Agra: No more Kejriwals, says Anna Hazare

The social activist vows he will not let future anti-corruption campaigns be hijacked by would-be politicians.

Siraj Qureshi
Agra, December 14, 2017 | UPDATED 19:04 IST
Social activist Anna Hazare (Photo by Kamir)Social activist Anna Hazare (Photo by Kamir)

Highlights

  • 1
    Anna was in Agra to rally support for another anti-corruption campaign.
  • 2
    He plans to launch the campaign in Delhi from March 23 next year.
  • 3
    He said Modi, Rahul Gandhi are anti-farmer and pro-corporate.

Renowned social activist Anna Hazare has vowed that he will not allow another 'Kejriwal' to be born out of his public interest campaigns. Anna was in Agra to rally support for another anti-corruption campaign that he plans to launch in Delhi from March 23 next year.

Talking to India Today, Anna said that both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi are anti-farmer and pro-corporate. While farmers are committing suicide because of agricultural loans, massive non-performing assets (NPAs) of corporate entities are being written off by the government.

BJP = CONGRESS?

He said that both Modi and Rahul talk about ending corruption, but in reality, they have no intention of ending graft as that is what feeds their politics. He said that the draft of the Lokpal Bill was prepared during his 2011 campaign; the draft Bill had proposed that all public servants should make their wealth, as well as their partners' and children's, public.

However, first Manmohan Singh and later Modi weakened the draft Bill.

Anna was also critical of the current electoral process in the country. He said that politics has been reduced to a game of buying and selling of election tickets and all parties are fielding criminals to win elections. He expressed an urgent need to form a stringent law against the entry of criminals into politics.

POLITICIANS NOT WELCOME

He said that his March 23 campaign that he is launching in Delhi will be different from his previous Delhi campaign. He said that this time, he will not allow another 'Kejriwal' to be born out of his campaign. In fact those who join the campaign will have to sign an affidavit affirming that he or she will not join any political party, form another party or contest elections. He said that so far, 5,000 people have signed these affidavits.

Anna said that Modi has developed an 'allergy' towards him after he began asking questions about the return of black money from foreign banks as the Prime Minister had promised during his 2014 electoral campaign. Anna charged that even the Modi government is corrupt and it cannot claim a higher moral ground than the Congress.