Activist Anna Hazare says to his former aide Arvind Kejriwal that he appears to have forgotten his ideal principles.
- In a letter, Anna Hazare said to his former aide Arvind Kejriwal that since he became CM, he appears to have forgotten his ideal principles.
- In a strongly worded letter, the activist said that Kejriwal seems to now be “drunk on power.”
In a letter, activist Anna Hazare said to his former aide Arvind Kejriwal that since he became CM, he appears to have forgotten his ideal principles.
Expressing his disappointment over the reported corruption in the excise policy of 2021-22 which is being currently investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation, social activist Anna Hazare on Tuesday wrote to the Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal.
In a strongly worded letter, a rare action by the activist to his former aide since he became CM, Hazare said he seems to have forgotten the ideal principles he started out with and is now “drunk on power.”
Hazare was an abolitionist and his relationship with Kejriwal, his aide when the historic anti-corruption movement of 2011 was taking place, got strained when Kejriwal chose to form a political party, a move opposed by Anna Hazare.
“The excise policy of the Delhi government shows that the political party which was formed at the cost of that historic movement, is now walking the same path being taken by other parties. It is rather sad,” Hazare wrote in the letter.
Hazare stated that he was instrumental for the prohibition in Ralegan Siddhi, the village he hails from, and also campaigned for good excise policy in Maharashtra which led to the making of a prohibition law. The law entails the prohibition of the sale of liquor in villages if 51% women of the village vote against the sale of liquor.
“A similar policy was expected to come from the Delhi government. But you did not do that. You also seem to be stuck in the vicious circle of money through power and power through money. It is not characteristic of the political party which was born out of a big movement,” Hazare stated in the letter.
The social activist also mentioned that Kejriwal, who used to give speeches in favor of Lokpal and Lokayukta to check corruption in the country, now seems to have forgotten the Lokpal and Lokayukta bills after becoming the chief minister.
“You did not even try to bring a strong Lokayukta Act in the Delhi assembly and now your government has made an excise policy which will ruin the lives of people and affect women. It shows your double standards,” said Hazare.
Anna Hazare came down heavily on Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal in the midst of an ongoing row over the now withdrawn liquor policy in Delhi.
In his scathing letter addressed to Kejriwal, Hazare said that the Delhi CM was “drunk on power” and lamented the fact that a political party that emerged by “damaging” a purposeful social movement is now no longer different from any other political party.
“You visited Ralegan-Siddhi and were impressed by the fact that there were no tobacco or liquor shops in the village for years. In 2012, in your book ‘Swaraj’, you had written big things about liquor policies. You even got me to write the foreword for it,” he said and went on to quote the book where he says that no liquor shops be opened sans approval from residents of the area.
No response has come from the Delhi government over the letter.
