Signalling a change of track from the Lokpal Bill,Team Anna on Thursday demanded that a Referendum Commission be constituted on the lines of the Election Commission to provide an institutional framework to peoples participation in democracy. In his pre-recorded and edited video address at the Rebuilding Republic discussion here,Anna Hazare said time has come to frame a law that ensures that no Bill can be passed without it being approved by gram sabhas first. In the speech to be played at the meetings in poll-bound states too,he attacked the Centre for the fate of the Lokpal Bill and praised Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri for the passage of a strong law for the anti-corruption ombudsman. The Lok Sabha thinks it is above everyone. This is wrong. People have made you. So they are above you.It is the sacred temple of democracy. In such a sacred place,what has happened in Rajya Sabha in the last day (of the Winter Session) on Lokpal Bill.550 people were giving their own suggestions. Nobody has asked people. So we need another law. Assemblies and Lok Sabha think that they are above gram sabhas. But gram sabhas are above you. We need a new law which gives such a power to gram sabhas, Hazare said in his 30-minute address. The discussion,however,did not go as planned when some from the 200-member audience said if people power is indeed supreme,they,too,should be allowed to speak. On being denied a hearing,they walked out in protest. Another member from of the audience created a stir by asking why Hazare did not speak up against MNS chief Raj Thackeray in his home state where the politician had targeted north Indians. Replying to a question on whether demands for systemic changes to make room for referendum was an euphemism for an epitaph of the Lokpal agitation,lawyer Prashant Bhushan said: The idea emerged from the Lokpal movement. Had peoples wishes been heeded,it wouldnt have been required. The idea now is to fight for systemic changes first to get the Lokpal Bill passed. About Referendum Commission,he said if five per cent people approach the commission demanding a law,it would be put to vote. He said the argument of this system trampling the rights of minorities is invalid as the Constitution has taken care of that. The Lokpal issue was almost absent from the discussion,barring references in Arvind Kejriwals speech where he said in representative democracy the government is not accountable to Parliament but it is Parliament that is hostage to the people.
