A year and a half after holding massive rallies in Delhi with his call for the Jan Lokpal Bill, anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare on Wednesday addressed a rally in Patna aiming to begin a national agitation for “changing the entire system” and announced the formation of “Janatantra Morcha”.
Beaming with confidence at the sight of a large crowd gathered to hear him at his “janatantra rally” at the historic Gandhi Maidan, Mr Hazare attacked the country’s political establishment, particularly the Central government, for its failure to enact a strong anti-corruption law envisaged in the civil society’s draft of the bill. He said he would tour across the country and mobilise at least six crore people to exert enough pressure on the Centre to pass a strong Jan Lokpal Bill in the coming months. Janatantra Morcha would work to that end but will not contest polls, he said.
“There are 163 tainted people in Parliament. What law will they make? If Jan Lokpal Bill had been passed, 15 ministers (of Central govt) would now be in jail,” he said. “Public sentiments should be considered while drafting legislations, but this government is afraid of doing so,” he added.
Vowing to keep fighting till the unfulfilled dreams of Mahatma Gandhi and JP are realised, Mr Hazare called upon the people to join the “second freedom struggle” that he said had begun with the Patna rally. He said the enthusiasm of the youth at the rally had turned him into “a young man of 50”. Speaking of his own life, he urged the youth to lead clean lives, saying: “If a life gets stains, one has to take sleeping pills to get sleep even in air-conditioned rooms”.
Mr Hazare’s associates, including Gen. V.K. Singh (Retd), Kiran Bedi, Santosh Bharatiya and social activist Rajendra Singh also spoke at the rally. Ms Bedi said the Centre must pass the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Budget Session. Gen. Singh said unprecedented agitations would begin unless the Centre passed laws as per Hazare’s desire in six months.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar supported Mr Hazare’s agitations, saying the activist was waking up people by instilling stronger democratic values in them.