New Delhi, April 13: Expressing her shock over his endorsement of Modi, renowned activist Mallika Sarabhai has slammed Anna Hazare for praising Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.
In an email to Hazare, Mallika said, “We are deeply shocked by your endorsement of Narendra Modi’s rural development. There has been little or no rural development in ths state. In fact, gauchar lands and irrigated farmlands have been stealthily taken by the government and sold off at ridiculous prices to a small club of industrialists. There has been no Lokayukta in Gujarat for nearly seven years, so hundreds of complaints against corruption are lying unheard. From the Sujalam Sufalam scam of Rs 1700 to the NREGS boribund scam of Rs 109, the fisheries scam of Rs 600 crore, every department is involved in thousands of crores of scams. The poor and rural people are being sold to Modi’s friends – the industrialists. The state is in terrible debt because of his largess to industry while 21 lakh farmers wait for compensation. Your endorsement is apalling and we will be forced to distance ourselves from the Lokpal movement unless it is irrevocably retracted.”
“I have great respect for Anna Hazare. Why would I tarnish his name? Annaji doesnt know the reality of this state. I must say that Gujarat has a great PR machinery in place, which is working overtime. But I have now written to Annaji informing him about various scams of Gujarat government through various documents and RTI applications. I have requested Annaji to retract his statement or we will have to fight a parallel battle,” said Mallika.
Hazare, who led a successful campaign for the Lokpal Bill, had said on Sunday that “the way the Chief Ministers of Gujarat and Bihar have worked in their states, this should be emulated by other Chief Ministers.”
Anna to Mallika: I’m opposed to communal disharmony
Anna Hazare has written to dancer and activist Mallika Sarabhai saying that his praise of rural development by chief ministers Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar in Gujarat and Bihar, was in response to a question asked in a press conference.
He clarified that he was opposed to communal disharmony and discrimination on religious or caste lines. He also added that he believed in Gandhian values and his movement had supporters like archbishop of Delhi and Mufti Shamoon Qasmi.
Sarabhai had written on behalf of many activists from Gujarat who had joined the Lokpal movement here, saying that they were appalled by his endorsement of the Modi government and that they would be forced to distance themselves from the movement if Hazare did not retract irrevocably.
Sarabhai had told Hazare that there was little or no rural development in Gujarat. Besides there was no lokayukta since 7 years in the state and corruption complaints went unheard, she had said.
Vadodara-based environment and human rights activists Rohit Prajapati and Trupti Shah also wrote another letter to Hazare saying, “Your vague clarification is only related to communal harmony and politics – which is not what we in Gujarat raised to you in our letter on Monday, while pointing out your praise of Modi’s development model is misplaced.”
They said that Hazare’s endorsement of Modi’s development prompted the chief minister to write an open letter to him minding him of a “vilification campaign”. “We hope you realize the implications of endorsement now,” they wrote in their letter of Tuesday.