Hazare, 88, rose to national prominence during the 2011 anti-corruption movement, which aimed to establish a strong Jan Lokpal Bill for investigating corruption in governments.
A day after social activist Anna Hazare reacted angrily to the banners in Pune that urged him to “wake up” and lead an agitation against “vote theft”, the Congress Monday asked him to speak up and “follow the path of truth”.
”Anna’s silence is not appropriate. Even though vote theft is a big issue in the nation, he is not speaking up. If Anna says he has become old and youths should speak up, then we want to tell him that the question is not about age. He should tell us whether he was part of the conspiracy to bring the BJP to power, part of the conspiracy to defame the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government,” said Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe.
Hazare, 88, rose to national prominence during the 2011 anti-corruption movement, which aimed to establish a strong Jan Lokpal Bill for investigating corruption in governments. He led large-scale protests and conducted hunger strikes to demand the passage of this law at a time when the UPA government, led by the Congress party, was facing multiple corruption allegations.
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“Are you the supporter of this government and therefore you are not coming forward and speaking about the blatant vote theft that happened across the country?” asked Londhe, referring to Hazare’s silence in the wake of the bogus voting claims made by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi targetting the ruling BJP and the Election Commission of India.
Poster in Pune questioning Anna Hazare’s silence over vote theft allegations.
“Did Anna ever say he made a mistake by supporting the enthronement of the current government? Mahatma Gandhi accepted the truth. Anna should follow the path of truth,” added Londhe.
Meanwhile, Vijay Kumbhar, vice president of the Aam Aadmi Party’s Maharashtra unit, said, “Anna always takes wrong stands. If he has to stand, he should not be selective. His reaction based on wrong inputs generates all kinds of reactions.”
Kumbhar, however, agreed that Hazare’s statement that youth should speak up since he has become old is correct. “How long will we depend on Anna? It is time the younger generations step forward and articulate their views.”
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Kumbhar also said in a post on X, ”In Pune’s Pashan, banners mock Anna Hazare. This is classic Puneri style, but the nameless brave behind them lack spine…”
On Sunday, Hazare reacted angrily to the banners in Pune which taunted him and asked him to ”wake up” and lead an agitation against ”vote theft”.
One of the banners read, ”Anna, at least wake up now. Even Kumbhakarna woke up from a deep slumber… So why don’t you do the same for the country.”
Hazare said, ”I took the initiative to bring in 10 laws, but even after 90 years of age, if people expect me to keep doing everything while they remain fast asleep, then I think that expectation is wrong. I feel what I have done should be carried forward by today’s youngsters.”
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The anti-corruption agitation led by Hazare culminated in the enactment of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
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Poster in Pune questioning Anna Hazare’s silence over vote theft allegations.
