Author: Ambarish Mishra
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 18, 2011
URL: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-18/mumbai/29900032_1_anna-hazare-shiv-sena-sena-bjp
The Shiv Sena continues to hem and haw on
anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare, Matoshree's nemesis in the 1990s, while the
Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is set to join
the India Against Corruption bandwagon. But Matoshree has deputed senior Sena
leaders Manohar Joshi and Sanjay Raut to participate in NDA parleys on Hazare,
sources said.
While condemning his arrest on Tuesday, Sena
CEO Uddhav Thackeray suggested that Opposition parties "unite in their
agenda against the Congress, Hazare or no Hazare".
"For how long will we follow one individual,
Anna Hazare? The Opposition must close ranks and emerge as an alternative,"
Uddhav said.
"Today, Opposition parties are in a state
of disarray. They are fighting separately on various issues like corruption,
mega power projects, suicide by farmers, land acquisition and water scarcity.
They must come together on a common plank and take on the Congress,"
he said. He added, "The Congress has to go. But Opposition parties can't
rely on Hazare alone. They should unite."
He said the Sena had "strong reservations"
about the Jan Lokpal Bill, and added, "Hazare's model will create an
extra-constitutional authority with wide powers and no responsibility. Who
will control such a Lokpal? What if the Lokpal goes wrong?" he said.
Hazare's Lokpal, he said, may end up undermining
Parliament's sovereignty but added that the United Progressive Alliance government
should have held talks with Hazare instead of arresting him. He said the Sena
was the first to support the Gandhian when he launched his crusade in April.
The Sena's flipflop on Hazare was evident in a Saamna editorial on Tuesday.
The Sena mouthpiece said, "A no-nonsense, effective leadership is capable
of tackling corruption. There should not be an extra-constitutional agency
for this."
In the 1990s, when the Sena-BJP alliance
ruled Maharashtra, Hazare's charges of corruption against four saffron ministers
triggered off a storm in state politics. A bitter Bal Thackeray had then described
Hazare as "a Gandhi with a crooked face".
