Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Thursday said the Narendra Modi government had failed to rein in corruption despite making tall promises.
Mr. Hazare’s anti-corruption movement has been out on a limb after his close aides, first Arvind Kejriwal and now Kiran Bedi, decided to take the plunge into politics.
Speaking to television channels at his “model village” Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, Mr. Hazare said the promises made by the Modi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party had come to nought.
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“People still have to pay bribe to get even the smallest of tasks done. Appointment of the Lokpal [ombudsman] in every district would have reduced corruption by at least 50 per cent in the country,” said Mr. Hazare, expressing disappointment with Mr. Modi’s six-month tenure as Prime Minister and his failure to implement the Jan Lokpal Bill.
The 77-year-old activist rejected suggestions that he had been “soft” on the BJP during his ‘India Against Corruption’ campaign in 2011, which was directed against the Congress-led UPA government and had commanded a groundswell of popular support.