Anna, Ramdev campaigns have semblance of JP movement: Shotgun

Supporting the anti-corruption agitations of Anna Hazare and yoga guru Baba Ramdev, actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha on Thursday said the campaign have the semblance of 1974 JP movement "which had brought a historic change" in the country.

Supporting the anti-corruption agitations of Anna Hazare and yoga guru Baba Ramdev, actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha on Thursday said the campaign have the semblance of 1974 JP movement "which had brought a historic change" in the country.

HT Image

"The anti-corruption campaigns of Anna Hazare and Swami Ramdev reminds me of the 1974 'Sampoorna Kranti' launched by Loknayak Jayprakash Narayan which had united the entire opposition and brought a historic change in the country," Sinha, BJP Lok Sabha member from Patna Saheb, said.

Sinha, a close follower of JP, criticised the police action against Ramdev and his followers at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on Saturday and said the government is trying to "crush" the anti-corruption movement.

"Instead of properly addressing the issues raised by Hazare and Ramdev which have popular support of the common man, the government is trying to crush the movement through use of force," he said.

The police action reminds me of "colonial Britishers" using brute force against Indians fighting for Independence, the BJP leader, popularly known as 'Bihari Babu', remarked.

Sinha, who served as a Union cabinet minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, said the campaign launched by these social activists would have wider impact on future politics.

He said the Manmohan Singh government should take lesson in transparent governance from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who has introduced right to service and made it mandatory for officials to make their assets public.