India: Anna Hazare Disbands Team
By UCA News
Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare Monday disbanded his team, saying it will hold no more talks with the government on the issue of the Jan Lokpal Bill.
“We are stopping the activities of Team Anna today. We have also decided not to have any more talks with the government. From today, there will be no Team Anna or Team Anna Core Committee,” Hazare said in his blog.
However, he did not clearly specify whether they were going to immediately announce formation of a party.
“The government is not ready to enact Jan Lokpal Bill. How long and how many times we will go on fast?” he said.
The 75-year-old Gandhian said that people have asked them to leave fast and give an alternative. “I also thought that the government is not going to curb corruption…,” he added.
He opined that Jantar Mantar does not represent the whole of the country and hence there is a need to seek the opinion of the people of India.
Meanwhile, a new ‘election committee’ has been set up to oversee the possible entry of the group into electoral politics.
The members of the new panel are Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan, Kumar Vishwas, Sanjay Singh and Yogendra Yadav.
Team Anna had last week announced that it would join the political mainstream to continue its fight against corruption.
Hazare called off his latest hunger strike Friday due to dwindling support and government apathy.
The veteran activist had said he was open to a more political strategy ahead of the next general election, scheduled for 2014.
Hazare started the anti-corruption movement in April 2011 with a four-day fast in the national capital demanding that the government enact a bill that gives wider powers to an ombudsman to fight corruption.
The same year in August, he undertook a 16-day hunger strike in New Delhi followed by a similar protest in December in Mumbai, western India.
Source: UCAN India
