Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Mullappally Ramachandran said on Sunday “communal and reactionary forces like the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are behind the agitation by civil society leaders Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev, in the name of fighting corruption.”
Talking to journalists here, he said: “These leaders are trying to create a pre-emergency situation, as in the early 1970s, by threatening a mass agitation that resulted in the proclamation of the Emergency in 1975.”
The Minister said the leaders were challenging the Constitution and the law of the land. “They want to sabotage the Constitution and parliamentary democracy in a bid to destabilise the country.”
They are dictating terms to the government and want to bypass Parliament for bringing the Lokpal Bill, which the government is determined to present in the next session of Parliament, he said.
Mr. Ramachandran said that for Anna Hazare, who claims to be a true Gandhian, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was a role model, though Mr. Modi's stand against minorities had been criticised by all secular and progressive forces.
He criticised the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for supporting the agitation led by Mr. Hazare.
“Strict steps taken”
He said the Congress had taken strong steps against corruption, whether it was the 2G spectrum scam, the Adarsh scandal or the Commonwealth Games. The party never hesitated to take action against its own leaders like Suresh Kalmadi. In the Adarsh scam, the party's Maharashtra Chief Minister was removed and a decision was taken to probe the case.
Mr. Ramachandran said the Centre would order a CBI inquiry into the lottery scandal in Kerala once it got the notification by the State government requesting such an inquiry.
