New Delhi: The detention of Anna Hazare by the police is snowballing into a major political controversy. The CPI(M) today issued a statement condemning the action against the 74-year-old Gandhian and the ban on his hunger strike.
Here is the full statement:
CPI(M) condemns the arrest of Anna Hazare and the ban on the hunger strike in Delhi. This is an attack on the democratic rights of citizens to protest peacefully. It shows how the Congress leadership is intolerant to any anti-corruption movement as their government is itself steeped in high-level corruption.
The Politburo reiterates that the official Lokpal Bill presented in Parliament is weak and inadequate. A strong popular movement has to be built up to ensure that an effective legislation is adopted by Parliament.
-NDTV
India against corruption: Team Anna Hazare to move SC against detentions
NEW DELHI: The Anna Hazare team on Tuesday said they will approach the Supreme Court against detention of the Gandhian and his supporters ahead of the proposed indefinite fast, claiming the police action was "totally undemocratic".
"We will move the Supreme Court," Prashant Bhushan, lawyer and close associate of Hazare, said.
Terming the detentions as "totally undemocratic", the lawyer said the action showed that the government has no regard for fundamental rights of the citizens.
"Time has come to rise up against this government. We appeal to people to protest against the government peacefully," Bhushan said. Bhushan's father and former law minister Shanti Bhushan was also among the detainees.
Police detained Hazare and his close associates -- Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Shanti Bhushan -- after the Gandhian remained adamant on his plans to go ahead with the protest defying prohibitory orders.
-TOI
Lokpal Bill: After Anna Hazare's detention, Manmohan Singh calls cabinet meet
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has scheduled an emergency meeting of the cabinet Committee on Political Affairs in Parliament House at 10.15 a.m. Tuesday following the detention of Gandhian activist Anna Hazare in the morning.
The meeting will take stock of the situation arising out of Hazare's detention by the Delhi Police early morning, hours before he was set to proceed on an indefinite fast demanding a stronger Lokpal Bill to deal with the corrupt.
Others scheduled to attend the meeting include Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A.K. Antony and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, officials in Prime Minister's Office said.
External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal and Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi are also scheduled to attend the meeting, they added.
Hazare, 74, had announced Sunday he would proceed with his indefinite fast at the Jai Prakash Narain Park near Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium close to the old quarters of the city. The Delhi Police had imposed prohibitory orders there.
He was detained along with some 250 of his supporters including activist Arvind Kejriwal and former top cop Kiran Bedi. Some of them were taken into custody from other places in the city.
"Don't let my arrest stop this movement. This is the nation's second struggle for freedom. The entire world has come to know how deep rooted corruption is," Hazare had said in a statement, minutes before his detention.
"I appeal to you that let there be no violence in this movement. I also appeal to you, young and old alike, to give eight days of your life to the nation - if necessary for a jail bharo andolan (fill the jails campaign)."
His supporters, who were detailed from various places, described the police action as unconstitutional.
-ET
Anna dares govt to stop him
Calls For ‘Jail Bharo’ Stir If He’s Arrested
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
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| LULL BEFORE THE STORM Anna Hazare meditates at Rajghat on Monday |
New Delhi: Anna Hazare has taken the government head on, declaring that he will defy prohibitory orders and launch his indefinite fast today to press for a stronger Lokpal bill.
Striking a defiant note after Delhi police denied him permission to hold his protest at J P Park in the capital, Hazare declared that he would march to the venue nevertheless and start his fast from wherever he was detained. He also said that if he was arrested, he would carry on his fast in jail and return to the venue after his release. He also called
upon people from every village to fill jails if he was arrested, echoing Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Jail Bharo’ agitation.
According to late-night TV reports, 50 of Hazare’s supporters were arrested near JP Memorial Park after they demanded that it be opened for his fast.
The police refused permission for the protest after the Hazare camp declined to commit that the Gandhian would end his fast after three days and would ensure that the turnout remained below 5,000.
Police refuse Hazare permission to fast at JP Park after Team Anna rejects six of 22 conditions laid down by Delhi Police. Section 144 imposed at venue from midnight
Govt justifies denial of permission.
Law minister Salman Khurshid says major gathering cannot be allowed if it is “uncontrolled”
Prashant Bhushan says Team Anna will move court if stopped from protesting. Santosh Hegde says govt restrictions unconstitutional
At 3.52pm, Hazare reaches Rajghat, meditates for almost 3 hours. Around 2,500 supporters reach site
At evening press meet, Anna says he will march to JP Park on Tuesday to start fast. If stopped, will sit-in there itself. If jailed, will fast in cell Jail Bharo: Anna exhorts Indians in every village to fill prisons, taking the metaphor from Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘jail bharo’ andolan
Police conditions rejected by Hazare 1) No more than 3 days of protest 2) Protesters not to exceed 5,000 3) Govt doctors to check Hazare 4) No loudspeakers after 9pm 5) Not more than 50 cars & 50 bikes in parking 6) No tent to be erected ‘Will fill water at Sibal’s home if proved wrong’ The group also didn’t
agree to the police’s condition that no tent would be erected at the protest site and loudspeakers would not be used after 9pm. Though Team Anna agreed to comply with 16 of the 22 conditions set out by the police, the cops insisted on full compliance
Although the Hazare camp will move court on Tuesday to challenge the denial of permission, the real action may unfold on the street. An early glimpse of what may be in store came on Monday evening when Hazare ambushed the administration by landing up at Rajghat for a meditation session. He was mobbed by gushing crowds with children touching his feet and others making a beeline for his autograph. J P Park is close to Rajghat and Hazare seems to be confident of a similar response when he tries to defy Section 144 imposed to ban unauthorized assembly. The venue is already ringed by cops and the aggressive rhetoric by the government and the Congress indicates that the authorities are prepared to be tough.
Hazare went for the PM’s jugular yet again, burying the distinction he had drawn between Manmohan Singh and the Congress all this while. He was derisive about the PM’s emphasis on Parliament legislating the Lokpal bill, saying, “He is trying to teach us the importance of Parliament, which we do not contest. But bring the right bill to Parliament. I thought he was an honest man but now he too is speaking the language of Kapil Sibal.”
Saying that he had no aim of destabilizing the government, Hazare expressed his group’s disdain for political parties, saying the replacement would be no better.
Hazare’s associate, Prashant Bhushan, said conditions being sought to be imposed on the leader’s fast were unconstitutional and the group would move court on Tuesday pleading that they had a right to stage a peaceful protest against the government’s Lokpal bill.
Opposition BJP and Left parties have criticized the government’s handling of Team Anna’s protest and said the activists had a right to differ with the Centre.
Hazare insists the Lokpal bill that civil society has envisaged—with the PM, higher judiciary and actions of MPs in Parliament in its purview-—will drastically curb corruption, adding that he was willing to “fill water at (telecom minister) Kapil Sibal’s house if proved wrong”. Team Anna and Sibal have repeatedly clashed over the Lokpal bill. On I&B minister Ambika Soni’s question whether the Lokpal would eradicate graft, he said, “An effective Lokpal will reduce corruption by 60%-65%.”
While Delhi police is taking precautions to ensure Hazare and his supporters are detained without recourse to rough tactics, the activists have been urged to ensure the protest remains non-violent.
-TOI
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