By IANS,
New Delhi : Right to Information (RTI) activists and various civil society groups will hold a protest Sunday to demand an independent enquiry in currency notes being flaunted in parliament last Tuesday by three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs. They also want tapes of the sting operation to be made public.
The activists would hold their protest at India Gate Sunday evening.
They would also file RTI applications to the Lok Sabha speaker, asking for a copy of tapes of the sting operation and have requested details of the kind of enquiry that has been ordered in the case. They have also asked for the names of the enquiry committee members.
During trust vote debate in parliament July 22, three Bharatiya Janata Party MPs had flashed wads of currency notes alleging that the Congress and the Samajwadi Party leaders had given them the money as bribe to vote in favour of the government.
“On July 22, we saw how our parliamentarians and the whole democracy is becoming a mandi (market) where political leaders are openly selling themselves. What we saw was just a tip of the iceberg,” said Manish Sisodia, a RTI activist who works with NGO Kabir.
The activist’s demanded an independent inquiry into it. They wanted the MPs involved to be sent to jail and the tapes of sting operation to be made public.
“We have received a huge response from people across the capital and the country. Several Indians living in foreign countries have also filed RTI in this regard. We are expecting that over 1,000 RTI applications would be filed in this regard,” Sisodia said.
“We hope that the speaker will not reject our application citing exemption clause as larger public interest overrides all exemptions,” he added.
“We also demand that Lokpal (ombudsman) bill should be passed to prevent corruption among politicians. I urge all people to come out in large numbers to show that enough is enough and we will not tolerate corruption anymore,” said RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal, Magsaysay award winner.
“If we do not raise our voice today, then probably tomorrow nothing would be left to save,” Kejriwal added.