Team Anna today suffered a vertical split with Anna Hazare and some top activists choosing to part ways with the Arvind Kejriwal-led group, opposing their plans to form a political party.
After a roller-coaster ride of 18 months in which they came together to run a high-steam anti-graft movement, the group led by Hazare had acrimonious discussions with Kejriwal and his supporters including Prashant Bushan and Shanti Bhushan on the issue of forming a political party.
Backed by activists including Kiran Bedi and Justice Santosh Hegde, Hazare told the other group during the nine-hour deliberations that they were free to form a political party but cannot use his name or photo for their campaign.
“It is unfortunate that the team has separated...I will not join any party or any group. I will not go for their campaign. I have told them not to use my photo or my name in their campaign. You fight on your own,” he said here.
Hazare refused to accept the survey done by India Against Corruption which overwhelmly favoured a political path, saying he does not agree with the exercise done through social networking sites.
“My best wishes are with them (those taking political path). There is no harm in it. If they think that they can get majority in Parliament, it is good...The paths have been separated. Both of us have chosen our (separate paths).
When pointed out that Kejriwal had earlier declared that he will not form any party if Hazare does not approve it, he said if that was the case, then the party should not be formed but “it is a good thing”.
The discussions saw a section alleging that Hazare was “exploited” by the Kejriwal group. It was countered by others saying “people in Delhi have made Anna what he is now”.
Keywords: Team Anna, vertical split, Anna Hazare, top activists, part ways, Arvind Kejriwal-led group, political party, roller-coaster ride, high-steam anti-graft movement, acrimonious discussions, Kejriwal, Prashant Bushan, Shanti Bhushan, Kiran Bedi, Justice Santosh Hegde, nine-hour deliberations
Comments:
Dear sir
This is with reference to the Mr Raghavan's column which has highlighted the status of investment that the Danish,a properous country and acknowledged leader in alternate energy in India.These investments are in the needed sectors of pharma, energy related and more importantly in the small and medium sectors.
Government of India should not mix the criminal case with investment issue and end up with a setback to the growing investment prospects.
I think Hazare and his new supporters got it all wrong here. It is not the question whether the Kejriwal group can get a majority in the Parliament. It is too naive to believe that. What it can do is to form a pressure group of say 20-30 MPs. for this to happen the group will certainly need Hazare's backing.It is not necessary for him to join the Party but he can recommend good candidates to the electorate put up this group. In any case he has been saying that he would campaign for good and honest candidates irrespective of the party to which they belonged. Why this aversion to the candidates to be put up Kejriwal and his party!
IT LOOKS LIKE A WAR BETWEEN THE SECULAR AND PARTISAN (PRO BJP)MEMBERS OF THE ERSTWHILE MEMBERS OF TEAM ANNA
Not good for public who have faith in team anna . A political party should be there.
Team ANNA thought they will unite India with their hollow slogans and their band of abuse slandering and flag waving hooligans. They ridiculed everybody on stage with dramatic discussions without knowing the pulse of the people. Loud media coverage and TV studio discussions does not bind India, which they were not aware of. The handful members of Team Anna imagined a utopian concept of toppling politicians and cleansing this country at one go and failed miserably. In fact the Team Anna could not hold themselves together and they wanted to conquer India. Ridiculous!!!
Their imagined anti-corruption mission last year was SUPPOSED to be one of India’s biggest social movements but in reality only a few hundreds who had nothing-to-do at home or office showed up with candles, walking and blocking the roads. They only caused misery to the public and the politicians. Now a new they are on the verge of forming a political party, while all the while criticized politicians.
There is nothing like parting ways or a split in the movement. No
confusion here. Annaji is truly truly noble man. He was born for a noble
cause and he has lived upto it all his life and so will he remain for
rest of his life. He is a man with impeccable character. Getting onto a
political career with goons and goondas around is too much for him at
his age. The rest in the movement such as kejriwal are a far younger
lot. They together tried their best but couldn't succeed due to the
deeeeeeep rooted unabated corruption like a 100 year old banyan tree. If
the younger lot uphold and upkeep the great values of Annaji for rest of
their lives drawing the true inspiration from him, they would be doing
lot of good to the nation. In fact Hazareji and the other noble gurus
who were part are all one in the spirit of the corruption movement.
Wishing kejriwal and team the best in their new political avatar. Let
them keep drawing their inspiration from Annaji always.
Making a lit bit movement in politics is essential to bring some impact.
A good political party working as a roll model will bring the required
change. We need new political party. It does not matter even if they
got very few MPs. It is not possible to capture power shortly. But let
that movement happens to bring the required change. We want anna
movement to come to politics.
Please Email the Editor