Last week Anna Hazare led a phenomenal people-powered victory to purge India of corruption. But that was just the first step — in just 2 days the Jan Lok Pal drafting committee will hold their first meeting — and we need all eyes on the process.
Anna Hazare has called for the all-important drafting meetings to be videoed for all of India to see — creating maximum transparency and accountability. This will help prevent powerful and corrupt politicians from pressing, bribing or forcing committee members into back-room tricks to weaken the bill and foil our movement.
PM Singh has said he has no objection to transparency and the committee itself should decide. Let’s stand with Anna Hazare again, and call on the committee members to kick off on the right foot, and decide on maximum transparency for their proceedings at their first meeting. Click below to send a message directly to all 10 committee members:
The Jan Lokpal committee need not have secrets. There’s no confidential government information that needs to be discussed, or legal reasons to have private proceedings. On the contrary, there is every reason to have transparency. Only if the public is constantly informed can we hold our representatives accountable to fulfilling the clear public will for a strong bill.
Across India, people want the Jan Lokpal bill to create a new independent body empowered to investigate abuse and punish corruption, including at the highest levels of government. But as the committee begins discussions about the scope and powers of the bill this weekend, corrupt politicians will try every trick in the book to weaken it. It would be a boon for the corrupt if the public are locked out of the meetings — they are most powerful behind closed doors, hidden from public scrutiny. We can’t let that happen, and we won’t — people power and momentum are on our side.
With Anna leading us, we started a movement of change — now lakhs of people from village to village and town to town have joined, determined to reclaim our democracy. If we inundate the committee members with a massive wave of messages calling for transparency before they start discussions we can embolden Anna Hazare in his call, and convince those who are undecided. Click here to send a message to the committee members now:
The Satyagrah movement changed the course of our destiny forever. Together, standing on their shoulders, we can liberate India once more — this time from the tyranny of corruption. If our movement stands firm, and we keep raising our voices, we will open up politics, take back our democracy and put hope back in government to serve the people of India.
With hope and determination,
Ricken, Saloni, Shibayan and the whole Avaaz team.
