Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Saturday termed Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev’s campaign against corruption a “circus in Jantar Mantar and Ramlila Grounds” but was critical of the way the UPA government handled the recent events.
“I would have ignored Baba Ramdev, I would have also ignored Anna Hazare. I would have told them you run your show, your circus in Jantar Mantar and Ramlila Grounds. But if you want to talk to Parliament of India, please place your applications before the relevant standing committee,” Mr Aiyar said here on the sidelines of a function.
He said had he been the Prime Minister, he would never have sent four ministers to meet Ramdev and would never have “unleashed police on the sleeping people”.
“What concerns me is that our reaction to the recent events has not been what it should have been,” the former Union minister said.
He, however, questioned the position of the civil society team, led by Mr Hazare, to be a part of the government committee for drafting the Lokpal bill. “These decisions should have been taken by Parliament. These cannot be taken by a committee of half-a-dozen ministers and something called Team Anna Hazare,” he said.
On lawyer Ram Jethmalani comparing the situation in J&K with that in Nazi Germany, he said “he has a number of English words on his tongue but very little brain in his head.” —PTI