There are no differences between the previous Congress-led government at the Centre and the present BJP-led government when it came to corruption, said anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare here on Saturday.
Speaking to the media during his visit here, he cited a recent survey by a non-governmental organization that ranked India number one among Asian countries in corruption and alleged that the situation had in fact worsened under the present Union government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He criticised PM Modi for the alleged disinterest shown in implementing the Lokpal Act and considerably weakening it through an amendment in 2016. He said that the PM has failed to keep his promise of fighting corruption as evident from the absence of Lokpal at the Centre and many of the BJP-ruled States.
Stating that repeated appeals to the Union government to effectively implement the Lokpal Act and also to address the problems of farmers have failed to evoke any response, he said that he will be launching an agitation in New Delhi from March 23, 2018 against the Union government regarding these two issues.
He said that he was expecting the agitation to be a mass movement similar to the one led by him in 2011, which pressurized the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to enact the Lokpal Act.
Pointing out that the problems faced by the farmers, particularly in getting remunerative price for their produce and issues related to water, would be highlighted in the agitation, Mr. Hazare said that his visit to Madurai was to understand the problems being faced in the restoration of Vaigai river.
He said that he would be visiting different places across the country in the run up to the March 23 agitation to appeal to the people to join the agitation in Delhi. “People are fighting for these issues across the country in an isolated manner. Hence, the government is not listening to their voices,” he said, adding that his idea was to bring these people together and put up a united fight in Delhi.
