Notwithstanding the UPA Government’s assurance to him that it would make all efforts to have the lokpal Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha during the ongoing Winter Session, renowned social activist Anna Hazare said on Tuesday that he would not end his fast unless the Bill was passed in the upper house of Parliament.
Hours after began Hazare began his fast in his native village of Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmednagar district of western Maharashtra, Parliamentary Affairs Minister V Narayanswamy said in New Delhi: “The lokpal Bill is pending in the Parliament. I have given a notice in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill has to be passed in the current session. The Government is trying all its effort to pass the Bill”.
later in the day, State Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat — whom the Maharashtra Government as its emissary to Ralegan-Siddhi — called on the fasting Hazare and requested the latter to end his agitation in view of the assurance given to him by the Manmohan Singh dispensation at the Centre.
However, Hazare was in no mood to heed the request from the State Government. “The Centre has betrayed me on many occasions in the past. That’s why the question of my calling off the agitation does not arise…. Till the lokpal Bill is passed in Rajya Sabha, I would not end my fast. If I am forcibly taken to hospital, I would not even drink water,” the Gandhian said, while talking to mediapersons at Ralegan-Siddhi.
Earlier in the day, Hazare offered prayers at the Yadavbaba temple in his village, before beginning his indefinite fast to demand the immediate enactment of the anti-graft legislation.
“This will be a do-or-die agitation….. I have received as many as 15 letters from the Prime Minister and the PMO assuring me of enacting the Bill. Despite these repeated assurances from the Government, the lokpal Bill, the Government has not enacted the anti-graft bill. The bill is still stuck in Rajya Sabha. Till the bill is passed in Rajya Sabha, I will not end my fast,” Hazare said.
He appealed to the people across the country to join him in his agitation. Asked if he was averse to his erstwhile associate Arvind Kejriwal joining him in his agitation, Hazare said: “I won’t stop anyone from coming to Ralegan Siddhi and joining me in my agitation”.
The latest is the fourth major agitation that he has undertaken since 2011 to press for the enactment of lokpal bill. Earlier in 2011, he had undertaken similar fasts at Jantar Mantar and Ramlila Maidan in Delhi and MMRDA ground in Mumbai. His earlier agitations — especially the ones in Delhi — had elicited tremendous support from people across the country.