The farmer named by Arvind Kejrwal in his press conference, who went missing on Thursday, came back to his home on Friday and blamed IAC member Anajli Damania for “all the drama”.
India Against Corruption (IAC) members Arvind Kejriwal and Anjali Damania had named Gajanan Ghatage during their press conference while accusing BJP president Nitin Gadkari of taking agriculture land on lease from farmers without their consent.
“I was near the village only,” he told The Hindu. “I was scared by the entire cavalcade of TV crews that came to my home. I saw them coming and went into hiding,” he added. When asked if he was threatened by anyone, Mr. Ghatage said: “No one threatened me and I went into hiding on my own.”
Holding Ms. Damania responsible for all the “drama”, he said: “I approached her when I saw her on television targeting Gadkari. I told her that my unused land for dam has been leased out to Nitin Gadkari by the irrigation department. But after hearing Gadakri’s name she promised me that she will help me in getting my land back.”
“I have no issues with Nitin Gadkari,” he said, adding: “My land was taken by the Irrigation Department and I have made many applications to them to return back my land. When I told this to Anjali Damania, she used it to play politics .”
He reiterated that he was not threatened or forced to go into hiding and said “I had seen how media men made a bakra of Law Minister Salman Khurshid in his press conference. They could have done the same thing to me. So I decided to go into hiding. I did not go to Delhi in IAC press conference because I had some farm works here.”
On his land issue and the claims made by his elder brother Vishvanath Ghatge, he said, “My brother can have his own views, he may have problem with anybody, but I have no problem with any politician but the power plant in the village has created immense pollution.”
However, according to some villagers, Mr. Ghatage was coerced to change his stand . “He was the one who had resisted forcefully when people from Purti Limited came to acquire his land and now suddenly he is speaking a different line. There is something rotten in all this,” one villager told The Hindu on the condition of anonymity.
Mr. Ghatge demanded that the Irrigation Department should return the unused land acquired for projects and the laws regarding it should be made more “farmer friendly”. When asked how can the Irrigation Department lease out farmers’ lands to Mr. Gadkari’s company, he refused to say anything.
This article as been re-edited for clarity.
I think that Mr Kejriwal was over-enthusiastic to show that he is a
secular politician and will treat BJP on the same footing as Congress.
The fact is that there is corruption in all political parties, why there
will be only a very micro-minority of people who are totally honest. But
there is a huge difference in the magnitude.It is sad that a good
initiative by Mr.Kejriwal's IAC is getting side-tracked and may soon
lose it's steam.
Readers are confused by the news items published in your paper. At one page you say this man is missing and in another page he has given a TV interview.
It is an internal warfare between individual interest and IAC is being used as a easy platform. Such power games can not solve India's problems with the rulers who are serving Americam interests.
Strangely, the lids blown open revealing instances of excesses on the
part of political leaders are sought to be closed by taunts of
Thackarey's sort as BJP and SS rub shoulders in Maharashtra. The volte-
face of the farmer is stemmed from the fear for life. The threat to such
exposures made by IAC to the utter embarassment of those in tower
deserves all condemnation. Thackarey's following the footsteps of Salman
Kurshish is deplorable, to say the least.
IAC must realise that after all they are quite raw for Indian politics. Political parties
do not advocate or subscribe to morals or scruples. They can buy anyone or silence
any opponent & also indulge in clever tricks. This is true of all Indian political parties
or political heads. The fact that many mafia kings thrive successfully & broker
political settlements must be enough for IAC to re-think about foraying into this
dirty pond; instead let them identify independent candidates & campaign for the
latter's success in the general elections. The need of the day is for larger number of
independents to contest & get elected such that will dent the vote bank of the major
parties. IAC must mentor these independents to collage into a national group & not
yield to any horse trading. They can then force the main parties to commit to a
cleaner politics & better governance as a price for their support. It will be laudable if
IAC takes such a challenging initiative across the country.
One additional piece of information, as reported in the local Marathi media: : Mr. Ghadge is a share-holder of the Purti Sugar factory and he was Sarpanch of the village at the time when Purti Sugar Factory was being set up and he actively supported resolution of the Gram Panchayat for according NOC in favour of the Purti Sugar Factory. It is also reported that Mr. Gadkari has only a nominal equity stake in the said sugar factory.
Don't understand why media is saying Damania's case is same as the cases of Vadra and Gadkari. Aren't Vadra and Gadkari misused their political connection for the existence of their business. Didn't think Damania hold any public office or using taxpayer's/government's money. Where is the political nexus in the case of Damania. Is there something wrong in making money in real estate. Is there anybody in India who has not paid bribe. People of India badly wants to clean up the political system and government institutions. We belived an opposition party or Journalists would keep the government officials honest. Our only hope now is IAC and Hazare.
Every news will become so messy in times to come that readers would be at a loss to understand as to what is right and what is wrong. Poitics is indeed very dirty. People will go to any extent to get into the eyes of public.
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