Team Anna’s Fast against Corruption is drawing a very small number of people compared to last few such fasts. Leaders of the Movement are missing and there is no gossip in Political Clans. Media is also shy towards the Fast.
Anna Hazare and Kiran Bedi came to the fast venue Jantar Mantar only at 11 a.m., much to the disappointment of the people who had come to express solidarity with the cause.
Arvind Kejriwal, who is leading the fast this time, was also missing as he is out of Delhi and had gone to Bulandshahr, in Uttar Pradesh, a Team Anna member said. Kejriwal is expected to join back the fast later in the day.
Other leaders fasting along with him are Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai.
“I came here around 8 a.m., but till 11 a.m. no one came, it was disappointing,” said Ramesh Dayal Sharma, a resident of Delhi’s satellite town of Faridabad.
Yesterday, around 20-30 suspected NSU(I) supporters broke into sloganeering against Kejriwal while Team Anna member Kumar Vishwas alleged they were in possession of an audio clip in which some activists were purportedly taped saying “Give Anna a push and beat up Arvind and Manish”. The anti-Anna protesters were sitting in front of the dais wearing ‘I am Anna’ caps.
NSU(I) denied any involvement and condemned the incident, saying it might be the act of “anti NSUI” people trying to harm the outfit’s image.
Reacting to the protest, Union Minister Salman Khurshid took a dig at Team Anna saying they were raising issues which have been rejected by the Supreme Court and if they did not have any faith in it, they could approach the United Nations.
However, BJP came out in support of Team Anna’s agitation hitting out at Congress for its alleged attempts to disrupt the movement and said it does understand the restlessness in the ruling party over charges of corruption levelled against its ministers.
BJP also attacked Khurshid for “mocking at” Hazare asking him to seek justice from the UN instead and said the people were listening to the voice against corruption and such statements would prove costly to him and his party.
“We condemn the act of certain Congress activists who wanted to disrupt the dharna of Anna Hazarre and his team. It is unacceptable, it is undemocratic and every individual has the right to put forward his or her point of view and protest democratically,” BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.