Anna Hazare in Ralegan Sidhi
The 76-year-old Gandhian activist is again on an indefinite fast and has demanded that the Rajya Sabha pass that bill in the ongoing 12-day winter session, which ends on December 20.
"The Bill has been passed in Lok Sabha. Only the Rajya Sabha needs to debate it. But there has been no progress for a year. It's been two years since they promised the Lokpal Bill. It's all an eyewash," Anna said yesterday.
He claimed that he had received nearly 15 letters from the Prime Minster and his office assuring him that the bill would be taken up.
Anna has announced a new platform for his latest agitation, the "Jantantra Morcha", which he says will be non-political. "Jantantra Morcha will not form a party and will not support any political party," he avowed.
In 2011, Anna fronted a massively popular movement for a new law that would birth a national ombudsman or Lokpal to investigate charges of graft against elected representatives and bureaucrats.
Arvind Kejriwal, now estranged from him, was his right-hand man; they clustered together a group of NGOs and activists who called themselves India Against Corruption until the group split nearly a year ago over Mr Kejriwal's decision to launch a political party to "clean the rot from within."
Anna has said he cannot support a political movement. Last month, he forbade Mr Kejriwal from using his name or image in his campaign for the Delhi state election.
Asked if Mr Kejriwal would join him in his latest agitation, Mr Hazare would only say, "There are no doors or gates that stop anyone from coming here."
Last week, Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party came up with an astonishing debut in Delhi, winning 28 seats in the assembly elections.
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