Team Anna and India Against Corruption (IAC) members  have recently conveyed their resentment against a magazine named OPEN which  tried to defame the entire Anti-Corruption Movement by creating  fake stories and quoting false instances. OPEN tried to defame the UP campaign by publishing a false report.
OPEN claimed that IAC public meeting at Baramanki was coordinated by Rakesh Kumar Premil, who is a RSS associate. The correspondent also claimed that Premil was assisted by some Ram Kumar Yadav, a local quack who was also the president of the Fatehpur unit of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, the farmers’ wing of the RSS.Although we appreciate any constructive criticism, but the way this news report is carried without any fact, is regrettable. The Fatehpur rally at Barabanki was coordinated by Dr Sajjan Lal Verma, who has been associated with IAC movement since April 5 last year. Also, they don’t know any Ram Kumar Yadav, as mentioned by the reporter. Rakesh Kumar Premil has no association with the RSS or the BJP. However, Premil runs an NGO, Manav Utkarsha Sewa Sansthan, was part of the organizing team. Gonda coordinator Dilip Shukla is a lecturer at Lal Bahadur Degree College, Gonda. The coordinator of Faizabad rally was Gopal Krishna and he is well known for his criticism for any political party specially BJP. Contradicting his own report at one point the reporter wrote, “the rally at Faizabad was organised mainly by those who have for long been associated with the Left and Dalit politics in the region.†He further mentioned that the public meeting at Faizabad was presided over by Tariq Sayeed, a senior member of the local intelligentsia and head of the Urdu department of KS Saket PG College, Ayodhya.
Even the reporter alleged that a 13-point ‘letter of oath’ was being distributed during the public meeting at Barabanki. IAC is surprised to learn such false claims through this magazine ‘OPEN’. Whatever official literature we distribute is always made available only on our website. During UP election campaign the handbills that we are distributing are focused on our forthcoming programmes called ‘Discussion Group’.
Team Anna members including Manish Sisodia and Maulana Shamoom Qasmi has strong objections on this news report.
Editors’ Comments
This is a question of Corrupt vs Un-Corrupt not BJP or Congress. If members of RSS had supported the Anti-Corruption Movement then what is wrong with it. Is it mandatory that someone supporting Anti Corruption Movement should clearly oppose RSS and BJP? Or if someone is associated with RSS, does he lose all rights to participate in Anti-Corruption movement. We did not go to RSS for their comments but this type of Reporting shows the narrow mindedness or prejudice of the reporter. By the way, creating false reports is next to cheating the readers