Maintaining a studied silence over his one-time aide Kiran Bedi’s decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Delhi election, veteran anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has hinted that he would kickstart yet another major agitation for a corruption-free India soon after the polls in the capital.
Addressing the media in his village Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmednagar district, the septuagenarian activist desisted from commenting on Ms. Bedi’s breathtaking switch to the BJP from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
“The mission to free India of corruption is an uphill task,” said Mr. Hazare, while stating that his team would soon call a meeting to work out the modalities of the agitation.
Reportedly piqued at Ms. Bedi’s move to join the BJP without consulting him, the septuagenarian activist had earlier turned away eager television reporters from his house on Wednesday remarking, “I do not want to plunge into the dirt of politics”.
According to his aides, he refused to take Ms. Bedi’s calls after her decision to plunge into politics. Ms. Bedi, projected as the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, will battle it out with yet another of Mr. Hazare’s former lieutenants, AAP convener Arwind Kejriwal.
Before diving into politics, both were mainstays of Mr. Hazare’s massively popular ‘India Against Corruption’ campaign in 2011 that sought to introduce the Jan Lokpal Bill.
According to Mr. Hazare’s aides, the activist has already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi pressing for an immediate appointment of the Lokpal, to which no response has been forthcoming.
The agitation, if launched, will train its guns on the BJP government and specially target the Land Acquisition Law, whose amendments have purportedly made Mr. Hazare unhappy and which the Narendra Modi government has passed by means of an ordinance.
