Anna's ex-blogger shreds, burns 'Gang of Four'

When Anna Hazare talked about a “Gang of Four” on his blog he was pointing fingers at the ruling party though he didn’t name them. When Anna’s blog writer talks about a “Gang of Four” however he means not Sibal-Chidambaram and co. but the likes of Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, and Prashant Bhushan. In a hard-hitting interview in the current issue of Open magazine, Raju Parulekar, Anna’s voice on the web, has come out swinging against Team Anna itself. Parulekar,  a TV anchor and political analyst with a huge rolodex of contacts, was hired by Anna to be his blog writer. Since then Anna has accused him of misusing the blog. Parulekar sticks to his “His Master’s Voice” role and is careful not to take any pot shots at Anna himself. But he doesn’t mince words when it comes to the rest of Team Anna. [caption id=“attachment_130178” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“According to Raju Parulekar, Team Anna has no respect or concern for Anna himself. They just want to use his brand.”]  [/caption] “These people should be kicked out of the movement; otherwise there will be no future for it,” says Parulekar. “The group is exploiting public sentiment against corruption for its own financial game, fame and recognition.” According to him Team Anna has no respect or concern for Anna himself. They just want to use his brand. And Anna is stuck with them because Kejriwal holds the purse strings. He is the custodian of the huge sums of money collected by the movement. But according to Parulekar, when Anna asked for a traveling van fitted with a toilet and bed, Team Anna demurred. He says Bedi suggested Anna travel by road, sleep at temples and eat at langars. “They really do not care about a 74-year-old man with health ailments,” says Parulekar. Team Anna is realising a hard truth. As an editorial in Indian Express puts it:

Mobilisation through social media might work extremely well. But organization, through social media, apparently works somewhat less well.

Anna’s blog was a sort of one-way megaphone where he could “talk” even while on a his vow of silence without having to dialogue. Now the whole team is embroiled in a war of words, blogs and tweets. It’s hard to take Parulekar without a big pinch of salt. He’s fighting for his own credibility after Anna dumped him for publishing a letter in October about restructuring the core committee. “Whatever Parulekar has said is all unsubstantiated as I have not met him or spoken to him about restructuring the core committee. He should only write what I tell him to,” Anna said while closing down the blog. “This is nothing but a a breach of trust,” Jaisingh Mapari, the sarpanch of Ralegan Siddhi told Mid-Day. Parulekar has since been accused of being a Congress “agent.” In his interview Parulekar tries to come across as more sinned against than sinning. He complains about how Bedi and Kejriwal want to vet Anna’s blogs before they went up while they themselves could tweet as much as they wanted. What’s clear from the interview though is there is a fight on for the control of Anna or at least the image of Anna. If Parulekar is to be believed, Anna realises that Kejriwal, Bedi and Bhushan are exploiting him but is trapped. Team Anna does not set great stock in Anna’s intellect but is a prisoner of his halo. Kejriwal told Tehelka, “Anna is the leader. I am only providing secretarial support.” The main fight is about the core committee and who gets to be on it. There are 24 people on the committee and it’s been a matter of much debate as to how they got there and whether they had Anna’s blessings. Anna has gone on record saying the core committee would be made more representative and include Dalits, Muslims, tribals and youth. Now Kejriwal has said that a committee scattered across the country is too unwieldy and inefficient. Instead he told Tehelka there would be a six-member working committee consisting of people based in Delhi who would be “able to take immediate decisions.” Those six would be Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Manish Sisodia, Arvind Gaur and Gopal Rai. In the next breath, he insisted that “it is NOT a Delhi-based movement. It is a nationwide movement.” Somehow what was a movement about corruption has become a squabble about a core committee. Now Parulekar is threatening another media conference where he will reveal all. Stay tuned for more dirty laundry to be aired from the team that wants to clean our political system. Meanwhile you can read Parulekar’s interview here.