By IANS,
New Delhi : Communist Party of India (CPI) MP Gurudas Dasgupta Saturday slammed the government for the crisis triggered by Anna Hazare’s fast against rampant corruption in the country.
“Why has Anna’s hunger strike provoked the whole nation? It is not corruption. It is the question about the government’s inaction. That is why the country is so agitated,” Dasgupta told the Lok Sabha while speaking during discussion on Hazare’s demands related to the enactment of the anti-graft Lokpal bill.
The CPI leader supported the move to have a strong and effective Lokpal bill but said mere enactment of the legislation “cannot” eradicate corruption.
“There has to a political will, there has to be public intervention. Let’s give the message to the nation that the enactment of the Lokpal bill is just a beginning” in the war against corruption, he said.
He appreciated Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s speech in which he said the country was at the “cross roads”.
“For the first time, it seems Pranab Mukherjee has been careful and frank… This is the critical hour,” he said and criticised the government for not speaking in one voice.
“The government is speaking in many voices. My friends towards my left won’t be angry if I say that there are more than one power centre in the coalition government,” he said referring to the treasury benches.
He said the Congress and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were not on the same page and recalled party general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s speech on Friday.
“The party general secretary is at variance with what the leader of the government says. It is unfortunate that you cannot speak in once voice,” he said.
He said the government had made a mess of the situation because scandals after scandals were surfacing and the government had done nothing.
“None of the investigation agencies is doing its job independently. It is as if the whole apparatus has become political. If you reduce the country to this level, the situation is bound to become volatile,” he said.