Open letter to Mrs Aruna Roy August 20, 2011 Mrs Aruna Roy National Advisory Committee Respected

Madam, My name is Kumar Sengupta. I am Chartered Accountant by profession and is CEO of a infant product company based out of Bangkok. I am a non resident Indian for last over 20 years but I always keep a close touch with my homeland India. I am strong believer of mera Bharat mahan not so much for what it is today but for the culture & tradition that she has inherited as one of the oldest civilization of the world. I have great respect for you as a RTI activist. This was no doubt a big event and achievement that deserves big applauds. I am neither an activist nor a politician but this much I can understand that today I have a right to ask for information for matters that affects me in any sphere of life where I have interest due to genuine reasons. Please correct me if I am wrong. I must let you know that although you have formulated RTI, I will never use this because I know that on the ground the corrupt politicians or Government officials and their mafia will definitely do harm to me or my family if it affects their interest. You must note this as important and a big deficit of your effort. I know that so many people have been murdered for RTI and as a common people I will never take your path. In my views although you have taken huge effort, the success factor, in so far as application by common man is considered, is questionable. I must confide my conclusion that you were not practical in determining difficulties in application. It could be useful for powerful people who can use RTI to harass others. Please forgive me for the blunt statement, but this is true and you cannot ignore this from my perspective as a common man. I have tried to understand why it is like this. The answer that I got from my mind is that perhaps

the common people and their leader never formed part of your law making process. Hence their point of view was never built in your law. Their pain was completely ignored and to them the RTI does not have any relevant meaning. This is not only me, but many of my friends and acquaintances possess the same view. I understand that now you have formulated a Lokpal Bill and I saw in a streaming VDO in one of the internet TV channel that you said that you have consulted various segments of society in formulating the proposed Lokpal bill. I believe in what you have said out of great respect for you. Whilst formulating the bill, I am sure that you have applied your learned skill in narrowing down the faces of corruption including the big ticket ones that are fall out of socially unmanaged economic liberalization. However the bottom line view is that this bill has been written inside the closed door and has been consulted with elite sections of society. What I am also sure is the there is no leadership back up behind the bill in order to incorporate the aspirations of common people. The general feeling of common people is that the politicians grossly lack integrity and are corrupt. This is unfortunately true when we see that a large portion of members of parliament have tainted criminal background. We have also seen many ministers in jail due to corruption not because of Prime Ministers initiative but because of CBI & court. On the ground people face political representatives who are engaged in severe power plays. In short a vast majority of them are goons. Therefore your bill might be theoretically sound and technically perfect but it will lack leadership back up. A leader is an idol and not a legal or constitutional expert. This bill will therefore remain as theory and general mass will never feel it is theirs. They will have some respect because you are there but they know that your boss is no one else than Sonia Gandhi. Hence whatever you have written will remain within the boundaries of parliament and within a few elites. It will never belong to the people of India. You

will receive applaud but the outcomes will never touch the heart and mind of people. Today it is moment of truth in India. I have spoken to many of my NRI friends around the world. All of us see that Shri Anna Hazare as a selfless man fighting for a cause. He is a leader who has mobilized a large mass. Any bill provided by him will be perceived by general mass as theirs. I am sure that this is matter of great confidence of people and that is the heart of democracy. I will strongly suggest that you being a lady of utmost reputation and integrity may please appreciate the need of a selfless leader backing up such an important issue like corruption. This is a topic that touches common people directly. If you want that India be free from corruption then you need to revisit the whole aspect of the successful implementation of the bill and not so much on its form and content. Please trust me that the corruption hurts the common man most and it is important that you allow Annaji to remain with them as a leader in lokpal bill issue. The form and content is secondary. If you feel I can be of any help to you please do write to me at senguptakumar@gmail.com. Kind regards Kumar Sen Gupta