Anna Hazare challenging the Constitution: Pranab

Kolkata, Aug 14 (PTI) Launching a broadside against
activist Anna Hazare who has vowed to go on a fast from
Tuesday over the Lokpal (central anti-corruption ombudsman)
issue, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday alleged
that the activist is "challenging" the Constitution and
Parliament authority and such a step is "not acceptable".
"So far as the Constitution is concerned, it is the state
authority to make laws and not a third authority. Nobody can
be compelled that a law has to be drafted as per his or her
desire. It is for Parliament to decide," Mukherjee told
reporters here.
"And what Anna Hazare is doing is akin to challenging the
constitutional authority of Parliament which is not
acceptable," the finance minister said a day after Hazare, who
had sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention over
the conditions imposed for his indefinite fast from August 16,
was snubbed by the PM and told to approach the Delhi Police.
On Hazare's opposition to the restrictions on his
proposed agitation, he said, "We have given a venue to Anna
Hazare. It may or may not be liked by him. But the fact of the
matter is there are certain places where we do not allow
people to come and congregate like the Writers' Buildings
(state secretariat in Kolkata) and the Assembly where
(Section) 144 is imposed".
Reflecting the government's tough stand on the stir,
Mukherjee said, "We shall have to keep in mind that in
indefinite hunger strike, the legal connotation of which I do
not know, nobody in our society as per our law is allowed to
commit suicide. It is the responsibility of the administration
to look into these aspects."
The Delhi Police had asked Hazare to limit his fast
programme to three days and restrict the congregation to
5,000, which he criticised and even sought the Prime
Minister's intervention into the issue.
Mukherjee said, "Parliament alone is the competent
authority to make laws".