I was seen as a villain: Agnivesh

Swami Agnivesh has said that he is seen as ‘somebody like a villain' by Team Anna for the stand that he had taken at diverse points before, during, and after Gandhian Anna Hazare's indefinite fast at the Ramlila Maidan.

“I was looked upon as somebody like a villain, somebody who would not toe the official line, though I do not quite know who decided it all. I was always someone who would stick my neck out. I have been in public life since 1968 and not after April,” Swami Agnivesh said in reply to questions at a meet-the-press programme here on Friday.

He said he had his differences about Anna Hazare's decision to go on a fast unto death when an indefinite fast would have sufficed, the decision to launch the fast before the government had come up with its Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament, and the delay in calling off the fast after the Prime Minister had made a fervent appeal to him to end the fast.

However, he had the greatest respect for the Gandhian who had stirred people into action, Swami Agnivesh said.

To a question whether he thought that Anna Hazare's fast was a success, he replied: “I am also wondering about it. Was there any gain after the Prime Minister's speech? What was the outcome? Not even 10 per cent of our demands were met after that. But I do not want to see the nation in a state of despondency. The display of people's power was the greatest success of Anna's stir. Let us not examine the result of this movement from what came out of it,” he said.

He, however, hastened to point out that the type of corruption being talked about was not directly connected to the burning social issues such as the ‘diabolic' caste system and the genocide-like exploitation of the tribal people and discrimination and atrocities on women. “These were not talked about during the movement. Why did the Dalits and Muslims feel left out of it,” he asked.

He had no doubt that there was still scope for a negotiated resolution of Maoist violence. “If Mamata Banerjee can make a beginning, why cannot the Central government do it,” he asked and added that there would have to be a political consensus involving all parties to overcome the Maoist and State violence and the terror of terrorism.