25 dec 2011
Ahead of 3-day fast, Anna Hazare to reach Mumbai today
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| Dr Sanjay Kumar Cardiac Cardiothoracic Heart Surgeon India |
New Delhi: With less than 24 hours to go before Parliament reconvenes to debate the Lokpal Bill and anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare begins his three-day fast, Team Anna is busy with preparations at the MMRDA Ground in Mumbai. The 74-year-old Gandhian will reach Mumbai by late afternoon today from his village Ralegan Siddhi.
However, before Anna begins his fourth fast of the year for a "strong Lokpal Bill", tension escalated between the Congress and Team Anna yesterday as Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh launched yet another attack on the septuagenarian over his alleged links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Pointing to a report published on the front page of a prominent Hindi daily, Mr Singh said that Mr Hazare had worked as a secretary with RSS leader Nanaji Deshmukh and had trained in Gonda in 1983.
"And he denied any association with RSS! Now whom do we believe Facts with Picture and the claim of RSS or Anna? I am again proved right", tweeted Mr Singh.
Team Anna was quick to retaliate. Mr Hazare's close aide Kiran Bedi tweeted a picture of Digvijaya Singh sharing a dais with Mr Deshmukh and questioned his RSS links. "Does sharing of the dais make one each other's agent? Next time should one sit alone? When two persons share a dais do they become each other's agents?" she tweeted.
However, Mr Singh was unrelenting in challenging Mr Hazare's campaign. "The thing is that Anna Hazare has worked with Nanaji Deshmukh in Gonda. I haven't. RSS has published a book on Anna Hazare. RSS hasn't published any book on Digvijaya till date, only slangs," he said.
Mr Hazare himself refuted the allegations and said the charges being levelled against him were by the "supporters of corruption."
"The allegations prove that supporters of corruption in India have no valid issues left," the 74-year-old Gandhian said.
This was just the beginning of a week that promises friction and acrimony. Team Anna mounted the pressure on the government yesterday, with an open letter to the Prime Minister and all MPs, pledging faith in Parliament, but asking for their version of the Lokpal Bill.
"The year-long people's campaign against corruption has brought us to the very edge of legislation that can tackle it powerfully. Sensing the national mood, Parliament has also taken it upon itself to foster a significant debate on the issues within the Bill, and for this we thank our elected representatives. While we are on record with our displeasure over the current draft of the bill, we are also keen that the best possible law should now emerge from the debate in the people's Houses," the letter said.
The stage is now set for the real showdown on December 27, when Parliament will debate the Lokpal Bill and Mr Hazare will fast in Mumbai. The government has been signalling that it will not be coerced by the septuagenarian's protests. However, the Gandhian is adamant that if a bill is passed which does not include his demands - the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) administrative and financial control by the Lokpal; the lower bureaucracy under the Lokpal; and the Lokpal's power to initiate a probe on its own, without any complaint being made - he will go ahead with his planned dharna outside the residences of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in Delhi after his three-day fast at the MMRDA ground in Mumbai from Tuesday.
"After the fast, I will go to Delhi and stage a dharna outside the house of Sonia and Rahul. After Mumbai, we will hold a fast in Delhi. Our agitation has been going on for over a year but to no avail. We will need to speak in the language they (government) understand," Mr Hazare said last night.
However, before Anna begins his fourth fast of the year for a "strong Lokpal Bill", tension escalated between the Congress and Team Anna yesterday as Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh launched yet another attack on the septuagenarian over his alleged links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Pointing to a report published on the front page of a prominent Hindi daily, Mr Singh said that Mr Hazare had worked as a secretary with RSS leader Nanaji Deshmukh and had trained in Gonda in 1983.
"And he denied any association with RSS! Now whom do we believe Facts with Picture and the claim of RSS or Anna? I am again proved right", tweeted Mr Singh.
Team Anna was quick to retaliate. Mr Hazare's close aide Kiran Bedi tweeted a picture of Digvijaya Singh sharing a dais with Mr Deshmukh and questioned his RSS links. "Does sharing of the dais make one each other's agent? Next time should one sit alone? When two persons share a dais do they become each other's agents?" she tweeted.
However, Mr Singh was unrelenting in challenging Mr Hazare's campaign. "The thing is that Anna Hazare has worked with Nanaji Deshmukh in Gonda. I haven't. RSS has published a book on Anna Hazare. RSS hasn't published any book on Digvijaya till date, only slangs," he said.
Mr Hazare himself refuted the allegations and said the charges being levelled against him were by the "supporters of corruption."
"The allegations prove that supporters of corruption in India have no valid issues left," the 74-year-old Gandhian said.
This was just the beginning of a week that promises friction and acrimony. Team Anna mounted the pressure on the government yesterday, with an open letter to the Prime Minister and all MPs, pledging faith in Parliament, but asking for their version of the Lokpal Bill.
"The year-long people's campaign against corruption has brought us to the very edge of legislation that can tackle it powerfully. Sensing the national mood, Parliament has also taken it upon itself to foster a significant debate on the issues within the Bill, and for this we thank our elected representatives. While we are on record with our displeasure over the current draft of the bill, we are also keen that the best possible law should now emerge from the debate in the people's Houses," the letter said.
The stage is now set for the real showdown on December 27, when Parliament will debate the Lokpal Bill and Mr Hazare will fast in Mumbai. The government has been signalling that it will not be coerced by the septuagenarian's protests. However, the Gandhian is adamant that if a bill is passed which does not include his demands - the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) administrative and financial control by the Lokpal; the lower bureaucracy under the Lokpal; and the Lokpal's power to initiate a probe on its own, without any complaint being made - he will go ahead with his planned dharna outside the residences of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in Delhi after his three-day fast at the MMRDA ground in Mumbai from Tuesday.
"After the fast, I will go to Delhi and stage a dharna outside the house of Sonia and Rahul. After Mumbai, we will hold a fast in Delhi. Our agitation has been going on for over a year but to no avail. We will need to speak in the language they (government) understand," Mr Hazare said last night.
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