If Anna Hazare had been in the Constituent Assembly, there would be no Constitution: Sibal

NEW DELHI: In case of Lokpal bill formation, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal is of the view that the proposed legislation should deal with corruption cases at higher level, otherwise covering 40 lakh odd central government employees would require a massive infrastructure independent of government.

He also said the government was flexible on the issue of inclusion of officials below Joint Secretary Level under the Lokpal.

The Minister is also not in favour of bringing CBI and CVC under Lokpal saying, “unnecessarily there is no need to destroy CBI (or CVC)” while having a separate investigation wing for the ombudsman.

Kapil Sibal said people rallied behind Hazare during his protest in April as they were upset with corruption but claimed most of them do not know what is Lokpal Bill.

“Anna Hazare is like the ”Pied Piper of Hamelin”. The tune is lilting and people were upset with corruption just as government is. We want to deal with it. But those who follow him, where they say corruption should be deal with, do not know what the Lokpal Bill is,” he said.

Commenting on Anna Hazare’s ‘fast unto death’, he said fasting was a way of self purification and is “not meant to be an act of aggression. I think a lot of people including Hazare have misunderstood the meaning of fasting.”

“If Anna Hazare had been in the Constituent Assembly, there would be no Constitution,” said Sibal.