Anti-corruption references in names: Trustees of 20 NGOs may face suspension

The issue had snowballed into a major face-off after anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare announced his refusal to change the name of his NGO Bhrastachar Virodhi Jan Andolan (BVJA). Instead, Hazare had asked the government to change its focus from harassing NGOs to actually tackling the omnipresent problem.

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“I had served notices to 20 NGOs in Pune division asking them to change their names. We served these notices as we had received several complaints about these organisations blackmailing public servants and others by threatening to expose their corruption. It’s the responsibility of the government to check corruption and it has a mechanism. The job of the NGOs is to carry out social work and they should stick to it,” said Dighe, adding that he will issue suspension notices to trustees within a week if they refused to change the names.

Hazare and other activists associated with these NGOs had opposed the move saying that though they do not deny that some NGOs may be involved in ‘alleged blackmailing’, there were many that have done exemplary work in controlling corruption.

“NGOs like mine were established as a reaction to government’s failure to control corruption. Due to the work of my NGO, innumerable scams have been exposed. If they suspend our trustees, we will challenge them in court and, if need be, will launch an agitation against the arbitrary move,” said Hazare.