Rahul Gandhi hits out at government over delay on Lokpal

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday hit out at the government over the non-appointment of Lokpal. “Four years have gone by, but the Lokpal has not come. The public is asking only one question — till when will you blow the tune of falsehood? Are the ‘defenders of democracy’ and ‘harbingers of accountability’ listening?”, Mr Gandhi tweeted, using #FindingLokpal as a hashtag.

The UPA government had come under severe criticism over the Lokpal issue. Activist Anna Hazare had led a movement against the government in 2011 over the non-appointment of Lokpal, and fasted over the issue.

Protests held at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar seeking the immediate appointment of the Lokpal. The then UPA government constituted a joint drafting committee for the Lokpal Bill that included social activists and lawyers.

The Lokpal Bill was passed by Parliament in 2013, but though four years have passed, no Lokpal has been appointed. Mr Gandhi also highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s December 2013 tweet on the passage of the Lokpal Bill, when the UPA was in power at the Centre and Mr Modi was Gujarat CM. Mr Modi had then tweeted: “Am very proud of the positive and proactive role played by BJP MPs under the leadership of Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley in passing the Lokpal Bill.”

Under the bill, the Lokpal has to be appointed to look into allegations of corruption against public officials. But the appointment has been stuck in procedural issues.

Over the past couple of months, Mr Gandhi has taken to Twitter to attack the government and PM Modi. The Congress feels while the government and the BJP make tall claims on its anti-corruption drive, it has failed to act over the Lokpal’s appointment. The party plans to raise this in the coming election campaigns.