New Delhi: A day after Parliament approved the landmark Lokpal bill, President Pranab Mukherjee today said movements like that of Anna Hazare have opened new dimensions of democratic structure suggesting that they cannot be brushed aside.
In extempore remarks made during the annual endowment lecture of Intelligence Bureau here, he referred to the conventional thought of democracy which meant periodical elections and review of performance of the Government but that has changed now.
“Just 10 years ago nobody could think of the social activists, non-governmental organizations...they will not only demand that a particular piece of legislation is to be enacted to protect the interest of the people as they perceive but they insist that you have to adopt this model, this structure.
“We shall have to agree and if we cannot....keep it under carpet...These are the types of challenges which we are facing today,” he said in an apparent reference to the adoption of the Lokpal bill for which a spirited campaign was mounted by Hazare in the last over two years.
