Anna slams UPA govts witch-hunt against him

The lecture was organised by Friends of Prakash Kardeley Forum,on the fourth death anniversary of the former resident editor of The Indian Express.

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With tears in his eyes,social activist Anna Hazare on Friday urged youth to relaunch the public movement for Jan Lokpal if the government presented a weak draft of Lokpal bill in Parliament on August 1.

Public awakening is the only way to awaken this government, said Anna,who was speaking at the Prakash Kardaley Memorial Lecture on Is government afraid of the public movement? at the Balgandharva Rangmandir in the city on Friday.

The lecture was organised by Friends of Prakash Kardeley Forum,on the fourth death anniversary of the former resident editor of The Indian Express. Activists Kiran Bedi,Sandeep Khardekar and Vijay Kumbhar were among the attendees.

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Hazare alleged that in a bid to deflate the public movement,the government had launched a witch-hunt against him immediately after the formation of the joint drafting committee in April.

The government had engaged men to find any corruption leads against me at the Charity Commissioners office. But they failed to get anything. I came out clean, he said. He criticised UPA government saying,Is government ki neeyat theek nahin hain.

Hazare said the government made false claims of corruption against Shanti and Prashant Bhushan. They also attacked Arvind Kejriwal, he said.

Announcing the programme for the protest movement,to start on August 9,he said the only way was to raise a public movement like earlier this year.