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| Edited By: Deepak Lokhande |Source: DNA |Updated: Dec 26, 2011, 01:29 AM IST
Anna Hazare’s proposed agitation in Mumbai couldn’t have begun on a worse note. The Bombay high court was quite curt while denying any concession to Team Anna over its demand to take over the whole of Azad Maidan for their protest or get the fee reduced at the BKC grounds owned by the state-run Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.
The HC categorically refused to interfere in the political process of the discussion of the Jan Lokpal Bill and, in a way, has cautioned Team Anna from doing so. It was easier criticising politicians who asked Team Anna to refrain from pressuring them into passing a Bill the way he wanted. Team Anna dare not mock the HC. And Hazare knows it better than others.
He was jailed for contempt of court in 1998 after then Shiv Sena minister Babanrao Gholap decided to take the proverbial bull by its horns. He was sentenced for three months, but then chief minister Manohar Joshi developed cold feet and released him within days.
Hazare is well aware that his agitation in Mumbai may not be as intense as its earlier versions and he is quite street smart to know why. It was a cakewalk in Delhi. The media was in awe of the ‘Second Mahatma’, and the centre was wary of the man. They were quite clueless on what to do with him with Congress’ Iron Lady not around. It was a leaderless, rudderless government that faced a defiant Anna.
Things are much different three months down the line. NCP, which holds the crucial home ministry portfolio in the state, is quite bitter about how Hazare supported the slap on Sharad Pawar and is much buoyant after its success in the council polls. Shiv Sena, after initially hesitant to support Hazare, has decided it has had enough and Bal Thackeray is now openly targeting Anna.
Congress leaders in the state were confident of handling Anna better in Mumbai where access would be much better (remember how they used Vilasrao Deshmukh and Marathi-speaking bureaucrats to break the deadlock back in August). Dalit leader Namdeo Dhasal has already opened a front against Team Anna, criticising their attempts at what he calls an attack on the Constitution written by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.
Hazare is aware of all of these factors and more. He shifted the venue to Mumbai due to the severe cold in Delhi, but also curtailed his fast from indefinite to just three days. The longer he stretches it, the more he loses out on the intensity factor. The local media, which has seen Hazare’s flip-flops from close quarters for over 20 years now, is going to be more aggressive than their Delhi counterparts and will be asking uncomfortable questions.
On a lighter note, one is reminded of a funny episode in 2003 when Hazare sat on a fast in Azad Maidan and then NCP minister Sureshdada Jain sat on a parallel fast at the other end of the ground. Hazare’s fast was going on right behind the Press Club, where journalists unwind after their day’s work. Riled by the hostile questioning, a fasting Hazare complained of the aroma of food wafting from the press club’s kitchens, and alleged that it was a conspiracy to scuttle his fast. Is that why he shifted the venue to MMRDA? Just kidding.
