Narendra Modi?s Gujarat riddled with scams: Anna Hazare

Gandhian social activist Anna Hazare, the hero of India?s anti-graft movement on Thursday slammed Chief Minister Narendra Modi?s Gujarat over corruption scandals, in an abrupt end to the brief bonhomie spotted barely a month ago.

At the end of a public hearing, where the 73-year-old leader discussed the Jan Lokpal Bill being drafted by a joint panel, that includes him, Hazare remarked corruption was rampant and liquor flows more freely than milk in Mahatma Gandhi?s Gujarat.

The words came in striking contrast to his vocal praise for Narendra Modi, when he had even went on to say that all Chief Ministers should emulate the Gujarat leader for his able governance, a comment that had earned him reproving remarks from co-activists.

Modi had approved of Hazare’s movement and showered lavish praises on the leader, an inspiration and a brave soldier. “I and my state of Gujarat are indebted to you for the courage and conviction you showed in saying good words for me and my state,” Modi had written in an open letter too him.

Switching tack on Thursday, Hazare appealed to the Gujarat Chief Minister to enact a law empowering gram sabhas in taking decisions regarding village land and set up a Lokyukta (Ombudsman) to keep a check on corruption.

?After hearing so many of you all I see (are) scams, that too in the land of Mahatma Gandhi. Liquor flows more freely than milk in Gujarat. Is this Gandhi’s Gujarat?,? said the septuagenarian leader whose hunger strike last month had forced the Centre to act on graft.

?The state gives the impression of being one of the most progressive ones in the country from outside but on closer scrutiny, it is replete with onion layers of corruption,? he said.

Led by Hazare, a group of activists organises a nationwide hunger strike this April that drew unprecedented support and forced the federal government to set up a joint panel of activists and ministers to draft a tough ombudsman law – the Jan Lokpal Bill.

Hazare, who had promised the drafting process of the bill to be open and transparent is touring India, accompanied by fellow activists, to get what he calls a first hand insight into the corruption troubles plaguing India.

?We have to get Lokpal. And once we get Lokpal, we have to fight for our lands. We will begin the next revolution for land with Gujarat. How many of you are ready to go to jail with me? You have to be ready. Only then will we get independence,? said the Gandhian leader to his audience on Thursday.

?I appeal to the chief minister to help bring Lokpal Bill and let us strengthen our Gram Sabha. Gram Sabha needs to be strong. Then we can deal with all the problems,? Hazare said to the about 50 people who had come to discuss that state?s problems with him.

Hazare, accompanied by his supporters in the Lokpal movement, including activist Swami Agnivesh, RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal and danseuse and activist Mallika Sarabhai, on Thursday threatened another strike if there was an attempt to delay the bill.

Once drafted by the 10-member panel chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the Lokpal Bill would be tabled in the Monsoon session of the Indian Parliament that usually begins in July, Prime Minsiter Manmohan SIngh had said.

Graft has long been accepted as a way of life in India. In its latest corruption index, Transparency International ranked the country, one of few yet to ratify the United Nations convention against corruption, at 78, placing it below neighbouring rival China.