Anna Hazare to begin Hungers strike for Jan Lokpal bill today

Ralegan Siddhi: Social activist Anna Hazare will sit on an indefinite hunger strike at his native village Ralegan Siddhi from Tuesday to press for the passage of Jan Lokpal Bill during the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament.
Accusing the Centre of betraying and backtracking from its promise on Jan Lokpal Bill, Hazare on Monday said that one of the major reasons for the drubbing the Congress got in the just-concluded elections to four states was its failure to get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed.
“Congress betrayed the people who responded appropriately,” he told reporters.
Hazare, who had earlier announced that he would go on an indefinite hunger strike at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi from the first day of the Winter Session of Parliament, said he shifted the venue of his agitation at his village on the advice of his doctors as he had undergone a surgery recently.
“I had promised the people of India that if the government does not pass the Jan Lokpal Bill, then I will sit on ‘Anshan’ (fast) from the first day of the Winter Session at Ramlila Maidan. I am not well as I underwent a difficult operation and doctors have asked me to take precautions,” Hazare told reporters.
“I will be sitting on an indefinite hunger strike from December 10 at Ralegan Siddhi instead of Ramlila Ground in Delhi”, he added.
“The government has given a written word but it has not been adhered to till today, although two years have gone by,” Hazare said.
The anti-graft crusader said when people came out on the streets and the hunger strike was underway, the Jan Lokpal Bill was passed in one day in Lok Sabha. After that, the bill went to the Standing Committee, then to the Rajya Sabha and to a Select Committee, he said.
“This bill came to Rajya Sabha after being passed everywhere and only discussions on it were left. It has now been over a year and the bill is just lying in the Rajya Sabha and there are 71 Congress MPs there. The bill is still stuck there,” he said.
Hazare said that he got several letters from the government that the bill will be brought in the Winter Session of Parliament in 2012.
Later, he got another communication, saying the bill will come in the Budget Session and then a promise was made that it will figure in the Monsoon Session.
“The Monsoon Session has also gone by. And that’s why we are left with no other option. That is why from tomorrow I will fast at Ralegan Siddhi,” he said.