NewDelhi/Nagpur: After a hiatus, veteran social activist Anna Hazare has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reminding him of not delivering his pre-electoral promises to bring back black money in 100 days and building a corruption-free India, saying “there was no visible difference” between the UPA-II and Modi-led regime.
Wishing Modi for the New Year, Hazare once again reminded him of his pre-poll promises.
“After the countrywide agitation against growing corruption in the Congress-led regime, you had promised that if you come to power, you will give priority to ensure a corruption-free India…People believed you and voted you to power…but there seems to be no visible difference between that government and yours,” he said, adding that even now people have “to pay money to get work done”.
Modi, who swept to power following an anti-graft agitation led by Hazare, had promised to check spiralling price rise and corruption and bring black money.
“Neither has price rise been controlled…and as regards your promise of bringing back black money and depositing Rs. 15 lakh in each account, not even Rs. 15 has come so far,” Hazare wrote.
Sounding hurt and resigned to not getting any response from Modi, Hazare hinted at launching another agitation. “Power is in your hands. It seems that power is also a kind of intoxication. What power does a Fakir (ascetic) like me have,” he wrote, adding that the only option that he had was to exercise the right given by the Constitution to people like him to launch a movement for a corruption-free India.
Hazare, 78, said he had written several few letters to the Prime Minister and had got no response. He cited the example of former Prime Ministers, such as Narasimha Rao, who used to “occasionally speak to me over the phone over various issues and Atal Bihari Vajpayee always met me when he visited Pune”.
He said: “I was one of the fiercest critics of Manmohan Singh’s government and even launched a movement, but he replied to all my letters …”
“May be you have forgotten all that, which is why I am writing to remind you,” he wrote, adding that many letters written by him to Modi had probably been “consigned to the dustbin and probably this one, too, will also end up there”.
He lamented that in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ broadcast series, Modi had not even mentioned the issue of Lokpal and Lokayukta, another promise that he had made before getting elected.
