Rahul Gandhi:We have to wage a war against poverty.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday spoke in the Lok Sabha. He expressed his gratitude to Anna Hazare for raising the issue of corruption. He also said that besides the Lokpal, a set of effective laws is required. Read the full text of his statement here.

Here’s the full text of his statement:

Madam Speaker,
I have been deeply distressed at the developments of the last few days. Many aspects of the situation have caused me anguish. We are all aware that corruption is pervasive. It operates at every level. The poor may carry its greatest burden but it is an affliction that every Indian is desperate to be rid off.
Fighting corruption is as integral to eliminating poverty as is Mahatma Gandhi NREGA or the Land Acquisition Bill. Yet it is equally imperative to the growth and development of our nation.
Madam Speaker, 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 program supported by all levels of the state from the highest to the lowest.
Most importantly, it requires firm political will. Madam Speaker, in the past few years I have travelled the length and breadth of our country. I have met scores of countrymen, rich and poor, old and young, privileged and disempowered who have expressed their disillusionment to me. In the last few months, Annaji has helped the people to articulate this same sentiment. I thank him for that.
I believe that the real question before us as representatives of the people of India today is whether we are prepared to take the battle against corruption head on? It is not a matter of how the present impasse will resolve, it is a much greater battle.
There are no simple solutions. To eradicate corruption demands a far deeper engagement and sustained commitment from each one of us. Witnessing the events of the last few days it would appear that the enactment of a single Bill will usher in a corruption-free society. I have serious doubts about this belief. An effective Lok Pal law is only one element in the legal framework to combat corruption.
The Lok Pal institution alone cannot be a substitute for a comprehensive anti-corruption code. A set of effective laws is required. Laws that address the following critical issues are necessary to stand alongside the Lok Pal initiative:

(1) government funding of elections and political parties,
(2) transparency in public procurement,
(3) proper regulation of sectors that fuel corruption like land and mining,
(4) grievance redress mechanisms in public service delivery of old age pensions and ration cards; and
(5) continued tax reforms to end tax evasion.

We owe it to the people of this country to work together across party lines to ensure that Parliament functions at its optimum capacity and delivers these laws in a just and time bound manner.

We speak of a statutory Lok Pal but our discussions cease at the point of its accountability to the people and the risk that it might itself become corrupt.

Madam Speaker, why not elevate the debate and fortify the Lok Pal by making it a Constitutional body accountable to Parliament like the Election Commission of India? I feel the time has come for us to seriously consider this idea.

Madam Speaker, laws and institutions are not enough. A representative, inclusive and accessible democracy is central to fighting corruption.
Individuals have brought our country great gains. They have galvanized people in the cause of freedom and development. However, individual dictates, no matter how well intentioned, must not weaken the democratic process. This process is often lengthy and lumbering. But it is so in order to be inclusive and fair. It provides a representative and transparent platform where ideas are translated into laws.
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. Today the proposed law is against corruption. Tomorrow the target may be something less universally heralded. It may attack the plurality of our society and democracy.
India’s biggest achievement is our democratic system. It is the life force of our nation. I believe we need more democracy within our political parties. I believe in Government funding of our political parties.
I believe in empowering our youth; in opening the doors of our closed political system; in bringing fresh blood into politics and into this House. I believe in moving our democracy deeper and deeper into our villages and our cities.
I know my faith in our democracy, is shared by members of this House. I know that regardless of their political affiliation, many of my colleagues work tirelessly to realize the ideals upon which our nation was built. The pursuit of truth is the greatest of those ideals. It won us our freedom. It gave us our democracy. Let us commit ourselves to truth and probity in public life.

We owe it to the people of India.

Thanking the Sikhs for making the nation proud by giving it Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Saturday lauded the community for propagating India and keeping its flag flying high. Speaking after dedicating to the nation a Rs.25.75-crore memorial to the ninth Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur at the Singhu border on the northern edge of Delhi, Mr. Gandhi said: “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is taking the nation forward. You gave him to us and for this the entire nation is thankful to you.”

Mr. Gandhi, who was presented a saropa and mementos and sat with his head covered during the shabad-kirtan, said the nation was also proud of the Sikh community as it had “propagated India, be it in Canada, England or America”. He said the community members have always kept the national flag flying high wherever they have been.

Describing the monument as “beautiful and symbolic”, the Congress general secretary also thanked Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for getting it made. He said the monument, which was well conceptualised and had been created after a lot of thinking and discussions, would continue to remind the people about the teachings and sacrifices of Guru Tegh Bahadur.

“The nation can progress only when everyone walks together hand in hand and that is what Guru Tegh Bahadur said 400 years ago. This nation does not belong to any one religion, any person or region. It is the nation of all Indians,” he said.

‘MOST APPROPRIATE’

Ms. Dikshit said it was most appropriate that the memorial has been inaugurated by Mr. Gandhi as he was a young leader with a vision and it was his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi who had laid its foundation stone.

The Chief Minister also noted that Guru Tegh Bahadur has always been revered in Delhi as he had sacrificed his life here near Gurdwara Sis Ganj around 400 years ago.

She recalled how he sacrificed his life to protect human rights, freedom of expression and freedom of religion.

Rahul Gandhi, Has taken on Mayawati government on the land acquisition issue, today promised the farmers that the Land Acquisition Bill will be in their favour.
Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that “dalals” are running Uttar Pradesh and accused U.P government of resorting to land grab to help “big builders”.“You are not together. Uttar Pradesh is divided and that is why dalals (brokers) are running the state,” Rahul said, addressing farmers in Kirpalpur village, as he continued to woo them on the third day of his padayatra to Aligarh for the Congress-backed “kisan mahapanchayat” on Saturday.The AICC general secretary also promised that the Land Acquisition Bill to be brought before Parliament will be in favour of farmers.Meeting groups of villagers at Kirpalpur, Jahangarh, and Kansera villages in Aligarh district to drive home his point how farmers were suffering after their land was “forcibly” acquired at cheap prices, he said the state’s land acquisition policy was “full of flaws”.
The land acqisition policies should be framed after talks with farmers and taking them into confidence, he said.
Elaborating on his comments on UP being run by “dalals” Rahul said, “You may not like it. But this is true. Since you are not together that is why this is happening here. Unless you unite, you will continue to suffer. Unless you don’t understand what is happening, the train will not come on its track.”Accusing the Mayawati government of committing “land grab in favour of builders” in UP, Rahul said, “We will present the Land Acquisition Bill in the Lok Sabha and you will see that it will be passed in your favour.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi was arrested in a dramatic late night swoop Wednesday while he was on a sit-in at Bhatta Parsaul village in Uttar Pradesh to support agitating farmers demanding more money for their land being acquired for a highway project. He was released after being held for about three hours and later returned to New Delhi.

There was high drama at the Kasna police station in Greater Noida where Gandhi and other Congress leaders, who were held with him, were taken after the arrest at around 11.00 p.m.

Gandhi was asked to sign a bond after which police said he would be permitted to leave.
He, however, flatly refused to do so saying he had gone to the village with a purpose and would return there if he was released, Congress sources said.

The police later released Gandhi on its own volition at around 2.00 a.m. Thursday and he was driven back to New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh Congress Chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi told reporters.

Gandhi was picked up from the sit-in site along with Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh and MP Raj Babbar, Gautam Budh Nagar acting district magistrate Sheetal Verma said.

“Rahul Gandhi has been arrested for violating the prohibitory orders enforced under section 144 of Cr.P.C (Criminal Procedure Code). State president Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Digvijay Singh and Raj Babbar were also arrested along with Rahul Gandhi,” she said earlier.

The district administration, prior to the arrests, imposed section 144 of the Cr.P.C.
According to state Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh, Gandhi and the other leaders were taken to a police station where they were required to sign a bond in front of an executive magistrate before being permitted to leave.

Singh said the Gautam Budh Nagar district administration received a letter from the Congress at 8.30 p.m. saying it planned to hold a meeting in Bhatta Parsaul Thursday.
Singh said Gandhi was held apprehending a law and order situation due to the the proposed meeting.

Ritu Bahuguna Joshi said the Congress leaders were arrested in the dark of the night.
“It was a peaceful demonstration. There were not even mikes there. It is a defeated government and the Congress is the only party fighting for the farmers,” she said.
On Saturday, police and agitating farmers fought a pitched battle in Bhatta Parsaul that left four dead, including two policemen.

Gandhi was in the village Wednesday supporting farmers who are agitating for higher compensation for land acquired for the 156-km Yamuna Expressway, linking New Delhi with Agra.

The Congress scion sneaked into the village, which was barred to politicians and outsiders, early Wednesday on a motor-bike despite heavy police presence. He spent nearly 18 hours with the villagers before his arrest.

Addressing the agitating farmers earlier in the day, Gandhi said the Uttar Pradesh government’s high-handedness made him “feel ashamed to be an Indian”.

“I have seen the violence unleashed on your youth and women. By seeing what has happened here, I feel ashamed to be an Indian. The state government is tormenting its own people,” Gandhi said, targeting Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government.

AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi is likely to take a break from his busy schedule of campaigning for party candidates contesting the assembly elections in five states and visit Karnataka to woo youngsters.

Returning Officer for the Youth Congress elections, Mr Manoj Pathania, announced on Wednesday that Mr Gandhi would visit the State during April to encourage youngsters to enroll with the party’s youth wing.

The membership drive was launched by two AICC general secretaries in-charge for Karnataka, Mr Sanjay Nirupam and Mr Madhusudan Mistry along with central leaders from Karnataka. The membership drive will go on till April 25.

The Congress party has decided to use Blackberry mobile phone during the membership campaign. The confirmation of membership application will be given through Blackberry, he explained. To bring more transparency in the organizational elections, the entire poll process and scrutiny of membership has been entrusted to Foundation for Advanced Management of Elections (FAME), an NGO headed by former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Mr J.M. Lyngdoh. Mr Pathania said that the selection of Youth Congress president and other office-bearers were at the discretion of senior leaders of the party.

With an intention to strengthen the party organization at the grassroots level, the party has decided to conduct elections of office-bearers to the youth wing of the party, Mr Pathania added. Elections will be conducted for 46,273 booths in the state and from each booth, five-member committees will be formed, Mr Pathania said adding that ten-member committee would be formed for every assembly and Parliament constituency.

He explained that while conducting Youth Congress elections, reservations would be provided to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other Backward Classes, minorities and women. According to him, to monitor the elections, a 35-member team has been formed at national level.