A powerful campaign has been launched against Hazare and the movement he led. 'Anti democratic', 'Fascist' are some of the adjectives hurled at him. There is a less than subtle attempt to paint him a Hindu fundamentalist, writes Colonel Anil Athale (retd)
Team Anna on Monday alleged a conspiracy behind the collapse of the northern power grid, with activists alleging that such developments were taking place in Delhi as Anna Hazare is sitting on an indefinite fast.
Annasaheb, I have known of your good work in Ralegaon Siddhi in Maharashtra for the past 30 years. Most Maharashtrians know you well, but this generation of youth has not been fed much information of 'good works' by the media.
Arvind Kejriwal met Anna Hazare on Saturday night shortly after which the Gandhian had a jibe at the Delhi chief minister saying some people take bungalows despite having promised not to do so.
Anna Hazare's former blogger Raju Parulekar on Friday night fired yet another salvo at prominent Team Anna members accusing them of using the Gandhian as a demi-god and as their brand to further their interests.
Bukhari had expressed strong resentment and sought to know why Hazare and his campaign managers had not done more to involve Muslims in their anti-graft movement.
Breaking his silence over claims by a section of Team Anna members that Hazare was against forming a political party, activist Arvind Kejriwal alleged a "propaganda machinery" was working overtime to "drive a wedge" between Hazare and other activists
Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Thursday charged 'political and criminal forces' of trying to dilute the nationwide movement against graft by defaming and criticising the campaign for a comprehensive Lokpal bill.
Yoga guru Ramdev met Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu in Hyderabad on Monday morning to drum up support for his anti-corruption movement.
Anna Hazare on Thursday said that the legislators and executives of the country were supposed to be servant of the people, but they had made everything possible to convert the owner (people) of the country to their servants.
Notwithstanding the split over their movement turning political, Anna Hazare has decided not to accept Arvind Kejriwal's offer to return money collected during the erstwhile Team Anna's anti-corruption agitations.
Adding another issue to his agenda, Anna Hazare on Monday rose in support of a movement to save the Ganga by visiting activist G D Aggarwal who was flown to New Delhi for treatment after his health deteriorated during a hunger strike in Varanasi to save the river.
Anna Hazare is not allowed to take any decisions or lead the anti-corruption movement as some members of his core team "control" and "exploit" him, his former blogger Raju Parulekar has alleged.
Social activist Anna Hazare will undertake a month-long statewide tour from May 1 to create public awareness on the need for a strong Lokayukta legislation in Maharashtra.
Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy on Thursday alleged that Team Anna was behaving like "naxalites" as they were "not keen on solutions" and instead bent on dragging the issue of corruption.
Social activist Anna Hazare had written a 3-point letter to Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, asking him to specify if the money collected for the 'Anna movement' was being used to fund his election campaign.
A strong Lokpal Bill should include steps to protect the lives of those fighting corruption, says Team Anna. Priyanka reports
'Vijaya Raje Scindia had assured the prime minister that nothing would happen to the Babri Masjid'
Veteran Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, in his latest book, argues that Pranab Mukherjee should have been made Prime Minister in 2012 instead of Manmohan Singh, who was then recovering from health issues. Aiyar believes this would have prevented the "paralysis of governance" and "doomed" any prospects the Congress might have had to form UPA-III. He also criticizes the government's handling of the Anna Hazare-led agitation and the Commonwealth Games scandal, which he believes contributed to the party's downfall in the 2014 general elections.
After two prominent activists resigned from his team after objecting to the way the campaign is being run, Anna Hazare on Wednesday hit out at his critics, saying he ignores "incoherent and illogical" discussions about his movement. Hazare said, "My movement has given rise to incoherent discussions in political circles and I do not pay heed to them". "I have heard illogical discussions and interpretations crop up due to political rivalry," he said.
Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Saturday said they are holding a meeting to decide on the future strategies.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday said the organisation has not joined Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement but will participate if asked to do so.
There is no doubt that anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has legions of followers. And they are all contributing their might to his movement for a stronger Jan Lokpal Bill.
Members of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha on Saturday debated and discussed the issue of the Jan Lokpal bill, for which activist Anna Hazare has been on a hunger strike since the last 12 days.
Amid "confusion" on how to take the movement forward, Team Anna's Core Committee met in Ghaziabad on Monday sans ailing Anna Hazare to decide on their future strategy.
Welcoming the recommendations of the Justice Verma Committee on reforms in anti-rape laws, activist Kiran Bedi on Thursday said these suggestions were revolutionary and can trigger an uprising if implemented.
Extending his support to the "justful" cause of sugarcane growers in Maharashtra, social activist Anna Hazare on Wednesday condemned the firing incident in Sangli district and accused the state government of turning this year's Diwali "black" for protesting farmers.
Raking up the issue of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Team Anna "nexus", Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Friday alleged that Mohan Bhagwat, Anna Hazare and Govindacharya are "contradicting" one another over the issue.
Software icon N R Narayana Murthy on Saturday backed Anna Hazare's movement against corruption and favoured the Prime Minister's Office and the judiciary coming under the ambit of the Lokpal Bill. The chairman and chief mentor of Infosys also supported people's movements taking to the streets to demand an end to corruption."I think in a democracy, pluralism is inevitable. It has to be there. That is what makes democracy stronger," Murthy told reporters.
Samajwadi Party on Saturday said that there was no need for Anna Hazare or the members of civil society to start a movement in Uttar Pradesh as the party is capable of fighting against corruption on its own.
Demanding an impartial inquiry into the controversy surrounding Army, Team Anna on Tuesday alleged that the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation and Intelligence Bureau will not bring out the truth as the bodies are "under the control of government".
Holding that Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement has an element of "populism" about it, Mahatma Gandhi's great grandson Tushar has said there is a difference in the way the two leaders have used fasting as an instrument of protest. He also feels that while for the Mahatma, fasting was a means to "reform an adversary", in case of Hazare, a self-professed Gandhian, it was like targeting an "enemy". "Hazare's fast is different because Bapu's fast was to reform an adversary".
Team Anna's core committee met in Monday at Ghaziabad amidst suggestions that the anti-corruption movement should not target a single political party in the future.
Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare was discharged from hospital today and said he would apply his mind to the next phase of the anti-corruption movement started by him on the Lokpal Bill issue after fully recovering from his health problems.
Contending that communalism was a bigger a threat to India than corruption, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, on Monday asked Anna Hazare why he and his campaign managers did not do more to involve Muslims in their anti-graft movement.
High drama was witnessed at the Team Anna core committee meeting in Noida on Sunday with the group expelling one of its members Mufti Shameem Kazmi for allegedly recording its proceedings even as he claimed that he quit the movement as it was turning anti-Muslim.
Amid clamour for its revamp over allegations of financial conduct by some key members, the core committee of Team Anna met in Ghaziabad on Saturday with Kiran Bedi asserting that there were no differences within the movement.
The overflow of energy and enthusiasm from the youth for Anna Hazare and the movement against corruption was the highlight of the India Day Parade in New York City.
In an interview with CNN-IBN, actor Om Puri explains the controversial statements he made against politicians at Ramlila Maidan, while expressing his support for activist Anna Hazare.
Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament Varun Gandhi, who proposed to move the Jan Lokpal Bill as a private member's bill, believes that as a parliamentarian this was the best way he could help Anna Hazare's movement.
