Narmada Bachao Andolan leader and Team Anna core committee member Medha Patkar on Tuesday said there was no move to start a parallel anti-corruption movement.
She was reacting to a news story in The Hindu quoting renowned water conservationist Rajendra Singh about the possibility of a new anti-corruption group emerging, following a meeting of water sector workers at the Gandhi Peace Foundation here on Friday. Mr. Singh, along with activist P.V. Rajagopal, had quit the core committee citing differences on Team Anna's anti-Congress stance in the recent Hisar by-elections in Haryana.
“This is incorrect. I am not even going to be in Delhi for the November 18 meeting organised by Rajendrabhai on river Ganga,” she told The Hindu .
Ms. Patkar said she had been meeting India Against Corruption volunteers, supporting them and carrying the movement forward. “Of course, we have been fighting individually against corruption through movements such as the Narmada Bachao Andolan, which exposed the corruption in the rehabilitation and resettlement of dam-affected people in Madhya Pradesh. We have challenged the nexus between builders, politicians, and officials in corruption against the urban poor, not just in the Lavasa project, but other places too.”
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Rajagopal, who has undertaken a yearlong yatra on land reforms, said he was not interested in launching a parallel movement against corruption but wanted the existing campaign to be built around land, water and forests, where all the money was invested.
‘Expand representation'
Even as Mr. Hazare announced that the core committee would be expanded, Mr. Rajagopal said those worst-hit by corruption — such as dalits, adivasis, fisherfolk and nomads — should get representation. “No one is interested in defeating what is happening but Team Anna should become Team India.”
He said he had distanced himself from the core committee as he was preoccupied with his movement but indicated his availability in an advisory capacity.
