Take protest to homes of MPs, Ministers: Anna

Agencies

New Delhi, 22 August 2011: While accepting the offer of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for a dialogue on resolving the impasse on the formulation of the Lokpal legislation, the fasting social activist, Anna Hazare, on Sunday not only widened the agitation, directly confronting Members of Parliament and Union Ministers, but also warned the UPA government that its days were numbered if it failed to pass the Bill by August 30.

 

Following up on the Prime Minister’s offer for talks, the Union government has launched a backchannel effort to work out a solution with the anti-corruption crusader, but Team Anna said no formal exercise was visible and ruled out any reconciliation by Monday.

 

Supporters held a rally from India Gate to the Ramlila Ground, where Mr. Hazare’s indefinite fast entered the sixth day, and several others, responding to the call of Team Anna, staged dharnas in front of the residences of several Union Ministers. At least 80 demonstrators were arrested when they sought to stage a sit-in in front of the Prime Minister’s residence on Race Course Road.

 

Mr. Hazare addressed his supporters twice, in the morning and in the evening. In the morning he said the doors were open for talks but in his evening speech Mr. Hazare issued a warning to the UPA government.

 

He said the agitation would be intensified after August 30 if the government failed to pass the Bill. “The government will have to accept because the people have awakened. If not, you will have to go. You do what you want to, we too are prepared to launch an agitation, which the country has not seen before.”

 

Mr. Hazare said the “torch has been lit to end corruption. But the path is a long one. The torch has to keep burning whether Anna is there or not,” he said

 

Earlier in the day, Mr. Hazare said the doors had not been closed for talks, expressing his willing to hold talks with the government in response to the olive branch held out by the Prime Minister on Saturday.

 

He said the doors had been kept open and only through a dialogue could issues be resolved. The anti-corruption crusader, however, stood his ground, insisting on the introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill in Parliament.

 

Mr. Hazare said that even if the Prime Minister was within the ambit of the Lokpal, the Jan Lokpal Bill had to be taken up for consideration in Parliament; until the Bill was passed, there was no question of ending the present endeavour.

 

Mr. Hazare maintained the people’s parliament was more important than Parliament. Those elected as MPs and trustees of the treasury were looting the money, he charged and said it was time to send several of these corrupt Ministers to jail.

 

His associate, Arvind Kejriwal, maintained that though the Prime Minister had offered dialogue there was no intimation yet on where they were to come and with whom to talk.

 

In what is being viewed as backchannel negotiations, Maharashtra Additional Chief Secretary Umesh Chandra Sarangi interacted with Mr. Hazare twice during the past 24 hours, but Mr. Kejriwal maintained nothing constructive was proposed.