Ralegan Siddhi: Acknowledging that he
"committed violence" when he made the infamous remark "just
one slap" after Sharad Pawar was attacked in Delhi last month,
Anna Hazare on Tuesday said he did not consider this violence as
wrong.
"For the betterment of the society and the country, I
have used strong words many times in the past. "Just One
Slap?" “I admit that I committed violence when I said that.
But for the betterment of society, I do not consider this
violence as wrong," Hazare posted on his blog.
"Many politicians felt very bad about the slapping
incident. Many of them got very angry also. But it is
important to discuss as to why did that youth slap," he said.
"Sharad Pawar is the agriculture minister at the
centre and the power minister of the state is from his own
party. Today after 22 years, the electric pumps of the farmers
still get burnt due to low voltage, the crops get burnt, the
transformers get burnt, but the politicians still don't get
angry. This is unfortunate," Hazare said.
"The farmers protested at Mawal near Pune. They were
shot at. Three farmers died. But the politicians still did not
get angry about it," he said.
As Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar imported rotten
wheat and since it was not edible, the wheat was buried in
huge pits, he said, adding crores of public money was wasted
but none of the politicians got angry about it.
"Padmasinh Patil, a relative of Sharad Pawarji, who
was a minister in Sharad Pawar's cabinet, indulged in
corruption while he was minister. I demanded an enquiry. When
enquiry did not take place, I started a movement because of
which the enquiry had to be ordered. The minister was found
guilty and he had to be removed from the cabinet. To take
revenge, this minister gave 'supari'(contract) of Rs 30 lakh
to someone to kill me," Hazare said.
"Many people got angry due to one slap, but when the
people who have dedicated their entire life for the society
and country are victimised, then no one gets angry," Hazare
said.
"This is unfortunate. I have a request ? if you have
anger against me and want to burn my effigies, then continue
doing that as you have been doing it till now. Do whatever you
want to insult me, but do not damage national property because
it belongs to all of us. Protect it," he said.
Hazare alleged that Pawar's supporters hurled
"choicest abuses" against him.
"I have kept a CD of the same for my record. At an
appropriate time, I will play it before the public," he said.
"(Padamsinh) Patil was corrupt ? this was proved. He
gave supari to kill me ? this was also proved. Despite this,
Sharad Pawar attended to his programs during elections and
appealed to people to support Patil despite the fact that he
was so corrupt and Pawar supported him; these politicians
still did not get angry?"
"The politicians got so angry with that one slap that
many buses were burnt, national property was destroyed, many
shops were damaged, many private vehicles were damaged, but
this did not make anyone angry. This is unfortunate," he rued.
Recalling numerous movements run by him in the last
twenty years, the Gandhian said, "We never allowed any
national property or private property to be damaged. On 16
August, 2011, crores of people came on the streets but not
even a single person picked up a stone. There is nothing wrong
in participating in movements but the movements should be
non-violent."
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, December 06, 2011, 18:47