Will mobilise six crore people for Jan Lokpal: Anna

Kicking off his nationwide campaign for systemic change, social activist Anna Hazare on Wednesday admitted the Jan Lokpal might not cure the country of corruption in totality, but “will be potent enough to check 50% of the problem”. HT reports.

Kicking off his nationwide campaign for systemic change, social activist Anna Hazare on Wednesday admitted the Jan Lokpal might not cure the country of corruption in totality, but “will be potent enough to check 50% of the problem”.

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Hazare, 75, said he would work relentlessly to force the government to adopt the Jan Lokpal before the next Lok Sabha polls and the campaign would be sustained by Janatantra Morcha, a new apolitical outfit he would set up soon.

Addressing “jantantra rally” at the historic Gandhi Maidan to mark the relaunch of his anti-corruption campaign, he said, “I don’t know if I will succeed in stirring 120 million countrymen. But, this time, I am going to mobilise six crore people.”

He added, “They will confront the government before the elections. It will have to accept the demand for Jan Lokpal or bow out of power.”

Thousands turned out to hear Hazare, but the turnout was modest compared to the response that marked his outing at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan.

Coming to the venue, Hazare had added a touch of symbolism, traversing the lanes and bylanes of Patna which legendary socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan had taken in 1974 to reach Gandhi Maidan, from where he gave a call for total revolution.

Former army chief VK Singh, Hazare’s campaign associate Kiran Bedi, “waterman” Rajendra Singh, activist PV Rajagopal and Jilani Kartar Singh of the World Sufi Council attended the rally.