Parties slam Govt for cracking down on Hazare team

New Delhi, Aug 16 (PTI) Political parties ranging from
the Left to the Right came down heavily on the Government on
Tuesday, condemning detention of Anna Hazare and the refusal
to give him permission to hold his fast demanding a strong
Lokpal, saying it is an attack on democratic rights of
citizens.
Slamming the government for the police action against the
Gandhian and his team, political parties accused the
government of stifling the legitimate rights of the people
and described it as a "sad day for Indian democracy".
"I think it is a very sad day for Indian democracy. You
cannot take away the right to protest and the right to
dissent....this we have never seen earlier. This is completely
unprecedented," leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha (upper
house of Parliament) Arun Jaitley said.
Senior Bhartiya Janata Party leader L K Advani said he
was not surprised at the detention of Hazare and charged the
government with looking for scapegoats and stopping peaceful
protests instead of fighting corruption.
"I am not surprised at this development. This is the
direction in which this government is moving. Instead of
dealing with the problem of corruption and owning
responsibility it is trying to find scapegoats and stopping
peaceful protests," Advani told PTI.
Condemning the police action against Hazare and his team,
senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat
termed it as an "attack" on democratic rights of the people.
"We condemn the arrest of Hazare and his team and the ban
on their hunger strike. We consider it as an attack on the
democratic rights of the citizens," she said.
Questioning the government's intention to fight
corruption, Karat wondered why the police action came a day
after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh resolved to fight the
menace.
"Yesterday, the Prime Minister mentioned his commitment
against corruption 16 times in his Independence Day speech and
next day he arrests people who want to peacefully protest
against corruption.
"May be Congress leadership cannot tolerate
anti-corruption movement because its own government is steeped
in corruption, scams and scandals," she said.
Former south Indian state Karnataka Lokayukta (state
anti-corruption ombudsman) Santosh Hegde also lambasted
the government, saying it is not at all fair in a democracy to
deny anyone the freedom to express his views by way of
protest.
"I don't think its fair at all in a democracy, merely
because somebody wants to express his views by way of some
protests," he said questioning the detention of Hazare "in a
mid-night manner without serving a detention order, without
saying where they are taking him."
"This is not the right way to do...Under article 22 (of
Constitution), there is a procedure which has to be followed
to detain a person," Hedge said.
Senior CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said the Gandhian
should have faith on Parliament.
"We want to tell Anna Hazare not to sit on fast.
Parliament is there, Parliamentary Committee is discussing the
Bill. Not only Hazare but we are also against corruption. We
also want barring the President, everyone should be under
Lokpal.
"Anna is not alone. We are also there. It is important to
have faith in Parliament. If he takes this route deciding not
to have faith on Parliament, it would not be good," he said.