Anna changes his stance and praises Kejriwal after his party’s remarkable victory in Delhi.
Social activist Anna Hazare has congratulated AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal for sweeping Delhi polls. Hazare who had earlier criticised Kejriwal has now changed his stance against the latter after his party’s victory. The anti-corruption crusader never had expected Kejriwal to make a fighting come back after he had quit CM’s post last year. He had criticised Kejriwal for misusing his name during election campaign. All that is history now after AAP defeated BJP in the capital. Kejriwal who was a member of Team Anna had parted ways with Hazare for establishing AAP. On the other hand, Anna has always mentioned that he won’t enter politics and will only work for the elimination of corruption.
Anna has asked Kejriwal not to forget about the 2011’s crusade against corruption which had brought the entire nation together. He urged Kejriwal to refrain from repeating the mistakes committed by him during his previous reign. AAP has been reaching out the common man and had conducted a massive door to door campaigning. The other factor which worked in the party’s favour is that the Modi government had failed to deliver and has only been making false promises.
“I extend my best wishes to Kejriwalji. Arvind had won because he had reached out to the people. This [Delhi election] is Narendra Modi’s defeat. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s rout should not be blamed on Kiran Bedi alone,” said Mr. Hazare.
Expressing pride that Mr. Kejriwal’s political genesis had its origins from his avowedly non-political ‘India Against Corruption’ movement, the 77-year-old activist however said he was not likely to attend Mr. Kejriwal’s swearing-in ceremony. He said that as yet he had not received any communication from Mr. Kejriwal.
When asked whether he had any advice for Mr. Kejriwal, the septuagenarian activist quipped: “Arvind knows how to run a government. He is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur. He is extremely clever and skilful. Who am I to give him any advice?”
Hazare criticized the Narendra Modi government for enacting a legislation that makes it easy for authorities to take over land from the farmers.
“What sort of an ordinance is this? Snatching fertile farmlands from farmers and giving them to corporates. People have been betrayed by the actions of the BJP government. Its tall promises of ‘Achche Din’ have proven utterly hollow,” said Mr. Hazare, flaying the Central government.
“The public earlier thought that ‘ache din aane wale hain’ but the good days came only for industrialists and that’s why AAP’s acceptability increased among the people.”
“I would like to tell Bedi that winning or losing is part of a game. Whatever good work she has been doing for the country and society, she should continue doing that,” he said, referring to the former Team Anna member and BJP chief ministerial candidate.
