Author: FP Staff
Publication: Firstpost.com
Date: August 28, 2011
URL: http://www.firstpost.com/politics/expose-did-swami-agnivesh-betray-team-anna-71576.html
In the final few days of Anna Hazare's fast
to demand a strong Lokpal Bill, the Gandhian leader came under tremendous
pressure to give up his protest.
The entire political establishment, from the
Prime Minister to leaders at an all-party meeting, repeatedly appealed to
Anna to call off his fast, even claiming at various stages that his demands
would be considered by Parliament. Parliament too appealed to him unanimously
to call off his hunger strike.
Yet, in the absence of any tangible forward
movement - in the form of a resolution in Parliament that addressed his demands,
Anna persisted in his fast.
Even some of Anna's own aides and supporters
- from Santosh Hegde to Sri Sri Ravishankar to Swami Agnivesh - urged him
to call it off, noting that the movement needed him to be in good health to
continue the battle.
But it appears, on the basis of a sensational
video that's been recorded and available in the public domain, that not all
of these appeals to Anna were motivated by concern for his health.
In the video, available here, Swami Agnivesh
is seen in a phone conversation with, evidently, Kapil Sibal, who was among
the government ministers actively looking to sabotage any deal that would
offer concessions to Team Anna.
But strikingly, from the conversation that
can be pieced together from Swami Agnivesh's end, it appears that he was actively
urging the government not to make any further concessions to Team Anna.
Swami Agnivesh is heard telling "Kapilji":
"Yeh to pagal ki tarah ho raha hai" (It's like he's turned mad").
He then advises "Kapilji" to not
make any further concessions since the demands from the other side only keeps
increasing. "You should definitely not concede any more ground,"
he says. "Be firm."
Swami Agnivesh says that for anyone to "do
this to the government is very bad… Even after issuing such a big appeal,
if after even Parliament has asked him, if Anna doesn't give up his fast…"
The irony is that Swami Agnivesh appears to
be aware that he was being filmed: at one point he looks squarely into the
camera. But perhaps preoccupied with his conversation, he continues - although
subsequently he wanders out of range before the conversation concludes.
The video, whose authenticity has not been
verified, appears to suggest that Swami Agnivesh, who was all along coming
across as a bona fide supporter of Anna, may have been playing both sides
in the final days leading up to yesterday's denouement.
The video appears to have validated Team Anna's
concerns that Swami Agnivesh wasn't entirely above board in his dealings with
them. Kiran Bedi noted that "He (Swami Agnivesh) was under suspicion
all the time… We kept warning him against these actions. Nature has given
us this evidence!"
