Veteran social activist Anna Hazare has launched his protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi from Monday against the ordinance on Land Acquisition Bill. Hazare slammed the ordinance, calling it anti-farmer. Earlier, he had called for the Land Ordinance Bill to be taken back, adding that the government should instead look out for ways to improve the condition of the farmers. His agitation has drawn thousands of farmers from all over the country to Delhi.
Hazare had earlier lashed out at the BJP-led government for removing provisions which provided taking the farmers' consent before acquiring their land.
Kejriwal shares stage with Anna
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal led all his 66 legislators and other leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party to Jantar Mantar on Tuesday in a big show of support for Hazare. It's a reunion that hundreds of people have flocked to witness. Hazare and Kejriwal were the two most famous faces of the Lokpal movement in 2011. They later fell apart over Kejriwal's decision to launch a political party.
Kejriwal bowed to Hazare as he walked into the venue followed by leaders of his party. He later joined Hazare on stage and sat next to him. As the BJP-led central government grapples with widespread political opposition to the changes it is seeking to make in the law on land acquisition for big projects, it also has to counter Hazare's protest against what he calls the "anti-farmer ordinance."
The 77-year-old Hazare, who is famous for hunger strikes, said that he would not launch one this time. "No more hunger strikes for me, I will fight by living," he said. Hazare said he would spend the next four months spreading word about the ordinance and if the government did not scrap it, would launch a "jail bharo andolan (fill prisons campaign)" at Delhi's sprawling Ramlila Maidan, where he had sat on a hunger strike in 2011 for the anti-corruption Lokpal law.
