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With collage of ministers' photos on stage, Team Anna begins hunger strike
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Clean Media Correspondent
New Delhi, July 25 (CMC) Social Activist Anna Hazare and his aides have moved into their base camp at Delhi's Jantar Mantar to protest against corruption in the government. Anna is seated on stage, with activists like Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal near him. Anna, who is 75, will begin fasting on July 29, despite the advice of doctors who say he should not join the hunger strike led by Mr Kejriwal.
The backdrop of the stage has photographs of the Prime Minister and 14 other senior ministers who Team Anna want investigated for alleged graft.
These ministers were "outed" by Team Anna at a press conference in May. They said they had documents to prove their charges against each of the ministers; in a letter to the Prime Minister, they warned of an indefinite hunger strike if he did not commission an independent inquiry. The activists faced a severe backlash from Congress men who accused them of making unsubstantiated charges.
The turnout today at Anna's camp was tiny compared to the sort of crowds he gathered last August, when he held a 16-day long hunger strike in Delhi to demand new legislation to tackle corruption. Largely because of his efforts, the Lokpal Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in December, but has not cleared the upper house or Rajya SAbha. Yesterday, Anna said this proves that the government is not serious about introducing what could be landmark legislation. The Lokpal Bill creates a national ombudsman or Lokpal that is empowered to investigate charges of venality against government servants. The version of the bill that was approved by the Lok Sabha does not have Anna's blessing - he says the powers of the ombudsman are too limited.
A few days ago, Anna accused the government of trying to divide his team. He said that he met privately with Law Minister Salman Khurshid in June near Pune. He said that he had not gone public with details of this meeting because the minister had requested confidentiality. Mr Khurshid allegedly promised that the PM and Congres President Sonia Gandhi would look into his concerns about the Lokpal Bill. Anna's aides admitted privately that they were upset that he had not told them of the meeting sooner. They also cited a letter sent by Minister of State in the PM's Office, V Narayansamy, as evidence that the government was trying to engineer a split within their ranks. The letter was addressed to Anna but was delivered to his team in Delhi. It thanked Anna for his assistance to the government on the matter of the Lokpal bill - activists say this made it seem as if Anna had been in private discussions with the government about the legislation.
Anna held four hunger strikes last year to champion the need for the Lokpal Bill. His fast in August at Delhi's Ram Lila Maidan turned into an epicentre of middle class frustration with systematic corruption. Thousands of people attended his camp every day. However, since then, the turnout for other sessions organised by his aides has been unremarkable. Team Anna also ran into criticism for taking sides in an election in October last year in Haryana - they campaigned against the Congress, making them vulnerable to accusations of taking political sides and of an alignment with the opposition BJP. They have denied the charges.
With collage of ministers' photos on stage, Team Anna begins hunger strike
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New Delhi, July 25 (CMC) Social Activist Anna Hazare and his aides have moved into their base camp at Delhi's Jantar Mantar to protest against corruption in the government. Anna is seated on stage, with activists like Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal near him. Anna, who is 75, will begin fasting on July 29, despite the advice of doctors who say he should not join the hunger strike led by Mr Kejriwal.
The backdrop of the stage has photographs of the Prime Minister and 14 other senior ministers who Team Anna want investigated for alleged graft.
These ministers were "outed" by Team Anna at a press conference in May. They said they had documents to prove their charges against each of the ministers; in a letter to the Prime Minister, they warned of an indefinite hunger strike if he did not commission an independent inquiry. The activists faced a severe backlash from Congress men who accused them of making unsubstantiated charges.
The turnout today at Anna's camp was tiny compared to the sort of crowds he gathered last August, when he held a 16-day long hunger strike in Delhi to demand new legislation to tackle corruption. Largely because of his efforts, the Lokpal Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in December, but has not cleared the upper house or Rajya SAbha. Yesterday, Anna said this proves that the government is not serious about introducing what could be landmark legislation. The Lokpal Bill creates a national ombudsman or Lokpal that is empowered to investigate charges of venality against government servants. The version of the bill that was approved by the Lok Sabha does not have Anna's blessing - he says the powers of the ombudsman are too limited.
A few days ago, Anna accused the government of trying to divide his team. He said that he met privately with Law Minister Salman Khurshid in June near Pune. He said that he had not gone public with details of this meeting because the minister had requested confidentiality. Mr Khurshid allegedly promised that the PM and Congres President Sonia Gandhi would look into his concerns about the Lokpal Bill. Anna's aides admitted privately that they were upset that he had not told them of the meeting sooner. They also cited a letter sent by Minister of State in the PM's Office, V Narayansamy, as evidence that the government was trying to engineer a split within their ranks. The letter was addressed to Anna but was delivered to his team in Delhi. It thanked Anna for his assistance to the government on the matter of the Lokpal bill - activists say this made it seem as if Anna had been in private discussions with the government about the legislation.
Anna held four hunger strikes last year to champion the need for the Lokpal Bill. His fast in August at Delhi's Ram Lila Maidan turned into an epicentre of middle class frustration with systematic corruption. Thousands of people attended his camp every day. However, since then, the turnout for other sessions organised by his aides has been unremarkable. Team Anna also ran into criticism for taking sides in an election in October last year in Haryana - they campaigned against the Congress, making them vulnerable to accusations of taking political sides and of an alignment with the opposition BJP. They have denied the charges.
Its true for Congress that Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely! That is why they have been aligning Anna with BJP and RSS! Even if true, should corruption be not eradicated from India?
ReplyDeleteAnna Hazare and his team was never for the eradication of corruption all they were interested is to control everything in this country in the name of lokpal now their true colors have come out they want to do the same in the name of right to fredom of speech in a democracy. Absolutely rediculous way to cheat people.
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