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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | U-turn Anna eyes team makeover by Archis Mohan

U-turn Anna eyes team makeover by Archis Mohan

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published Published on Nov 7, 2011   modified Modified on Nov 7, 2011

Team Anna is worried that it is increasingly coming across as the “B team” of the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Today, Anna Hazare said he wanted to restructure his team to include Muslims, Dalits, tribals and young people.

It was the latest of many U-turns that Hazare has taken in recent days, on issues such as the shape of his core committee and whether his team would campaign specifically against the Congress.

Days ago, Hazare had denied his blog administrator’s claim that he wanted changes in the committee.

Activists who have known Hazare and key team member Arvind Kejriwal for years say the confusion is happening because the team has received feedback that it is increasingly being seen among Dalits and Muslims as a group close to the Sangh parivar.

“We will take all sections in the core committee: Dalits, Muslims, Adivasis and all others. Nobody should complain that they were not given a chance,” Hazare said from his village, Ralegan Siddhi.

“Even the youth will be well represented. The youth’s power in the committee is extremely necessary. Youths from different communities will be picked for the committee.”

Hazare said some people had been complaining that the core committee did not have any representatives from their communities.

“That committee was for two-and-a-half months. But the committee that we will form now will be for a much longer period.”

The message from Ralegan comes at a time Team Anna is preparing to campaign in next year’s Assembly polls following ample indications from the Congress that the Lokpal bill to be introduced in Parliament will be very different from Hazare’s “Jan Lokpal bill”.

Activists who had initially supported Hazare’s movement but are now gradually distancing themselves say Team Anna realises it needs to change its composition to be acceptable among Dalits and Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.

“The two communities make up a substantial vote bank. Team Anna consists of people from the elite sections: upper-caste urban Hindus. The group wants to change this image to have greater acceptance in Uttar Pradesh,” said an activist who had supported Hazare’s April and August agitations.

Many of these former supporters cite how Hazare and Kejriwal have now come to identify the anti-corruption movement with themselves.

“They are convinced that this movement is because of them and not a spontaneous people’s movement that was successful because it struck a chord among middle-class people across the country,” said another of their former backers.

This activist and many others who have known Hazare are not surprised at the present confusion in his team.

“Hazare is no Gandhi. He is a village patriarch whose worldview is limited. People like Kejriwal have been able activists in their sphere of work but still have a long way to go before they can claim to understand India’s villages and small towns,” the activist said.

He and several others believe that Team Anna may find the going difficult in Uttar Pradesh.

“Illusions of indispensability, ego and the tendency to concentrate power have been reasons for the demise of many a people’s movement in this country. This is turning out to be no different.”

Hazare’s inconsistency, and his former comrade Swami Agnivesh’s decision to sign up for TV reality show Bigg Boss, suggest the two 70-plus men are on a path that may see them turn into caricatures of their former selves.


The Telegraph, 7 November, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111108/jsp/frontpage/story_14721521.jsp


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