On the eve of a crucial meeting of activist Anna Hazare's anti-corruption core committee, a member of Team Anna on Friday demanded that the panel be suspended and expanded to make it more representative against the attempts by the Congress leaders to discredit the crusade.
Poet and professor Kumar Vishwas in a letter to Mr. Hazare said the core committee was not bigger than the larger issue of the Jan Lokpal Bill. He saw a design in “corrupt forces” trying to push the Jan Lokpal into the background to make personal attacks on the core committee members with the intention of misleading and derailing the movement.
Weighed down by its inner contradictions and dissensions, the 26-member committee will meet here on Saturday without the presence of team leader Hazare who has taken a vow of silence, the former Lokayukta, Santosh Hedge who has prior engagements, activist P.V. Rajagopal and ‘Waterman' Rajendra Singh, who have disassociated themselves in protest.
Activist Medha Patkar will not attend the meeting as she has prior commitments in the Narmada valley, but she has conveyed that she will be available on phone for consultations during the meeting.
Speaking to The Hindu , she said: “In the face of allegations against some members and attempts to divide the movement, many of us felt that if Anna feels necessary he should restructure and reorganise the movement. Everybody should cooperate in this.”
Ms. Patkar is all for a free-wheeling discussion on all aspects within the core committee including the disassociation of two members, though she feels that members should “not rush to the media'' with every discussion within the movement.
Mr. Rajagopal and Mr. Singh were unhappy that Team Anna entered electoral politics in Hisar even before the government could place the amended Lokpal Bill in Parliament during the winter session. Mr. Singh was in Kenya and not available for consultations when Hisar Lok Sabha elections took place. However, Mr. Rajagopal, who is leading an all-India yatra for tribal welfare, said he would be available to the movement in an “advisory capacity.”
Voices of dissent have also been expressed against lawyer Prashant Bhushan for his views on plebiscite in Kashmir and Kiran Bedi for her demeanour in charging her hosts business class travel fare while flying economy class. An Indian Revenue Service officer, Arvind Kejriwal, has also been served notices to pay dues he owes the Income Tax Department.
Charging the leaders of the ruling party with trying to tarnish their public image and credibility, Mr. Vishwas said such attacks, and subsequent clarifications, would strengthen the conspiracy to divert the attention from the key issues. “I request you to give greater representation to the core committee consisting of limited members and turn it into a hard-core committee comprising 121 crore people,'' he said in his letter.
“Since this fight is to change the system, not a person or a party, you will need a new core committee and a new Team Anna against every struggle be it for Right to Reject and Right to Recall. I [therefore] once again urge you to suspend the present core committee and create a new system to enable us to see a corruption-free new India,'' he said.
