Team and Anna in disarray
Abantika Ghosh : Tue Feb 19 2013, 03:17 hrs
Now that Ramdev too has shed his coyness and announced that come 2014, he will transform from a mere yoga teacher to a "high command" fielding his own candidates, more questions about the political aspirations of the cast of "apolitical" anti-corruption activists of 2011 are inevitable.
And clearly those aspirations not limited to Ramdev or Arvind Kejriwal alone. It is not for nothing that former IPS officer Shashikant, after resigning from India Against Corruption, spoke about Anna Hazare being used as a car to further ambitions. The parallel is not unbecoming because Hazare has clearly been the all-purpose vehicle used by several to launch their respective careers.
However, if individuals are being accused of virtually killing the movement with their own personal aspirations, Hazare isn't devoid of all blame either.
His attempts to become the glue for a vibgyor conglomeration of activists also failed because the choice of those activists was mostly based on little more than his own assessment/appreciation of them. Which is probably why as a former Army staff, Hazare has often seemed starry-eyed about hobnobbing with five-star generals — Shashikant claims not one but two are currently in talks with him — at the cost of leaving his close aides discomfited.
A point to be noted is that General (retd) V K Singh remains a special invitee to the coordination committee of Hazare's anti-corruption movement and many of its members till this day balk at him being referred to as a regular member.
Hazare has also never attempted to conceal his liking for men and women in other forces, example Kiran Bedi, Shashikant.
This could be the reason why questions are being raised about the anti-corruption activist's intriguing silence on the Rs 370-crore VVIP chopper scam. The man facing the heat right now is a former service chief.
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