Anna Hazare silent on KCR, Naidu

Anna Hazare is the face of India's fight against corruption. He has taken that fight to the corridors of power and challenged the government at the highest level. After successfully crusading for the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the Gandhian is now fighting for the implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill.

In a freewheeling interview to VRC Phaniharan in Hyderabad on Sunday, Anna Hazare said that the pitch of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with his 'Make in India' to roll out red carpet to different industrial houses would not hold good for us.

Q) How do you find the BJP-led NDA government at the center?
AH: It is a newly elected government and should be given some time, to figure out how it would move forward in resolving various issues concerning people. It is premature to assess it right now.

Q) Are you planning to float your own political party or embracing an existing political party?
Neither is on my agenda. I would continue to raise issues concerning people like corruption as a form of cleansing the system.

Q) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Benerjee and some of her TMC members have come under the Sarada Chit Fund scanner. Do you still support the TMC chief?
AH) I had said time and again, that I had expressed my support to Mamata Banerjee as the ‘best CM’. At no point of time did I say that my support was to Trinamool Congress. It has nothing to do with whatever allegations that the TMC or its members were facing.

Q) How do you find the TRS lead K Chandrasekhar Rao’s government in Telangana and the N Chandrababu Naidu-led government in Andhra Pradesh?
AH) I cannot make any assessment of either just by a day’s visit to Hyderabad. And, above all there has been hardly anything or an issue between the people of these two states and people of Maharashtra. I have no specific opinion on either of them.

Q) What do you think of the issue of brining black money hoarded in overseas tax-havens?
AH) It is one of the major issues which need to be tackled giving top priority. Of late political parties have been coming together on the issue, which is a good sign. I hope something positive would come out. It is equally important to tackle the menace of black money within the country, by running a transparent functioning of administration and ensuring strong action against those resorting to corrupt
practices.

Q) You are always in favour of self reliant villages stemming from Gram Swaraj. But, Narendra Modi has been pitching for ‘Make in India’, though which he wants to roll out red carpet to big industrial houses. What us your take on it?
AH) Accelerating any activity that would plunder nature and its resources would lead to disastrous consequences and it could not be called as development. When you look the effects of such development which had been pursued it had been increasingly polluting our environment and has been contributing to unexpected changes in the eco-system. I would not say ‘Make in India’ holds good to us. On the contrary, we need to follow the Gandhian model for making economy of the villages vibrant.

Q) You fought for passage of the Lok Pal Bill. Lakhs of people had expressed their support. How do you view the passage of the Lokpal Bill?
AH) Once the bill had been passed by Parliament, it has to be implemented in letter and spirit by the government. Without implementing the same, passing of the bill will be of no use. For this, the elected members will have to raise the issue in the parliament, to press for its implementation. I have my trust in the younger generations of our society, and if the governments fail to implement then I will have to think once again to start fight against the government to make it implement the Lok Pall Bill.