Rahul said a set of effective laws along with creation of a statutory institution of Lokpal like the Election Commission would be required to fight corruption. Soon after, Congress MPs including Sandeep Dixit and Rajiv Shukla said Rahul had put the corruption issue on higher platform. The MPs denied that the speech was an attempt “to wrest credit” from Hazare.
The Congress leader said Lokpal alone cannot be a substitute for a comprehensive anti-corruption code and sought laws addressing issues like government funding of elections and political parties, transparency in public procurement, regulation in land and mining and continued tax reforms to end tax evasion.
“We cannot wish away corruption by the mere desire to see it removed from our lives. This requires a comprehensive framework of action and a concerted political programme supported by all levels of the State from the highest to the lowest. Most importantly, it requires firm political will,” he said during Zero Hour, amid protests from the opposition benches.
On the anti-corruption campaign of Hazare, Gandhi said it has “helped the people to articulate” disillusionment and “I thank him for that”. He, however, said enactment of a single bill will not usher in a corruption-free society.
Attacking Hazare’s movement, Rahul said “individual dictates, no matter how well-intentioned, must not weaken the democratic process... A tactical incursion, divorced from the machinery of an elected government that seeks to undo the checks and balances created to protect the supremacy of Parliament sets a dangerous precedent for a democracy.”
