Pune: Anti-graft activist Anna Hazare hinted at launching another agitation to protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government’s failure to appoint the Lokpal, even after being in power for three years.
Speaking to reporters at his native village, Ralegan Siddhi, in Ahmednagar district on Wednesday, the septuagenarian activist said he would announce the date of the agitation in a letter to Mr. Modi soon.
He said his decision to begin the agitation was conveyed to the Prime Minister in a letter sent on Tuesday. However he remained vague on the date of the agitation. Mr. Hazare has withdrawn proposed agitations against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government in the past.
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He said, “I was silent for three years, but time has come to relaunch the agitation against corruption. Non-implementation of the Lokpal is a great insult to the sentiment of people.”
Mr. Hazare said he still received numerous graft complaints from people across the country. He also attacked the Centre’s for it’s apparent indifference towards weeding out corruption and said that political parties are scared of losing power to the Lokpal.
“I do not accept the reason given by the government to explain the delay. It has said that the committee to select the Lokpal cannot be constituted as the post of the Leader of Opposition, who is to be a member of the selection committee, is still vacant in the Lok Sabha. However, if the new chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) can be appointed in the absence of the LoP, then why can’t the Lokpal be selected?” Mr. Hazare said.
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Lokayukta appointments
He added that Lokayuktas should have been appointed in all the States by now, even if the Lokpal could not be appointed in the absence of the LoP.
“But even in the States where the ruling BJP is in power, the Lokayuktas have not been appointed. These [State] governments would have certainly followed the Prime Minister’s order, had such directives been issued,” Mr. Hazare said.
Since Mr. Modi’s ascension to power in 2014, the anti-corruption crusader has locked horns with the Union government over several issues, threatening indefinite agitations and fasts.
In 2015, Mr. Hazare cancelled his proposed foot-march from Wardha to Delhi in protest against the controversial ‘anti-farmer’ clauses in the Land ordinance Bill, due a drought in Wardha that year. The activist had differed with the Prime Minister over the legislation.
He also attacked Mr. Modi over the delay in implementation of the One Rank One Pension (OROP) for defence personnel, by joining ranks with former servicemen in their agitation.