Strange things are happening in Ralegan Siddhi. In a departure from his known stand on electoral politics, anti-corruption crusader and veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare has now made clear that he will campaign for Trinamool Congress candidates all over India in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.
The announcement was made by TMC General Secretary Mukul Roy after he met Hazare at his native village of Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmednagar district. The TMC said it was "proud" of getting Hazare's support.
Explained why he would endorse Mamata Banerjee, Hazare said, "She lives in a 10 by 12 room, wears hawai chappal...I want to say that after 66 years of Independence nobody has thought of changing the economic system, but Mamata Ji has thought about it." He also added that Mamata has promised to implement the 17 suggestions he gave to political parties.
Why can't Hazare see anything good being done anywhere other than West Bengal? Let alone Delhi.
Hazare had fallen out with his protege Arvind Kejriwal in 2012 over the latter's decision to form a political party and contest polls. The cause the social activist espoused then seems to have changed but not the effect.
While Kerjiwal has not made even a single acrimonious statement against his former mentor to this day, the sheer timing of Hazare's fast (it began two days after results of Delhi Assembly were announced on December 8) and his newfound contentment with a toned-down version of the UPA's Lokpal Bill indicated his desire to have a share of the lightning his former chela has stolen from him.
The acrimony between Anna and Kejriwal has been going on for quite some time. First, Anna alleged in a subdued tone that he suspected bungling in the funds collected from the sale of SIM cards during his fast at Jantar Mantar in Delhi in 2012. Then he alleged that he suspected funds collected by India Against Corruption were being used by AAP in its poll campaign.
Kejriwal came out clean of both these allegations. After some time, Anna put his foot down and said his photographs or name should not be used by AAP for its poll campaign. All along these allegations through which Anna more than tried to let people know he was not with Kejriwal, the AAP chief negotiated his way very cleverly and denied Anna an opportunity to take away the hallo he gathered around him of being the harbinger of clean politics. The poll results were the proof.
A few hours after the Delhi Assembly results were out, Anna said Kejriwal would have become the chief minister had he come out to campaign for him. His statement smacked of an oxymoron: his own regret of not being part of his former chela's glory and his assertion to the people that Kejriwal had just borrowed light from him while he himself wielded the torch.
The scenario at present is bleak for Hazare. Even associates, General (retired) VK Singh and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, who came with Anna briefly, have gone away their separated ways, at least one of them overtly political.
Anna is old and is yet to recover from the shock of losing his most trusted hand in Kejriwal who also took away whatever popularity he had earned from his famous fasts in 2011 and 2012. That anger is still seething him.
But a headlong jump into the political mudslinging would leave him shorn of even the dignity he retains today.
The old man's road is drowned in dense fog. Nobody knows if there is a road ahead at all. He needs help and advice.
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