Letters and Editorials 11728 Views BY Dr. Abdul Ruff

India: Anna Hazare relaunches anti-corruption movement



India’s most corrupt regime watches with anguish and confusion, the anti-corruption movement is gaining fresh momentum upsetting all poll calculations of the “defending” corrupt regime led by Congress party. Now the movement is spread into two formations under Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal. In spite of the regime effort to make the anti-corruption moment to look like the cricket exercise, the anti-regime sentiments are still very high across the nation.

With a view to assuring the people of their right to question the corruption leaders and parties, Veteran social crusader and India’s foremost anti-corruption activist last year floated the popular anti-corruption movement making the politicians and bureaucrats nervous and then disbanded it against the wishes of the people who actively supported it, has now said he was in the process of re-launching his campaign for the anti-graft institution - Lokpal and was screening the potential members. "We are working for the Lokpal and pro-people laws and are in the process to finalise the members after verifying their credentials," he said.

In an interview at his village Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra, Anna Hazare refused to defend India Against Corruption (IAC) activist Arvind Kejriwal on the allegations made by Congress leader Digvijay Singh but said will support his former associate if he fights election against a corrupt person. Explaining his position on why he parted ways with Kejriwal, Hazare said: "Kejriwal did not reply my five questions including on funding of the new political outfit and identifying the candidates." Kejriwal was told not to use my name in the yet to be named political.

Meanwhile, Civil rights activist and India Against Corruption (IAC) spearhead Arvind Kejirwal invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to have a public debate with him on the issue of corruption. Kejriwal said he would reply to all of Singh's questions in a public debate with Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Manmohan Singh, if the latter could convince them both to attend. "We had put some questions to Mr. Robert Vadra and the PM. Let them answer first. Then, we will answer all questions from Mr. Digvijay," Kejriwal said, I request Digvijay to encourage Mrs. Gandhi, PM or Mr. Rahul Gandhi to come for a public debate”.

Kejriwal has set up an anti-corruption political party and had last week accused DLF of arranging favourable loans and real estate transactions for Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi. The claims were detailed in a document posted on the group's website. Kejriwal said that if Singh failed to convince Sonia Gandhi and the PM, it would give an impression that the Congress general secretary is doing all this for cheap publicity and divert attention.

Foreign funds are flowing into many Indian organizations and political parties. Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh Saturday posed 27 questions to Kejriwal about foreign funding of an NGO with which he is associated and alleged violation of service rules while he was an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer. Singh called Kejriwal a "self-serving ambitious megalomaniac with scant regard for democracy" and asked the activist why he "never raised" the issue of corruption in states ruled by the overtly extreme communal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Wishing him well, Hazare said: "I have no advice for him." Hazare also said that PM Manmohan Singh was a “good man” (running a corrupt regime to protect the rich and corporates while terrorizing the people by constant price rises, including for gold and petrol products, matching them to US level, and nuclear threats) but  that poor man is remote controlled.

Anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal accused Nitin Gadkari, the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of being involved in an irrigation scam in his home state of Maharashtra. In a televised press conference, Kejriwal, citing a probe by his India Against Corruption activists, said Gadkari used his influence with the state's ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combine and usurped land acquired to build a dam in Vidarbha region.Congress-NCP has governed Maharashtra since 1999. The scam runs into hundreds of millions of rupees, said Kejriwal

Anna Hazare chose to keep silent on the expose on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari by India Against Corruption (IAC) leader Arvind Kejriwal and RTI activist Anjali Damania. An aide to Hazare said the 76-year-old leader is recuperating from a cataract surgery he underwent last week and would not react on the developments in the national capital. Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party which rules Maharashtra along with Congress party dismissed the IAC allegations that favours were shown to Gadkari in the matter of land allotments and related issues.

Hazare said he will relaunch the Lokpal movement and would launch an 18 month nationwide tour for a citizens' movement against corruption from January 2013. Hazare declared that he would strive for a nationwide organisation, comprising citizens, activists, students and others working against corruption, during his one-and-a-half year tour in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Anna Hazare claimed that thousands of anti-corruption activists, including youth, retired government servants, ex-servicemen and others have sent letters expressing their willingness to join his proposed organisation and fight corruption from the taluk to the national levels. "I shall reach out many crores of Indians during the nationwide tour and build up public pressure on the government to enact the Jan Lokpal legislation and other similar laws for good governance. The organisations of activists will carry forward the work of creating that public awareness on these issues. The time for change has come," he remarked.

As the Manmohan regime tries its best to outsmart the anti-corruption movement by hook or crook, people of Indian are now woken up to challenge the corrupt regime.

The 2014 poll will pose deadly serious challenge to the rulers and their supporters like Communist parties, for their joint corruption operations, indoors and abroad. BJP also would suffer badly for their communal and corruption agenda. The rotten third front comprising ultra selfish leaders is operating as subordinates of the Congress party.   The communists are worried more about the Congress party's  regime and its future than Congress party itself and its corrupt coalition partners. their  politics. Every politician seeks extra profits and part of nation's resources  as service charge  for their brand politics!

That is perhaps the fate of India!


Comments

There are 0 comments on this post

Leave A Comment