Struggle does not end with Lokpal, want Right to reject: Anna

Unnao: Social activist Anna Hazare today said that his struggle was not over till the Right to reject and Right to recall was endorsed by the Parliament. “Our struggle does not end with the Jan Lokpal issue. The struggle for Right to reject and Right to recall was still on. Before the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, around six crore people have to be made aware of it,” said Hazare while addressing a kisan mahapanchayat at the government inter college grounds here. He said that change could be brought in the country after efforts of more than two decades and people, especially the youths, should mentally prepare themselves to make sacrifices. [caption id=“attachment_633466” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Anna Hazare. AP[/caption] After 65 years of Independence, farmers’ faces have not changed, only the faces of middlemen have changed, Hazare said adding that the village panchayats should be given more rights. He said, while framing laws for land acquisition, water and jungles, the centre and the state government should also take permission from village panchayats. People should realise their power, because their Parliament was bigger than one in Delhi and in the states, Hazare said. He alleged that union minister Kapil Sibal had objected to inclusion of people from the masses in the draft committee for the Lokpal Bill. Earlier, addressing the mahapanchayat, former army chief V K Singh said that social and economic disparity was the root cause of Naxalism. Failure of economic policies led to spread of Naxalism in 270 districts of the country in the past 22 years, he said. After the killing of CRPF jawans in Chattisgarh in 2010, the government wanted to retaliate by deploying the Army, Singh alleged. He added that it was he who had stalled the move, arguing that the armed force were for the security of the borders. PTI