Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Monday alleged that social activist Anna Hazare was a “mask for the RSS like yoga guru Ramdev” and was being used to divert attention from the arrest of Sangh members in terror cases.
The Lokpal issue, Mr. Singh told journalists here, was raked up “to divert the attention of the people from the arrests of various RSS activists in connection with terrorism and others in corruption cases.”
“They [BJP and RSS] formulated this plan. First they made Baba Ramdev as its mask and them Anna,” he alleged.
The Congress general secretary said, “I respect Mr. Anna Hazare as he is a Gandhian but, unfortunately, he is surrounded by the wrong people.”
On his allegation against Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal, he said, “Mr. Kejriwal is still a government employee. The government has not accepted his resignation. He is still an officer of the Indian Revenue Service [IRS].”
“Has a government employee got the right to open campaigning? Has he got the right to collect donation? If 40 lakh employees cannot do it, how can he [Kejriwal] do it?,” Mr. Singh said.
He said the government “has respected Team Anna and invited the members to the drafting committee but it was the Opposition which had a problem with them, not us.”
Meanwhile Mr. Hazare told journalists in Ralegan Siddhi that the RSS was not involved in his anti-corruption movement. He said the Congress general secretary should be admitted to a hospital for levelling such an allegation.
“I have said this earlier also that people like Mr. Singh should be put in ‘Yeravada', [a well-known place in Pune housing a government mental hospital],” Mr. Hazare said.
He said he was determined to continue his fight for the passage of a strong Lokpal Bill in Parliament to curb corruption in the country.
Mr. Hazare said Mr. Kejriwal was a “clean man” being targeted by the government.
