RTI crusader Arvind Kejriwal, a key figure in Anna Hazare's campaign against corruption, on Tuesday accused the government of keeping the Central Bureau of Investigation out of the Right to Information Act's ambit so that it can arm-twist its political opponents.
"The RTI Act clearly says that only security and intelligence related agencies can be taken out of RTI Act. CBI is neither a security agency nor an intelligence agency. RAW is an intelligence agency, IB is an intelligence agency. CBI is an anti-corruption and a crime-related agency, like the police. So actually it is a completely illegal order," Kejriwal told mediapersons.
"We are very confident that the court will strike down the notification. But it clearly shows that the government is interested in keeping the CBI dishonest because by keeping a dishonest CBI, the government can arm-twist its political opponents and scuttle all the enquiries against its own party people," he added.
Kejriwal, one of the members of the Lokpal Bill draft panel, further said that if the people of the nation feel that corruption can be curtailed with Anna Hazare's bill, they should join him in his struggle.
"If people feel that the government's position is right, then they should not join Anna Hazare's protest. But if people feel that the government's position is wrong and if they feel that by government's law corruption would increase instead of decreasing or even if they feel that with Anna's bill corruption can be curtailed, people should join him in his struggle," he said.
Representatives of the government and civil society are meeting for the last time on Tuesday to take the process of drafting an effective legislation to combat corruption forward.
The meeting comes a day after both sides met to discuss the issue and find a way to end the impasse.
Both sides described Monday's meeting as cordial, but the list of disagreements remain ---- the inclusion of the prime minister in the ambit of the Lokpal being the foremost.
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