New Delhi, Feb. 24: Arvind Kejriwal today touched Anna Hazare's feet and joined the social activist on an anti-land ordinance stage to accuse the Narendra Modi government of playing "property dealer for big corporates".
This was the first time that Hazare and Kejriwal sat on the same dais since the AAP boss floated his party over two years back, building on his mentor's 2011 hunger strike against corruption even as strains crept in between mentor and protégé over politicising the movement.
All that seemed to have been forgotten this afternoon. "I consider Anna Hazare my mentor. He is like a father figure to me. I want to tell Annaji that we are with you," the Delhi chief minister said.
Hazare, who had earlier said politicians were not welcome on his Jantar Mantar stage, appeared to have been won over.
Kejriwal, who had yesterday too sought Hazare's blessings at a meeting after the activist had launched his two-day agitation, today reached the protest site after noon and sat with the crowd. But Hazare had him pulled up to the stage.
Public thaw over, Kejriwal tore into the BJP. "People voted for the BJP with a lot of hope but the policies of the government show that it is acting like a property dealer for big corporates.... People will not tolerate any government that turns anti-poor and anti-farmer," he said to cheers.
The December ordinance tries to ease land acquisition for defence projects, rural housing and electrification, industrial corridors and public-private-partnership infrastructure projects by waiving the need for landowners' consent and a social impact study.
Earlier in the day, Hazare had left his Jantar Mantar stage to hop over to another erected on nearby Parliament Street by 21 organisations, some of them frontal groups of Left parties. This dais was also in protest against the ordinance but the groups had built a separate one saying Jantar Mantar didn't have enough space to accommodate the gathering. CPM leader Hannan Mollah and the CPI's Atul Anjan were on this stage.
Hazare appeared excited by the crowd that swelled further when Kejriwal arrived in the afternoon, leading a group of AAP MLAs and volunteers. "I am 77 but feeling young seeing the energy in the crowd. I have decided not to go on hunger strikes any more. I don't want to die. I want to live and fight for the poor," Hazare said, adding he would launch a "jail bharo" agitation if the government didn't scrap the "anti-farmer" ordinance.
But it was Kejriwal who was the star attraction. "We will be blessed if Anna comes to the Delhi secretariat for 10 minutes tomorrow," he said. "We want him to address all the departmental heads and inspire them to do good work."
The AAP too went all out to get Hazare, perceived to be closer to the anti-Kejriwal faction then led by Kiran Bedi, back on its side. Soon pictures of Kejriwal touching Hazare’s feet flooded social media and the party website. Not everyone was pleased. “Kejriwal has hijacked Annaji,” said Arvind Singh, a Hazare supporter.
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