Scathing snub of Delhi BJP chief by Anna Hazare

Ahmednagar (Maharashtra): Veteran anti-corruption crusader Kisan Baburao Hazare, more popular as Anna Hazare, on Friday spurned Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Adesh Gupta's recent invitation to join him in a protest against the Aam Aadmi Party government.

Given the current circumstances, the senior leader from Maharashtra candidly admitted that no party in the country can give a bright future to the people or resolve their problems and hence, "my coming to Delhi will not make any difference".

In a stinging letter to Gupta, Hazare said that he was pained to read the BJP chief's invite asking him to launch an agitation against the AAP regime in the capital, on the lines of a similar crusade for Lokpal in 2011.

"The BJP has been in power since six years... You represent the youth which is the power of the nation... What could be more unfortunate than the fact that a party which claims to be the one with the biggest membership in the world has to call an 83-year-old man like me who lives in a 10x12 feet room, with no money, property or power," Hazare wrote.

He pointed out that now the BJP government at the Centre controls everything in Delhi (state) like the CBI, ED, state police, etc, and the Prime Minister even claims that he has taken strong steps to uproot corruption.

"If that is so, then why can't your government take steps against the Delhi regime if it has indulged in corrupt activities? Or, are you just making tall claims," Hazare asked pointedly.

The octogenarian activist said that he had undertaken 20 hunger strike agitations in over 22 years of his war against graft, in public and national interest without bothering about which party was being targeted.

"In 2011, when I undertook the agitation, people were fed up of corruption and took to the streets all over the country in support... In 2014, your party showed dreams of a 'corruption-free' India and came to power, but peoples' life has not improved," penned Hazare in a no-holds barred tone.

Expressing disappointment at how all parties are involved in the same vicious circle of 'chasing money-for-power and power-for-money', Anna said there will be no change in the country and people will not get any succour from their sufferings till the system changes.

Hazare advised that it is very easy for any party to target the other party which is in power, but there is a need now for all parties to make a "self-introspection and admit their own shortcomings".