Hazare cannot claim to be peoples' voice, says Tharoor

Firing a salvo at Anna Hazare, the former Union Minister, Mr Shashi Tharoor, has said how can a person "who never stood for elections" claim to be the voice of the people.

Asserting that laws can be made only by Parliament, Mr Tharoor, who is a first time MP from Kerala, said, "We cannot have a small group of unelected people imposing their will on Parliament because in the long term the danger will be to you the people...

"I do not believe that we can conduct democracy either from Ramlila Ground or from television studio. Democracy must be conducted through both Houses of Parliament," he said

The Congres MP said there were more than 500 MPs and thousands of people's representatives in State Assembles who had gone out to seek votes of people and had to preserve the support they had got.

"If such people cannot claim to represent the people of India, but somebody else, who never stood for elections but has lot of television cameras cameras around him and a few thousand people in a Maidan.... Will he be the voice of the people? Is that democracy?," he said addressing a gathering at Jawaharlal Nehru University here last night.

While stating that arresting Hazare was a "mistake" and that no government can disagree with the cause of the Gandhian, Tharoor stressed that the "question is the means".

"Saying that I will starve to death thereby potentially unleashing disruption violence and anarchy in the country unless you pass a bill which says exactly what I see it should say. Is that democracy? That is the question we have to ask," Mr Tharoor said during a question-answer session with students there.

COMMENT NOW