Amid poor turnout and illness, social activist Anna Hazare on Wednesday announced his decision to call off his three-day fast at the MMRDA Grounds in Mumbai on the second day of fast. Announcing his decision Anna said he would not go to Delhi now, as planned earlier, to launch a civil unrest or jail bharo agitation, for which nearly two lakh people have signed up online. Anna had earlier announced a jail bharo and dharna outside the houses of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi from December 30.
At MMRDA Grounds this evening, he said, “It won’t be necessary to launch the jail bharo agitation now. Instead, we will go for voters’ awareness programme in five states.”
Core committee member Arvind Kejriwal, who jointly addressed the public with Anna, said the jail bharo andolan would be launched “later at an appropriate time.” He said Anna’s illness coupled with the way in which the government had bulldozed the Lok Pal Bill in the Lok Sabha demolishing 55 amendments proposed by the Opposition made it futile now to stage any protest.
“The Lok Pal Bill passed by the government by virtue of its might there, should be an eye opener for the whole country. It is a law of the party high command for the party high command,’’ he said. Unveiling a larger agenda beyond the Lok Pal Bill, Kejriwal on Wednesday said that they are questioning the parliamentary system now after the passage of the Bill yesterday.
“If this is democracy then it is not different from dictatorship, as laws and policies are decided by the party high command of the ruling party.”
Our fight now would be to change this system so that the legislature would first seek the views of the gram sabhas and civil bodies before making laws for the people.’’
Medha Patkar, another core committee member of the India Against Corruption (IAC) and is believed to be advising Anna to give up the fast-cum-agitation programme, said that the movement has to now look at other issues, especially the role of the gram sabhas and the views of the people.
Kejriwal’s announcement of a struggle for reforms in the democratic set up reflected this concern on Wednesday.
While the agitation against the government stands suspended for now, the activists will now re-strategise their future course of action, and fine-tune their action plan in the five election-bound states.
A visibly weak Anna told the gathering that for the upcoming state elections, he would campaign against all those “traitors” who did not support the Lok Pal Bill. “The Congress has cheated us more than any other party, including the BJP,” he said.
Doctors on Wednesday said Anna risked harming his kidney if he continued with the fast. Members of his core group said the activist may have to be hospitalized and after that he may recuperate at his village in Ralegan Siddhi.
Anna says the Lok Pal Bill creates an ombudsman with no power and limited authority, especially because it has not been given an investigating agency to tackle complaints of graft. Kejriwal said that as the ruling party, the Congress must accept the responsibility for a weak Lok Pal, and the party will be singled out in Team Anna’s campaign during the elections.
If there had been no movement and no public demand, the government would not have worked hard to actually push the Bill sitting up till midnight yesterday, Prashant Bhushan on Wednesday said. He added that the present government would never allow a strong Lok Pal.
