Peeved at being denied permission to hold an indefinite fast from August 16 on a venue desired by him, Anna Hazare on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, accusing the government of “crushing” the fundamental rights of people.
In the strongly-worded letter, written in Hindi, Mr. Hazare charged the Government with suppressing those who raised their voice against corruption.
“Your Government is trying to crush those who raise their voice against corruption. This is happening more often in your Government,” Mr. Hazare said in his letter.
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Noting that he was not given permission to hold fast at the venues sought by him, without any proper reason assigned, Mr. Hazare questioned, “Whether all this does not give the impression of dictatorship?”
“Does it behove of you to crush the fundamental rights of people by murdering democracy and violating the Constitution? People say your government is the most corrupt government since independence, though I am of the view that every successive government is more corrupt than the previous one.”
He also questioned the police permission given to the Civil Society group to hold Mr. Hazare’s fast only for three days, adding that no reasons were cited for this.
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Mr. Hazare accused the Government of finding excuses to deny permission to his proposed indefinite fast.
Citing such instances, he said, “Earlier we were not given permission for our fast at Jantar Mantar on the pretext that we would occupy the whole area and not leave any space for others to protest.”
“Then we demanded either of the four places — Rajghat, Boat Club, Ramlila Maidan and Shaheed Park, but even though the MCD gave us permission, the Delhi Police denied the same after dilly—dallying for almost a week,” Mr. Hazare mentioned in his letter to the PM.
Alleging that no valid reasons were offered for denying them the permission, he termed Delhi Police’s attitude as “autocratic” and said it was stated clearly in the Constitution that staging a peaceful protest is the fundamental right of every citizen.
Asking the Prime Minister to show courage and provide him with a proper place to stage his protest against corruption and for seeking a strong Lokpal Bill, the anti—graft crusader wrote: “It is your prime duty to protect the Constitution and democracy and I hope you will understand the gravity of the situation and act immediately. If the head of democracy is unable to provide us with a place to protest, we will get arrested and hold our protest in Jail.”
Expressing his determination to do so, he said lakhs of people will take to the streets as he sits on protest from August 16.