A group of prominent citizens drawn from all over the country are meeting in New Delhi on July 20 to draw up an action plan to “restore value-based politics by weeding out business-minded corrupt politicians and win back the common man’s faith in democracy.”
The participants include Lok Satta Party national President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, Justice Santosh Hegde, Mr. K. N. Govindacharya, Mr. Arif Md. Khan, Mr. P. V. Rajagopal and Mr. Chiranjeevi Singh, former Chief Secretary of Karnataka.
A round-table meeting on alternative politics is being organized in the morning at Deputy Speaker’s Hall, Constitution Club, and a public meeting at Mavalankar Hall, V. P. House in the afternoon.
The organizers of the meeting point out that at a time the country is passing through serious problems the present political leadership has failed people.
“This is mainly due to the drastic deterioration in the quality of political leadership from service-minded persons in the early fifties to business-minded persons today. In fact, for many politicians politics has become a business venture. No wonder, there is no end to the series of scams getting unearthed.”
As a result, common man is not in a mood to trust any political leader, say the organizers. Since the country cannot be allowed to go into the hands of extremists or drift into anarchy, concerned citizens should strive to preserve the democratic system and win back the common man’s faith in democracy.
The organizers feel that the political vacuum has to be filled through alternative politics. The problems that warrant immediate attention include growing threats to national security and social harmony, imbalances in economic development and ecology, rising crimes against women, competitive corruption and galloping unemployment.
The organizers of the Delhi meetings feel it is time that all those concerned about the deteriorating political situation intervened in the political process without waiting for self-correction by professional politicians.
