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New Delhi: Two
resignations and one more in the offing? The core group behind
India Against Corruption (IAC) led by Anna Hazare is likely to be
whittled down further with Delhi Archbishop Vincent M. Concessao
distancing himself from the movement, sources said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Magsaysay Award winner Rajendra Singh and Gandhian
activist P.V. Rajagopal quit the original 26-member panel citing
the political activism of Arvind Kejriwal and other leaders of IAC
after the campaign against the Congress in the Hisar parliamentary
by-poll. Others might follow soon, it is learnt.
The archbishop, who heads the Catholic diocese here, had joined
IAC to oppose corruption, a leader in the community told IANS on
the condition of anonymity. "As he is the leader of a community
that has its members in various parties, he may not join the
propaganda for or against any political party."
The archbishop is amongst the 24 core committee members left in
the IAC. He is also one of the 20 founding leaders of the IAC.
Other leaders such as Maulana Shamoom Qasmi, who is both a
founding leader and a core committee member, also have
reservations about the way the movement is going. Muslim religious
leaders Mahmood Madani, Syed Rizvi and Syed Shah Fazlur Rahman
Waizi, founding committee members, also might part ways, the
sources said.
"Some of them may resign, some of them may distance themselves," a
source said, adding that they had a good equation with Hazare but
had differences with Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and others.
Hazare may intervene to stop the exodus.
The founding leaders' list includes social activist Swami Agnivesh,
who dissociated himself a while ago. The 20 "eminent
personalities" who started the movement lists two more Hindu
religious leaders - Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
After the resignation of Rajendra Singh and Rajagopal, the core
committee has been left with 24 members. Justice N. Santhosh Hegde,
a key member, has of late not been attending meetings, an IAC
official said.
Besides Bedi and Kejriwal, the other high profile faces are former
law minister Shanti Bhushan, his son and lawyer Prashant Bhushan
and environmentalist Medha Patkar.
Manish Sisodia, a former news producer and co-founder of the NGO
Kabir that works on creating awareness on the Right to Information
(RTI), is another known face.
Those leading the IAC in various states are included too. Mayank
Gandhi, for instance, heads the Mumbai team, Chandramohan is from
Chennai.
The other activists are Sanjay Singh from Uttar Pradesh, Dinesh
Vaghela from Goa, Prithvi Reddy from Bangalore, Manipur-based
Akhil Gogoi, Delhi's Swati Maliwal, Haryana's Naveen Jaihind as
well as Gopal Rai and former journalist Devinder Sharma.
Asmita theatre group founder Arvind Gaur, poet Kumar Vishwas,
Arjuna Award member Sunita Godara are also members as is Art of
Living representative Darshak Hathi.
According to its website, the primary focus of IAC movement is to
ensure a strong Lokpal bill.
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