The country is set to witness another round of yatras by social activist Anna Hazare and his team from January 30, the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Until then, Anna will scout for people willing to join his team to trudge across the nation to help people select “right political candidates” for the 2014 general elections.
Anna and former army chief General VK Singh, who were in the city on Monday, addressed the media. “We will tell people to select political candidates on the basis of character, capacity and desire to serve people,” said Anna.
The two criticised the government and sought its dismissal “for not working for the people”. They charged the government of not protecting the people, not working for their welfare and being influenced by market-driven policies.
“We want the government to be dissolved as it is only slapping its neo-liberal policies on the people. While the preamble of the Constitution says that it is ‘by the people’, the people are not heard,” said Singh.
“The gap between the rich and poor is increasing as politicians are serving themselves and not the country,” said Hazare who advocated “pursuing of black money instead of taking loans from banks to better the economy”.
Anna also slammed the central investigation agency, the CBI, and reiterated the need for stronger laws while demanding judicial inquiry in recent allegations against BJP national president Nitin Gadkari. “People earn money for seven generations and go to jail for a few months. We need stronger laws to deter people,” he said.
As for his former associate, Arvind Kejriwal, Anna said that they had same goal but the means were different.
Speaking of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, Anna said if Modi was against corruption, he should have introduced the Lok Ayukta in his state.
