Kejriwal used Hazare as a sacrificial lamb: Agnivesh

Agnivesh recalled two occasions when his concerns about Hazare’s health were overruled. “The first time was around April 1 or 2 when I asked whether it is right for younger people to make an old man sit on a fast. Arvind cited Anna’s previous ‘track record’ in fasting in Maharashtra when he had succeeded in getting his demands met. I said demand for a Lokpal Bill can’t be conceded within a matter of days and who would be responsible if something happens to him. He said,‘if something happens to him it will only hasten the revolution’,” Agnivesh claimed.

The charges echo allegations levelled by Hazare’s former blogger Raju Parulekar who had accused Kejriwal — well before he launched AAP — of using Hazare to further his own political ambitions.

Speaking to The Sunday Express,Parulekar seconded Agnivesh. “Anna was aware he was surrounded by people who weren’t concerned about his health. After Ramlila fast,Anna almost fled Medanta to avoid Kejriwal,Bedi and Kumar Vishwas. Prashant Bhushan was also part of the controversy but not an active party to it. They referred to Anna as the ‘old man’ whose ‘martyrdom’ would benefit the movement.” He claimed groundwork for a party had started long before AAP was launched; back then,it was called Swaraj Party.

Agnivesh also claimed that even when the Centre had conceded the demand for a joint drafting committee with Shanti Bhushan as co-chair,Anna,egged on by Arvind,refused to break his fast though all demands had been met.

“Kiran Bedi was concerned. She said ‘with what face will we go to the government now?’. Then I called Prashant and Shanti to Jantar Mantar that night. Anna kept quiet,but Arvind insisted that the fast would go on for four or five more days because the anger was just about starting to spill onto the roads and ‘we could get the government to accept many more things’. It took some sternness from Shanti to get the two of them to agree to Anna breaking his fast the next morning,” he said. Both Bedi and Shanti said they did not want to react to Agnivesh’s statement.

The second time Kejriwal refused to pay heed to his concerns about Hazare’s fast was before the Ramlila fast in April 2011,Agnivesh said. “At the core group meeting,I said there is no sense in a fast unto death. Arvind said there was no going back as Anna had already announced it. When I asked about the possible untoward outcomes,he said ‘ek Anna mar jayega to hazar Anna paida ho jayenge’. I said that was good oratory but bad practical planning,” Agnivesh said,adding that he had insisted that his dissent be put down in writing “unlike Kiranji who dissented but did not put down a note”.

AAP refused to react to Agnivesh’s charges. “Some media houses quoting Swami Agnivesh saying that I wanted to “kill” Anna. Can anything be more absurd? I wanted to “kill” Anna? Has Swami Agnivesh given any evidence? No? Then shouldn’t he be asked to produce some prima facie evidence? Anna par ek nahin 100 zindagi qurbaan,” Kejriwal tweeted.