Former Union minister Shashi Tharoor questioned the right of Anna Hazare and his team to represent civil society on the issue of Lokpal and asked them to go to people and seek their mandate before taking up the anti-corruption cause.
"Who has given Anna Hazare and his team members the right to represent the civil society? Until and unless the so-called civil society members go to the people and win elections, they cannot claim to be representing the civil society in the true sense of the term," Tharoor said addressing a seminar at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts here.
Casting doubts on the accountability of the proposed Lokpal, Tharoor, who had to resign as minister last year in the wake of the Kochi IPL row, asked what would happen if the anti-corruption watchdog itself became corrupt.
"What if the Lokpal itself becomes corrupt? Who is going to control the inspectors? Who is going to guard the guardians? These are important questions which cannot be brushed aside," he said at the seminar on the theme 'Toward A World of Dignity For all: The Triumph Of The Creative Life'.
Tharoor said it was good to see scores of people coming out on the streets against corruption but "have they really applied their intellect on Jan Lokpal bill? Have they read it?"
The new trend of demeaning Parliament and Parliamentarians does not bode well for democracy, he said.
"There is no doubt that corruption is very bad but the first change should come within ourselves," he said.
If majority of the people decide not to pay bribes, then there will be no bribe takers. The problem is that there is always someone ready to pay bribes, he said.
Vinod Mehta, editor-in-chief of Outlook Magazine, too raised questions over Hazare's approach saying it was good to talk about the arrogance of the government but what about the arrogance of power in the civil society?
He said though the civil society movement in the country was a good phenomenon, it was yet to be seen how far this movement goes.
Terming Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as hypocritical, Tharoor said, "It's very unfair to suggest that some countries are entitled to have nuclear weapons and other countries must give them up because it's dangerous for the world."
He said "India is for the concept of nuclear disarmament than nuclear non-proliferation. India believes that nuclear disarmament is essential for the peace of the world. Let us have a world without nuclear weapons. I think then countries will start taking it seriously."