands found resonance with participants of the celebrations at India Gate and Jantar Mantar today. Akhilesh Rawat, an independent film producer, who usually supports the left parties said that he would vote for the leaders of the anti-corruption movement if they would contest for polls. “I don’t see any party that fully represents us. These people are known to be clean and I will definitely vote for them. Even if they don’t form a party they should have a greater say in law making as we don’t trust the Congress or BJP to make honest laws.”
It seems that the acceptance of a joint drafting committee will be used as a precedent, coupled with street shows to compel the government into submission. Akhilesh says that volunteers involved in the fast, will be regularly meeting. “We need to be vigilant and support whatever causes that may arise in future,” he said. Hazare and Agnivesh also exhorted the crowd to be ready for a long battle ahead.
“This is only the beginning. We cannot be complacent. As Swami Agnivesh said, there are many more struggles ahead; there are more reforms to be made,” said Hersh Vardhan- a demonstrator at India Gate.
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