Govt of India behaves like Burmese Dictators Repeats the mud slugging of Baba Ramdev
Anna Hazare not so clean, say govt & Cong
NEW DELHI: The government and Anna Hazare headed for a showdown as the confrontation over anti-graft activist's proposed fast in support of a Lokpal bill scripted by his group rapidly escalated on Sunday.
In a coordinated attack, the government and Congress questioned Hazare's anti-corruption credentials while challenging him to reveal his source of funding. Stung by the charges, Hazare challenged the government to prove "even Rs 100 of corruption" against him.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari lashed out at Hazare over a report submitted by Justice P B Sawant in 2005 that cited a diversion of funds from a trust run by the Gandhian. The decision to refer to the six-year-old report was deliberate, intended to undercut Hazare's credentials as an anti-corruption crusader.
Referring to Team Hazare as "A-company", Tewari said it comprised "armchair fascists, overground Maoists, closet anarchists... lurking behind forces of right reaction and funded by invisible donors whose links may go back a long way abroad".
Govt looks to undercut Anna anti-graft edge
By upping the ante against the Anna Hazare campaign, the government seems to have decided to run the risk of being criticized of throttling an anti-corruption protest. But there is a strong consensus in Congress that Hazare should not be allowed to set the agenda.
It is now evident that the government is not ready to allow Hazare to stage his protest without agreeing to a timeline to wind it up. The ruling party seems to have steeled itself for a clash, with the protesters that might see the police arresting leaders if the Hazare group goes ahead with its plan to sit at JP Park near Feroze Shah Kotla.
Congress spokesperson Tewari claimed the "moral core" of Hazare was "ripped apart" by the PB Sawant Commission of 2003 and said, "The fast from August 16 has nothing to do with either the issue of corruption or the Lokpal Bill. If that was the case, Hazare would have first clarified the grave charges... What is Hazare's clarification about the serious findings...The nation wants to know."
Kejriwal hits out at restrictions on Hazare's fast
A key associate of Anna Hazare on Monday accused the government of a "dictatorial attitude" for imposing restrictions on the Gandhian's fast against corruption set to start on Tuesday. Arvind Kejriwal told reporters that the restrictions betrayed a "dictatorial and arbitrary attitude" and said Hazare would not call off his hunger strike.
He said the Delhi Police, clearly with the sanction of the government, was trying to obstruct Hazare's protest meant to show the civil society's unhappiness with the government version of the lokpal bill.
The police, he said, had told the organisers that more than 5,000 people could not gather at the protest site, only 50 vehicles could be parked, no tent could be erected, no sound system put up, and only government doctors could examine Hazre when he fasts.
All these conditions, Kejriwal said, were "unreasonable, unjustified".
Kejriwal said while police were entitled to impose reasonable restrictions to maintain law and order, he wondered how a tent posed a security threat.
"It is raining now. Where will people take shelter if there is no tent?
"And why allow only 50 vehicles to be parked. Why not 100? Why not 75? How have they arrived at this figure of 50? It is completely arbitrary."
Kejriwal said a sound system was a must in case Hazre had to make appeals in the event of any trouble.
"They are creating an Emergency like situation," Kejriwal said, referring to the 1975-77 period when thousands of political activists were jailed and fundamental rights were suspended.
Kejriwal's comments came only a few hours after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his Independence Day speech, said that hunger strikes were no answer in the search for a lokpal bill.
Kejriwal, however, made it clear that Hazare and his supporters would undertake the fast from Tuesday as promised.
"We will definitely go there and sit peacefully." he said, and added that the option of seeking judicial intervention was not ruled out.
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