Anna Hazare dissociates self from IAC, mum on irrigation scam

After distancing himself from the political ambitions of his one-time team member Arvind Kejriwal, veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare has now completely dissociated himself from the India Against Corruption (IAC), the organisation which has spearheaded the massive agitation for a strong Lokpal legislation since last year.

Also, Hazare has now decided to distance himself from the money collected by IAC from various parts of the country in the last one year. This comes at a time when IAC volunteers across India are questioning Hazare’s silence over the efforts taken by them in unearthing the irrigation scam.

In his latest blog entry, Hazare said, “I have personally not taken a single penny from the money collected. IAC is responsible for it.” Hazare also said that he would neither form a party nor support any candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. “Some would try to use the name of the movement and I wish to warn the people not to fall prey to such tricks,” the blog said.

When asked specifically if he would support Kejriwal and the candidates put up by him, he told DNA, “Arvind is good, but I will only support the candidate who is clean. If the candidate is corrupt, I will oppose him.”

Meanwhile, Hazare’s silence over the irrigation scam that rocked the state has the IAC volunteers worried. While activists like Medha Patkar and others say that Hazare should have come forward to support the fight against corruption in irrigation department, some claim that he might be taking his time before he comments as “he is verifying the facts”.

Other than asking for a probe by a retired justice, Hazare has refused to say anything substantial about the scam.

Anjali Damania, the IAC volunteer and RTI activist who unearthed a major defalcation in the issuance of contracts, told DNA that it was at Hazare’s insistence that she took up the issue of irrigation scam. “Back in May, we had visited Anna at his village in Ralegan Siddhi, and he had urged us to continue our fight using RTI in getting the scam out. He also said that he himself had come to know of major corruptions in the irrigation projects and promised us that he would be following up our findings with an agitation to force the government to take action,” she said.

Damania, whose sensational allegations of a supposed business tie-up between BJP chief Nitin Gadkari and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, has earned her a legal notice from the former, says she expected Hazare to stand up for his supporters at this juncture. “Anna’s silence has hurt us,” she said.

Some other activists, who have been observing Hazare’s style of functioning since long, said that he takes time before he comments about any issue. “At this point, he might be going through the documents before making any comment. Also, post his decision to split from Arvind Kejriwal, he might be adverse in coming out openly in support of IAC, which swears allegiance to Kejriwal,” said an activist from Pune.

Similar sentiments were expressed by Medha Patkar, who is equally baffled by Hazare’s silence. “May be the split with Arvind has given Anna much to think about, so he is refraining from commenting about it,” she said.