M K Gupta
Free Lance Journalist
Anna Hazare has said that if a strong Lok Pal Bill is not adopted in the winter session, he will give a call for defeating the candidates put up by the Congress, will tour five election bound states and will also sit on a three day fast at Lucknowbefore the election in U.P. His team is already active in Hisar where the voting for the Lok Sabha will take place on 13th and the result will display the mood of the public whether they are in favour or against it.
The Congress has said that by this, Anna has joined the politics and thus helping the other parties. Janardhan Dwivedi of Congress has said Hazare should have faith in “collective wisdom” of the nation which is represented by Parliament. Very true, but if the Parliamentarian are not in its favour, giving call to public for defeating such candidates is fully democratic. The political parties issues their manifestoes before the elections and this can be a manifesto of team Anna on which the decision will be taken by the voters. Every body, including Congress should have faith in collective wisdom of the nation and there should not be any difference between words and deeds.
Removing hurdles in the way of the passage of Lokpal Bill is necessary and if some party appears to be putting hurdles in its way, calling to defeat that party in the election is fully democratic. It is not joining the politics as there is no other way-out except to adopt the path which has unfortunately been adopted by the Naxals and Moists. Moreover, Hazare has not given a call to support any other political party but has said that he will support all the good candidates of every party if they come forward to fight elections and if by this call, opposition parties (read BJP in particular) are benefited, for that only Congress will be responsible and not team Anna Hazare as he is not targeting the Congress but clearing the bottleneck in the path of adopting the Lok Pal bill. The Congress can take it on the other side by declaring its support for the Bill and can win the support and heart of the electorates. Why this panic reaction from that party? It should make its stand clear in unambiguous terms as only declaring that its pledge to root-out corruption without taking concrete steps on ground will not serve any purpose except working as lip service.
It is a general perception in the public that the Centre is found wanting in taking action against the politicians surrounded with the corruption charges keeping in view the govt. reaction against A. Raja, Suresh Kalmadi, Kanimonzi, Hasan Ali, selection of tainted CVC, Shunglu Committee, CAG and PAC reports.
