‘Don’t know fate of Lokpal bill now’

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With Mr Anna Hazare officially announcing the disbanding of Team Anna, protesters who till now were part of the India Against Corruption movement, were confused and left wondering about what happened to the fight for the Jan Lokpal Bill. On Monday, Mr Hazare announced in his blog: “We are now stopping the activities of Team Anna today. Team Anna was formed to fight for Jan Lokpal. We have also decided not to have any more talks with the government. From today, there will be no Team Anna or Team Anna Core Committee.”

It has to be remembered that Team Anna was formed with one aim and that was to fight against corruption by bringing in a strong Jan Lokpal Bill. However, with Mr Hazare talking about entering politics, there is much ambiguity on what happens to the Jan Lokpal Bill. Former Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde also confirmed that there was no real clarity on the Jan Lokpal Bill. “Yes, there is no more Team Anna. The core committee has been dissolved. We are now not sure what will happen to the fight for the Jan Lokpal Bill. Anna has raised certain questions on contesting elections, we will just have to wait and watch regarding the next course of action,” he said.

The decision of Team Anna to enter electoral politics, meanwhile, has been opposed by several IAC core committee members such as Ms Medha Patkar, Mr Chandramohan, Mr Akhil Gogoi and even Justice Santosh Hegde. While it seems now that the focus of Mr Hazare and his team would be on the formation of a political party, finding a candidate and contesting elections, there are those who feel it is necessary to keep the fight against corruption alive.

“We support Anna. But people are in a dilemma as till now they were opposing the existing political system and they might end up being a part of that system. For many of us it is not acceptable. However, the fight against corruption will go on; whether through India Against Corruption or any other way, we will still fight corruption,” said Mr Prithvi Reddy, who was part of the IAC’s core committee, Karnataka chapter.