How Prashant Bhushan blew AAP's cover on Lokpal

The latest expose by Prashant Bhushan on Sunday has finally nailed the lies and deceits on Lokpal Bill of Delhi. On Saturday, he had shown that the Delhi Lokpal Bill 2015 had gone back on all the main promises of the Jan Lokpal movement. These were the demands made by the movement:

1. The appointment of the Lokpal was to be done in an open manner by involving the public in the search process.

2. The final selection of the Lokpal was to be done by a committee where independent, non-political and non-governmental appointees had majority.

3. A special investigative agency was to be created by or controlled by the Lokpal.

4. The jurisdiction of the Lokpal was to be extended to all the functionaries of the relevant government.

Prashantji showed conclusively that the 2015 Bill did not meet the basic demands made in the Jan Lokpal movement in points one to three. As far as point four is concerned, this Bill contains a strange clause that includes all corruption within the territory of the national capital territory (NCT). This would exclude corruption by Delhi officials done outside territorial limits and include all corruption by central government officials. Prashantji rightly concluded that this was a ploy to invite rejection of the Bill by the Central government and use this for ongoing confrontation.

He also showed that the 2015 Bill was worse than the Act drafted by Jan Lokpal activists that was passed by the Uttarakhand Assembly.

On Saturday, spokespersons of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had nothing to say on this. The evidence was simply too powerful to be refuted. Instead, they offered the argument (besides a number of insults, abuses and innuendos) that the 2015 Bill is exactly the same as the one proposed by the short-lived AAP government in Delhi in 2014. They asked Prashantji why he did not object to it at that time.

On Sunday Prashantji has refuted this final lie as well. He has placed a copy of the 2014 Bill proving that it was not the same as the new one. In all key provisions the AAP government has diluted what it had proposed last year.

So all lies are nailed. The emperor stands exposed. Now watch the fun. Look for courtiers who continue to applaud, bhakts who would start chanting, jesters who would be brought in to mock at the objectors, loose-mouths who would be unleashed at the critics. Also look for minions who would secure a promotion by proving their loyalty. Also look out for spin doctors who would come up with distractions and design drama.

This theatre has already begun, if you look at the responses coming from darbar.

(This post appeared first on Yogendra Yadav's Facebook page.)

Also read: Why AAP lost Punjab