Anna and Gandhi on the same pedestal

India Against Corruption (IAC) campaigners are cashing in on his image and have put him on the same pedestal as Mahatma Gandhi.

India Against Corruption (IAC) campaigners are cashing in on his image and have put him on the same pedestal as Mahatma Gandhi.

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If it was only a huge Gandhi poster behind Hazare in August at the Ramlila Maidan, this time Hazare and the Mahatma shared the banner, which also has a slogan protesting the government's weak lokpal bill.

Shanti Bhushan, IAC core team member and former union law minister, too likened Hazare to Gandhi, "Several people have not seen Gandhiji. With his selfless efforts for a strong Lokpal, we can see Gandhi in Annaji."

Team Anna had drawn lot of flak in April for their alleged association with right wing organisations vis-à-vis Bharat Mata as backdrop at the Jantar Mantar agitation in April. So in August, it was only Mahatma Gandhi.

Neeraj Kumar Jha, in charge of logistics at the Maidan, said, "A set of volunteers decided this backdrop at a meeting." IAC core team members Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia were not aware of such this, he said.

It was in November 2010 when Hazare had addressed a rally at Jantar Mantar on the issue. The septuagenarian's near week-long agitation at Jantar Mantar in April had catapulted him to international fame.