Loksatta Party founder-president Dr Jayaprakash Narayan on Tuesday announced a sensational decision by his Party to stay away from electoral politics.
Loksatta Party founder-president Dr Jayaprakash Narayan on Tuesday announced a sensational decision by his Party to stay away from electoral politics.
Dr Narayan said that the Loksatta Party would not fight elections hereafter, and appealed to the people not to see it as a political party any more.
However, Dr Narayan made it clear that though the Loksatta Party would keep off elections indefinitely, the organization would continue to fight for the decentralization of power to States and local bodies, and for issues like education and health.
Dr Narayan started Loksatta as a grassroots political movement in 1996, and achieved significant breakthroughs in the fields of political and judicial reforms, and institution-building. Loksatta's accomplishments include:
1. making the disclosure of any criminal antecedents of political candidates mandatory through the Candidate Disclosure Act in 2003
2. improvement in the voter registration process
3. a political funding law in the wake of the Tehelka scam
4. strengthening of the anti-defection provisions
5. a law to limit the size of the Cabinet
6. the Right to Information Act
7. the National Health Mission
8. the Local Courts law in 2009
9. autonomy for cooperatives through the 97th Constitutional amendment
10. the Lokpal legislation
11. cancellation of the 2G spectrum licenses
12. competitive bidding for natural resource allocation
13. 99th amendment of the Constitution about NJAC (subsequently quashed by the Supreme Court)
The former IAS officer successfully contested from the Kukatpally Assembly constituency in the 2009 general elections. Later, in the 2014 general elections, Dr Narayan contested the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat and tasted defeat at the hustings. Since then he has been lying low in politics.
Dr Narayan said, "We founded Loksatta Party in 2006, as we sensed the need to create a platform for new politics, and to bring the youth, middle classes and politically marginalized sections into the mainstream. Only when these classes yearn for new politics will change be accelerated. Once these disenfranchised classes become vocal and play a creative role, established Parties will be forced to change their ways and improve our democracy. In most societies that is how change happens. But if these Parties fail to respond to the people's urges, they will be eventually marginalized, and new political forces will replace them. While we are away from elections, we will still continue to work for political transformation and build people movements to strengthen our democracy."
Loksatta 2.0 would work to bring about the legislative outcomes at a faster pace, Dr Narayan. Some of its immediate priorities are strengthening and restructuring federalism to enable States to deliver; universal healthcare and quality education; and accountability to tax payers at the local level.
"We welcome all like-minded organizations, political Parties and individuals to join hands as we take on this exciting journey to transform India," Dr Narayan said.
Surendra Srivastava, National President, said, "Today's announcement should be seen as Loksatta going back to its roots. Loksatta is perhaps the only organization in the country that had a phenomenal impact in the political, administrative and judicial worlds. We have always believed that political power is the means and not an end in itself. We will leverage our strengths and work hard to bring systemic changes that will have a lasting impact in the journey of our nation."
V Satyanarayana of Kukatpally handed over a cheque of Rs 10,000 to Dr Narayan in support of Loksatta 2.0. N Srinivas, Lok Satta Telangana Convenor, and Hyma, LSP general secretary, were also present.