By TwoCircles.net special correspondent,
Ahmadabad: A social activist Anna Hazare’s statement urging chief ministers of other states to emulate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in rural development appears to have backfired on him.
Gujarat-based activists have threatened to distance themselves from Hazare’s Lokpal movement if he refuses to retract his statement on Modi completely.
Activists say that Anna’s statement praising Modi for rural development have shocked them. They say that the statement reflects Hazare’s lack of awarenessness about issues in Gujarat.
The 92-year-old Gandhian Chinubhai Vaidya said that had there been rural development, 10 per cent of villagers in the state would not have left their home and hearths and migrated to towns.
His comments, he said, are based on the Census-2011 which showed that 10 per cent of the people had migrated to urban centres from rural areas.
Vaidya said that the reason for migration was nothing except lack of development and basic amenities in villages and rural areas.
“So, what is there to emulate Modi under these circumstances in rural development?,” he asked.
Noted danseuse and activist Mallika Sarabhai said that there had been little development in rural areas under Modi.
“In fact, village common grazing land and irrigated farmlands have been stealthily taken by the Modi government and allotted to industrialists at throwaway prices,” said Sarabhai, adding that rural populace had suffered a lot under Modi.
She said that the state had witnessed maximum corruption during Modi’s rule like Rs. 1700 crore Sujlam-Suflam water conservation scam, boribund(chekdam) scam of Rs. 109 crores and fisheries scam of Rs. 600 crores.
“The state is in terrible debt because of Modi’s largesse to industry’’, pointed out Sarabhai.
Citizens Resource and Actions’ Initiative(CRANTI) representative Bharasinh Jhala said that there had been no Lokayukta(ombudsman) in Gujarat for the last seven years. Consequently, hundreds of complaints regarding corruption against politicians were lying unheard.
The term of the last Lokaykta in Gujarat expired in November 2003 and the post had not been filled up since.
“Modi government is facing protest from villages in Mahuva and other places against acquisition of villagers’ land for industries”, said Jhala.
Activist Nadeem Saiyed asked Hazare: “Should other chief ministers emulate Modi in mass massacre of minorites, fake encounters of Sohrabuddin and Tulsi Prajapati, rape and murder of Kausar Bi?”.
StatePUCL president J S Bandukwala warned that people needed to be cautious of BJP hijacking the Hazare movement.
As saffron forces led by BJP consolidated themselves and later on captured political power in the past by joining the “Sampurna Kranti”(total revolution) of Jai Prakash Narayan during 1975 emergency and VP Singh’s anti-corruption movement against Congress in 1987, they might use Hazare movement to seize again the political power at the Centre.