Thaindian News

Lucknow, Oct 18 (IANS) Team Anna proved to be a big hit in Lucknow, where thousands of people converged on the banks of the Gomati river Tuesday to cheer Arvind Kejriwal and others who swore to not just unseat one or the other corrupt political dispensation but to bring grassroot changes in the systems of governance.

“We have nothing against the Congress party in particular, but the fact that this party alone is in a position to initiate the process of this desired change by passing the Jan Lokpal Bill in the coming winter session of parliament, has led us to focus our attention on the party,” asserted Kejriwal, undaunted by an attempted attack by a suspected Congress supporter who tried to hit him as he stepped out of his vehicle to climb up to the dais.

In order to buttress his point, he went on to ask the crowds: “Can the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) leader Mayawati get the bill passed ? Can it be done by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav? Can the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) do it?”

And when the reply to each question came with a flat “no”, he asked: “Is Sonia Gandhi in a position to do so?” Pat came the resounding chorus: “Yes”.

Kejriwal went on to add: “Therefore, if you wish to bring an end to all the corruption - be it under Mayawati, Mulayam, BJP or the Congress, raise the demand for passing the Jan Lokpal Bill.”

Going a step further, he said: “UP (Uttar Pradesh) has broadly seen four political parties over the past 64 years since independence and each of them have proved to be as disappointing than the other on the question of providing clean governance.”

He stressed that if Congress was involved in multiple scams, BJP was not far behind and so were the parties run by Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav. “As such, mere change of party will not help; now we need to evolve a new mechanism through change in the very system,” he contended.

Referring to the oft repeated assertion by politicians of all shades about the supremacy of parliament, the activist once again sought to know from the crowds whether they believed that the people were supreme as the parliament was a creation of the people.

The reply came with a thunderous “yes”, that was followed by a louder applause.

Kejriwal as well other team Anna speakers including Manish Sisodia, Kumar Vishwas , Gopal Rai and Sanjay Singh flayed Congress leaders Digvijay Singh and Manish Tiwari in particular for having uttered invectives against Anna.

“Obviously the game of these and other Congress leaders is to somehow sabotage this anti-corruption movement as it threatens the very existence of their party colleagues like (Home Minister P.) Chidambaram, (jailed former Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh) Kalmadi and the like in public life,” cautioned Kejriwal, while emphasising the need “to follow Anna’s Gandhian path of non-violence and truth , that would continue to maintain the strength of this movement”.