By IANS,
Chandigarh : Comedian Jaspal Bhatti plans to set up a temple of corruption in New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar area, where social activist Anna Hazare is on a fast-unto-death, to highlight the prevalence of graft in the Indian society.
Taking a cue from Hazare’s anti-corruption campaign, Bhatti, who has himself enacted in several satires and street plays on the theme of corruption, said he would install the idol of a ‘corruption god’ at Jantar Mantar Friday.
“I will reach Delhi tomorrow (Friday) with other people to support Anna Hazare’s cause. I will be taking the idol of a corruption god to be installed at Jantar Mantar to highlight how rampant corruption has become in this country,” Bhatti told IANS here Thursday.
Bhatti said he had requested Nek Chand, who crafted Chandigarh’s famous Rock Garden, to make the idol.
“We will request the corrupt people, who are involved in scams of millions of rupees, to donate some percentage of their illegal earning to this temple so that something good could be done for common people too,” Bhatti said.
“Those who are indicted in corruption cases, if they pay obeisance at this temple regularly for 11 days, will be acquitted of the charges against them,” Bhatti’s wife Savita Bhatti said here.
Recently, Bhatti enacted a satire calling for the ‘Right to Scam’ to be considered as a fundamental right. He sought that corruption should be made a compulsory subject of study in schools so that children could know how to engage in corruption right from the beginning.
The comedian has a long history of such satirical interventions.
In 1993, in the aftermath of the Harshad Mehta stock exchange scam, Bhatti wanted parliament to enact a law for saving the corrupt.
In 1999, the comedian set up a ‘Diwali bribery shop’ at Bengali Market in New Delhi to facilitate bribery in the form of Diwali gifts.
In 2002, he set up the Punjab Suitcase Party to highlight the corruption in the state.
He also performed various street plays against the Commonwealth Games scam and the Indian Premier League (IPL).