Even as social activist Anna Hazare and his team members submitted documents suggesting irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, the government has rejected their demand of forming a special investigation team (SIT) to look into the allegations.
Hazare and his team had levelled corruption charges against 15 Cabinet ministers and had demanded the Union government set up a SIT and fast-track courts to deal with these allegations.
In response to the letter written by Hazare to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in May, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has said the social activist had not submitted adequate evidence to support the charges. “You have not submitted any proof regarding the charges. Instead, you have said it is not you who is levelling the charges. Keeping in mind sufficient legal and constituti-
onal structure available to examine the issues raised by you, your demand cannot be accepted,” V Narayanasamy, Minister of State in the PMO, stated in his reply to Hazare.
The minister added the allegations were based on a draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). Narayanasamy said the CAG’s report on allocation of coal blocks was not presented before Parliament and the Union government would present its response before the public accounts committee (PAC), according to the Constitutional process. He said the Central Vigilance Committee had directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to start a preliminary inquiry based on a complaint filed by two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members of Parliament, Prakash Javadekar and Hansraj Ahir.
Lashing out the Anna Hazare’s team members, the minister alleged the social activist was surrounded by anti-national elements. “Anna Hazare is a simple man, but he is surrounded by anti-national elements and people who have been supported by foreign forces,” Narayanasamy told reporters in Chennai.
However, soon after this remark of Narayanasamy, the BJP leadership said it was unjustified to call people anti-national, simply because they were opposing the policies of the UPA government. “I feel calling somebody anti-national is not right. There can be differences of opinion between people in the country, but calling somebody, who is agitating against the government, anti-national is not justified and not right,” said BJP president Nitin Gadkari.