Shotgun sees seed of `74 JP movt` in Hazare`s campaign

New Delhi: Supporting the anti-corruption agitation of Anna Hazare, actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha today said the campaign has semblance to the 1974 JP movement "which brought about a historic change" in the country.

"The anti-corruption campaign of Anna Hazare for Lokpal bill and UPA government action to gag the voice against corruption reminds me of the 1974 movement launched by Loknayak Jayprakash Narayan which had united the entire opposition and brought a historic change in the country," Sinha, BJP Lok Sabha member from Patna Saheb, said. Sinha, a close follower of JP, criticised the move of sending Hazare to Tihar Jail. "The rallying of common man in support of Hazare has resemblance with the backing JP had received against Emergency in mid-70s," Sinha said. "First they swooped in the middle of the night on peaceful demonstrators led by Ramdev and now Hazare has been prevented from leading a peaceful agitation against corruption," he said. He claimed that majority of people in the film world are also supporting the issue raised by Hazare and criticising the government for showing "intolerance" towards protest against social ills. "The kind of support Hazare is getting from people in Bihar and elsewhere indicates that the popularity of Manmohan Singh government has touched an all time low," he said, adding this would be demonstrated in the coming polls in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. PTI