Anna: Centre tried to house arrest me

Anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare on Tuesday alleged that the Union government arrested him minutes before his hunger strike in New Delhi last month with the intention of crushing his agitation. Yogesh Joshi reports.

Anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare on Tuesday alleged that the Union government arrested him minutes before his hunger strike in New Delhi last month with the intention of crushing his agitation.

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Speaking in his native village Ralegan Siddhi, around 85 km from Pune, Hazare, 74, said the government planned to airlift him from Tihar Jail, where he was detained, and put him under house arrest.

However, following public outrage, the government withdrew all charges against him that evening and released him. But Hazare refused to come out of the jail for three days demanding that he be allowed to fast at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan unconditionally.

“Their idea was to take me to Delhi airport where an air force flight was waiting. They wanted to dispatch me to Ralegan Siddhi, from where I would not have been allowed to go anywhere,” Hazare said. “This was betrayal.”

Hazare also rubbished Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh’s remarks that the activist was a “mask for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh”.

“Whoever is making any allegation should do so with evidence,” Hazare said.