Civil rights activist and member of the Joint Drafting committee on Lokpal Bill Anna Hazare on Sunday complained to Congress president Sonia Gandhi about the ‘sinister campaign' launched against him by the UPA government and Congress leaders to defame and him and thwart the people from rallying behind him as they did on April 5.
In a letter to Ms. Gandhi dated June 9, Mr. Hazare said spreading canards for the sake of power was not a good augury for democracy. He took exception to his being described as the “mask” of the BJP and the RSS by Congress leaders and told her that he had never associated himself with any party throughout his life.
Pointing that he had prevented leaders of political parties from coming to the stage, Mr. Hazare said he had set a condition on Baba Ramdev joining the April 5 dharna — that he would have keep communal people away.
In such a situation, levelling false allegations that he was communal was not acceptable, he pointed out to Ms. Gandhi.
He said his role was to put pressure on the government through people's movement and if political parties and groups told lies just to hang on to power the future of the country would be endangered.
People in responsible positions of the polity were expected to behave with character and urged Ms. Gandhi to make public any proof that the party might have against him — that he was associated with the BJP and the RSS.
Mr. Hazare recalled that he had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue of Lokpal in December, but never received any response from him and resorted to a fast only when he failed to get any answer from the government.
He regretted the manner in which other members of the Lokpal panel, Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan, were attacked and questioned the role of Santosh Hegde but added that only truth prevailed not the lies heaped by her party and government functionaries.
Mr. Hazare hoped Ms. Gandhi and her party men and those in the government would not indulge in character assassination and mislead the people on the issue of the Lokpal Bill.
