Anna Hazare will launch fresh agitation for Lokpal

New Delhi: Accusing the Narendra Modi government of not enforcing Lokpal even after three years in power, social activist Anna Hazare said he would launch a fresh agitation. Speaking at Rajghat, after paying tributes to Mahatmna Gandhi on his 148th birth anniversary, he said that the new movement would be launched by the end of the year or early next year. He also alleged that Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has forgotten the Lokpal movement after entering politics and said he will ask his one-time protege to keep a “safe distance” when he launches another anti-corruption agitation. “It has been 70 years since our country gained independence but we have moved away from the vision he (Gandhi) had for India. It is for this reason I am going to launch my satyagraha from Gandhiji’s samadhi,” the activist said.

Mr Hazare said that he will sit on a day-long hungerstrike at Rajghat, following which he will launch his “satyagraha.”  “I am  therefore going on a hungerstrike. Based on the inspiration I draw after sitting near Gandhiji’s statue at Rajghat, I will speak accordingly.”

Mr Hazare, who drove thousands of people onto streets in 2011, said he will interact with volunteers across the country in Ralegaon Siddhi in Maharashtra on October 7 and 8 to chalk out his future course of action.

Citing media reports, the social activist claimed that corruption had increased over the last 15 years. “He (the Prime Minister) has shown no interest in appointing a Lokpal,” he said.