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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | How the RSS co-opted Anna by Gyan Verma & Sreelatha Menon

How the RSS co-opted Anna by Gyan Verma & Sreelatha Menon

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published Published on Nov 24, 2011   modified Modified on Nov 24, 2011

This is a saga of how the Hindu outfit saw the promise in Anna and pursued him for its gains.

How often do we meet strangers on a flight and realise that it could possibly be the beginning of a lasting friendship? This is how yoga teacher Ramdev and super cop Kiran Bedi met in mid 2010 when both of them were on the same flight and Ramdev spotted her.

Although fate had played its role in bringing both the anti-graft crusader together on the same flight, it was a timely meeting as the yoga teacher was busy finalising his plans to start Bharat Swabhiman Yatra against corruption, especially on the issue of bringing back black money stashed in foreign accounts.

The sudden rise of Ramdev from being an arya samaj member in Haryana to leading a Rs 1,100 crore empire often demonstrates his ability to choose a few people who could benefit him in the long run. The choice of Kiran Bedi, the moment he saw her on the flight, was an example of that. Realising that he might need someone like the super cop who has a fan-following amongst the middle class, Ramdev asked the airhostess to call Bedi if she could meet him. Ramdev utilised this ‘chance meeting’ to the fullest and asked Bedi to join hands with him in his yatra against corruption.

While Ramdev was busy preparing to start his yatra in October, social activist Arvind Kejriwal and his friend who is a senior Supreme Court lawyer, Prashant Bhushan, from National Campaign for Peoples’ Rights to Information (NCPRI), were giving the final touch to their version of Jan Lok Pal Bill. Kejriwal and Bhushan had first met at NCPRI after he was made the chairman of the committee to draft the Whistle Blower’s Bill and the draft which came out was the Lok Pal Bill.

Realising that his version of the Lok Pal Bill was not acceptable by other members of the NCPRI, Kejriwal walked out of the group along with his friend Prashant Bhushan and never returned. Even though Kejriwal was alone with the draft of the Lok Pal Bill, he had a major plan in mind and to execute it he wanted the support of Anna Hazare, a Maharashtra based social activist whom he had met for the first time while campaigning for Right To Information (RTI) Act in 2005.

After holding a series of meetings with Anna Hazare at his village, Ralegaon Siddhi, by October 2011, the same month Ramdev started his anti-corruption yatra, Kejriwal had mentally decided to start a nationwide agitation asking people to come forward and support the Lok Pal Bill while Anna Hazare would be the face of the movement.

The decision to choose Hazare as the face of the movement was not difficult. Anticipating that it would be tough to catch the attention of the government, especially the aam aadmi, Kejriwal decided on three criteria: the leader would have to go on fasts for several days; he should be a Gandhian; and he should be incorruptible. The 74-year-old Anna Hazare fit Kejriwal’s criteria perfectly.

Kejriwal had also considered another Maharashtra-based figure, M Ghare, to lead the entire agitation but finally chose Hazare as he had gone on long fasts in the past and had dealt with government machinery in the state.

At the time that Kejriwal was busy meeting people to join India Against Corruption (IAC), he had met Ramdev and meditation teacher Sri Sri Ravishankar and has asked them to join the movement. Ramdev later suggested Kiran Bedi, who had joined his team, to also become a member of IAC. And by January 2011, IAC was formed with 10 members, including Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravishankar, Swami Agnivesh, Archbishop of Delhi and Kiran Bedi as the founding members.

“The first 10 members did not even include Prashant Bhushan or his father and former minister Shanti Bhushan, but Anna Hazare was there. The group comprised of Kiran Bedi, Mallika Sarabhai, Swami Agnivesh, Baba Ramdev and later Sri Sri and Archbishop of Delhi were roped in. The gurus were roped in mainly to bring in the crowds,” said a core committee member of the IAC.

Knowing well that all the religious leaders would only be able to organise a certain category of supporters, Kejriwal knew the time had come when youth, especially college going children, were needed to become a part of the movement he was planning. In February 2011, the RTI activist who had now become the master strategist met Sunil Ambekar, a pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and Sunil Bansal, another senior RSS functionary asking them help strengthen movement. Both Ambekar and Bansal spearhead the youth wing of RSS, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) which is active in most of the colleges in Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

“The connection between Arvind Kejriwal and RSS is very old. His organisation, Parivartan, had started from the residence of Ved Prakash Goyal, who was also the treasurer of the BJP. Later on Parivartan shifted to another location in east Delhi,” said a senior RSS leader.

While the force of social activists were forming a group to fight corruption, senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), LK Advani, came out with a report formed by his Task Force on black money which alleged that senior members of the ruling Congress Party were probably holding illegal money in foreign accounts. Before taking out the report made by the Task Force, the leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in January 2011 to recover black money in foreign banks.

Although Advani apologised to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for the allegations, within a week of the report, his team members, S Gurumurthy, a Chennai based chartered accountant and Ajit Doval, former director of Intelligence Bureau (IB), were not consulted before taking the step. However, the public apology by Advani didn’t end the issue of black money just yet.

Ramdev who was touring the country since October 2010 for Bharat Swabhiman Yatra to compel the union government to bring back black money, finally ended his yatra on February 27 at Ramlila Ground in Delhi where all the members of IAC, including Anna Hazare, stood on the dais along with the yoga teacher as one.

Just before the public rally at Ramlila, IAC members met for two day at the Gandhi Peace Foundation, where it was formally decided to project Hazare as the face of the entire movement. But the agitation would not take sides with political parties. It was also decided at the meeting that Anna Hazare would go on a hunger strike in the first week of April.

“It was very clear to some of us that RSS was involved with the movement and that is why we made sure that no political parties or communal forces should be allowed in the movement. It was decided to keep RSS out but they were open to meet privately,” said Rajendra Singh, a well-known social activist.

The RSS, which is known to have close links with Anna Hazare and had often involved the Maharashtra leader in its village development programmes, decided to back Hazare completely and passed a resolution in the national executive meeting in Puttur, Karnataka, in the first week of March this year. The task to coordinate between Anna Hazare and Ramdev was given to another senior RSS member, Govindacharya.

“The link between RSS and Anna Hazare is very old and he has helped us in our village development programmes. Actually, during one such meeting, we had suggested Anna Hazare to start a movement against corruption,” said Mohan Bhagwat, the Sar Sanghchalak of RSS recently in Kolkata.

As per the plan, Hazare started a fast at Jantar Mantar on April 5 and five days later the union government not only agreed to start the process of drafting the Lok Pal Bill, it formed the 10- member draft Lok Pal committee, with four members of IAC and Anna Hazare.

With two month long meetings between the union government and IAC members, another sting from civil society came when Ramdev also decided to go on a fast in the first week of June. The union government, which was unable to contain Hazare, was now dealing with Ramdev to persuade him not to go on a hunger strike. However, the yoga teacher didn’t relent and on the intervening night of June 4-5, he was detained by Delhi Police in an early morning action and was forcibly sent to Haridwar. The police action against Ramdev and his followers who were sleeping at the time was condemned by everyone, and Govindacharya was sent by the RSS to meet him at his ashram.

“Ramdev has political ambitions and sometimes it is difficult to work with him. If he had not tried to flee from Ramlila Ground wearing women’s clothes, he would have been a hero,” said a senior RSS leader. The BJP leaders who were in Lucknow on June 5 rushed to Delhi to support Ramdev and his campaign.

Meanwhile, the differences between the government and IAC members at the drafting committee came out in the open and Hazare again announced that he would sit on another hunger strike at Ramlila ground if the government didn’t agree to his demands during the monsoon session of Parliament which started on August 1 and continued till September 8.

The government tried to contain Hazare with another police action and arrested him on August 16 from his residence in Mayur Vihar. Later in the day when senior ministers realised their mistake, Hazare declared that he would not come out of jail till the time permission was not sanctioned. The very next day, Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravishankar, on August 17, reached Delhi in support of Hazare and met the BJP leadership at the residence of LK Advani to support the party in its campaign and put pressure on the government. Later, government finally bowed down and not only allowed Hazare to sit on a fast at Ramlila but also cleaned the place up for him.

The RSS which was watching the drama unfold from a distance, again sent Govindacharya to meet Hazare at Ramlila ground and sent a strong message to BJP asking them to come out in the open in support of Hazare and not just raise issues in the Parliament session. The fast ended after the entire Parliament assured Hazare that the process for creation of Lok Pal would be fast forwarded.

To make the movement at Ramlila a success, RSS activated its affiliates, Hanumant Sewa Sangh and Dharam Yatra Mahasangh, to provide food to 20,000 people at Anna Ki Rasoi. The RSS along with fan club members of Hazare ensured that there was a steady flow of people at the protest ground.

The success at Ramlila created differences between members of IAC after Hazare decided to campaign against Congress Party candidate at the Hisar by-election. “We came together on the issue of corruption but the movement later deviated when Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan and Kiran Bedi decided to campaign against Congress Party. If you choose to campaign against one party, then in a way we were benefiting another party. Some of us didn’t agree to this and we left,” said Rajendra Singh, social activist.

After winning the first round and second round of campaigning against the government that was led by Hazare and Ramdev, it was time to initiate ‘Plan C’ by the RSS. At the national executive in Gorakhpur on October 16, RSS decided to support all the anti-corruption movement and promote meditation teacher Sri Sri Ravishankar to start a yatra against corruption from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh just before the assembly election. The yatra was launched in the first week of November.

While ‘Plan C’ is still at work in Uttar Pradesh, RSS allowed its long time friend, Subramanian Swamy, Janta Party chief, to execute ‘Plan D’ and start his own yatra against corruption under the banner of Action Committee Against Corruption (ACAC).

“Once these people are through with the yatra, we want to bring Anna Hazare, Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravishankar and Subramanian Swamy together by February 2012 under a loosely coordinated Joint Action Committee Against Corruption (JACAC). If all of them want to fight corruption created by the government, then they should be under one banner and on one side,” said a senior RSS leader.


The Business Standard, 23 November, 2011, http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/howrss-co-opted-anna/456350/


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