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Jan-Lokpal vs Joke-pal

Dear friends across India,

The Government is breaking its promise to Anna Hazare and proposing a toothless "Joke-pal" bill. On Sunday, they'll appeal to all the opposition parties to stand with them in defending the corrupt status quo. Let's flood the parties with faxes in the next 72 hours calling on them to represent the people of India and support Jan-Lokpal not Joke-pal:

The Congress party is breaking its promise to Anna Hazare to agree on a strong bill and proposing their own sarkari Joke-pal provisions which make the bill toothless. To get the Joke-pal passed, they're appealing to all the other political parties to stand with them in defending India's corrupt status quo -- holding an all-party meeting this Sunday.

The BJP and other parties have already spoken out strongly for parts of Jan Lokpal, now it's time for them to put words into action and prove to us that they share our desire to end corruption.

The parties all pay close attention to the faxes they receive from citizens -- let's flood them with faxes calling for Jan Lokpal, not the sarkari Joke-pal. Add your voice now by clicking the link below or editing in your own personal message -- our tool will fax the message to the leaders of the BJP, CPI, CPI(M), SP, TMC, JD(U), and the rest of the political parties:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/jan_lokpal_vs_joke_pal/?vl

Sunday is a crucial day for our Democracy -- a special all party meeting -- to set the terms of the historic Lokpal. For the government, the all party meeting is a chance to win allies for undercutting the Lokpal's most vital anti-corruption tools. But for us, this is a major opportunity to get the opposition to endorse the people's version!

Corruption is a problem for virtually all the political parties, so there will be strong pressures in each of them to endorse the Joke-pal bill. But through massive citizen engagement we've forced the Congress party to at least include Jan Lokpal as an option -- now through the same pressure we can press the opposition parties to choose it.

Faxes are the best way to reach party leaders on this urgent timeline. Click below to use a simple online tool to edit your own message or to send a pre-drafted letter by fax to all 17 party leaders, and help build our numbers by forwarding this email to friends and family:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/jan_lokpal_vs_joke_pal/?vl

Across the country, a movement against corruption has exploded, driving a media storm of pressure. Politicians have and will try every trick in the book to wriggle out of their promise to us and to Hazare. But every time they do we can come back even stronger -- showing that our will to fight corruption is stronger than their will to defend it.

With hope,

Ricken, Saloni, Ben, Shibayan, David and rest of Avaaz team.


SOURCES:

Manmohan Singh calls all-party meeting on Lokpal Bill on July 3
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-06-25/news/29703009_1_lokpal-bill-anna-hazare-monsoon-session

Treat both Lokpal drafts equally: Team Anna
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Treat-both-Lokpal-drafts-equally-Team-Anna/articleshow/9019704.cms

Government not presenting factual picture of civil society's Lokpal Bill draft
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/government-not-presenting-factual-picture-of-civil-societys-lokpal-bill-draft-shanti-bhushan/articleshow/9019727.cms

BJP deplores UPA for "delaying" Lokpal Bill
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bjp-deplores-upa-for-delaying-lokpal-bill/162399-37-64.html

Lokpal: Anna reaches out to govt, Opposition
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/team-anna-reaches-out-to-govt-may-meet-sonia/163726-37-64.html


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