JOIN USThe fourth day of Anna Hazare’s indefinite fast at Ralegan Siddi in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district was marked by rifts and schisms surfacing amongst his group of supporters.
The 76-year-old Gandhian has been on a hunger strike since December 10, asking the government to pass the Lokpal Bill in the current Parliament session.
Local media reported that on Friday, differences between Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) representative and the new ‘Team Anna’ came to fore when AAP’s Gopal Rai tried to interrupt a speech by General V K Singh at the venue.
Following a brief verbal exchange between Singh and Rai, the fasting activist butted in, asking the AAP representative to leave the dais and the village stating: “Why are you interrupting? It is improper to create a ruckus when somebody is speaking...and you were not forced to join the fast...you are free to leave the dais and the village.”
Singh, sharing the dais with Hazare while addressing the crowd said: “We should not go around forming different groups in our fight against corruption...one should always remember that it was Annaji who raised his voice for Jan Lokpal and several people who rallied behind him have left to form their own groups. “Today these groups (referring to AAP) without blinking say that what Annaji has become today is because of them and it is not vice versa. The need of the hour is to take the nation forward and for this we need unity and not go around floating separate groups or political outfits.”
This remark did not go down well with AAP members who on Thursday were accorded a frosty reception at Ralegan Siddi.
Even as Gen Singh kept up his attack on Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP with a wry smile, AAP leader Gopal Rai responded angrily saying the former Army general was “an agent of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.”