Soon after P.S. Gopala and Rajendra Singh reportedly announced that they would quit Team Anna, team member Kiran Bedi said here on Tuesday that those who had volunteered into the team, may always opt out.
“Team Anna is a team of volunteers and volunteers are coming with movements of their own. Some have concerns about agriculture, others about water, tribals or human rights. When you volunteer, you can always volunteer out for your own personal reasons,” Ms. Bedi said on the sidelines of a programme at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
Ms. Bedi said the two did not say why there were leaving. Asked whether they left because of activist Arvind Kejriwal, she said these were rumours. “I do not go by hearsay,” she observed.
According to reports, Mr. Rajagopal and Mr. Singh quit the core committee of Team Anna, objecting to the “political turn” the movement had taken. It is believed that they were upset with the team campaigning against the Congress in the Hisar by-election.
On the debate over Team Anna's effect on the by-election, Ms. Bedi said the purpose was to tell people to elect a Member of Parliament “who takes your vote and then votes for your Bill (Jan Lokpal Bill).”
“This was our purpose and it has been accomplished. The people have got the MP of a party, the party president of which has said that it will support the Jan Lokpal Bill,” she said.
To a query on reports that the Congress is planning to launch a front ahead of elections in Uttar Pradesh to counter any impact Team Anna may have in chipping away votes, Ms. Bedi said: “the Congress does not need any morcha. Just introduce Jan Lokpal Bill and the whole country will be with you and thankful for it.”
Ms. Bedi said she will join Team Anna members Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in the campaign in Uttar Pradesh on Friday.
“We want to remind the people that without Jan Lokpal Bill there will be no freedom from corruption. The Janlokpal Bill and a stronger Lokayukta will benefit Uttar Pradesh,” she said.
She said Team Anna would meet Chief Election Commissioner S. Y. Quraishi on the issue of “right to recall.”
Keywords: Team Anna, Kiran Bedi, anti-corruption movement
I think from a public perception, these 2 are unheard of. The core team so to say consists of bedi,bhushans,anna,hegde,arvind. Now the extended team may have many members. I think these 2 persons may definitely be having ulterior motives or cashing in on the situation to defame team anna.
The entire nation supported Anna & his team for their crusade against corruption due to the fact that it was miles away from any political party that harbours the corrupt. Members may opt out and or opt in and nothing unusual in it as long as the movement does favour a political party. If it does favour any party even after winning the bill, the movement will be a history. The greatness of Anna & his team could be maintained if not favouring any political party. I do appreciate the new thought of "right to recall" that will curtail some of the corrupt practices of the elected members. If they are found corrupt or inneffective, the same elected people should be given opportunity to recall a member if he proves tobe unworthy of his position. Wish a long term success to Anna & his team.
P.V.Rajagopal and Rajinder Singh quit Team Anna. "Anyone can opt out", said Kiran Bedi. Bhushan and Kejriwal physically damaged. It is time each member of the so-called 'civil society' knows oneself and each other. The team should realise that the public support for its movement was only on the strong desire to eliminate or reduce corruption in the country. People stood behind Anna, like a man in flood-waters, catching on to any available piece of straw, hoping to escape. People really do not know about the integrity, interests, capability and team spirit of the members of the Anna group. Many people do not even entertain enough confidence in the outcome of the Lokpal bill. Political and other forces are at work to defeat 'India Against Corruption'. In the circumstances, the self-made cracks in the Team Anna would result in its natural exit from the field. There might not be many mourners.
As a voter, I have not voted for any political party in the last 15 years, choosing instead to vote for one of the contesting independents after scrutinising their required disclosure to the Election Commission. With that background, I must say that Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Manish Sesodia and perhaps some more from Anna's group are subtly but clearly politically motivated with the motivation being to help BJP and hurt Congress & most other non-NDA parties. Some of them are surely anti-corruption but they are blind to the corrupt ways of BJP and other NDA parties. Corruption, by any political party, is hurtful and not just by the Congress and the UPA.
I have always doubted the lack of comprehensive objectives of Anna Hazare. While he rightly wants to curb financial corruption (even on that I believe he is deliberately silent on past proven/obvious cases of corruption among companies, politicians and the common citizens themselves, he ignores significant other issues.
I'll quote Anna here: "Kindly stop finding faults and suspecting conspiracies in our movement. Even if there were, it does not absolve you of your responsibility to stop corruption." While the volunteers leaving Team Anna maybe right in their belief that this movement, their movement should not take a political turn, they still support Team Anna's the fundamental demands. They are still in favor of 'corruption free India'. The same cannot be said of political leaders trying to find faults with Team Anna. Not to forget their character assassination attempts.
Team Anna has taken credit for all hard work done by Baba Ramdev. Unlike Baba Ramdev who personnally met more than 10 crore people and created awareness across India, Team Anna do less and take whole credit with the help of media.
She is an honest and bold in making right statement. Let unwanted people go out of the team for goodness sake.
Those who came in to get fame easily better they quit. People want fame with no efforts but are not prepared to work for the cause voluntarily as Gandhi did.
Please Email the Editor