Anna Hazare to end Maun Vrat soon

MUMBAI: Anna Hazare has announced that he will end his maun vrat (silence) in the next four days and speak out on various issues. He will take up a national tour to meet his supporters from every part of the country and declare the future course of his agitation too.

“I will embark on a tour and meet all those young men and women, farmers, working class, school children from all over the world, who were a part of this movement against corruption and at times even went to jail for the sake of the cause. I have this strong urge from within to meet and talk to all these people who bravely faced the hazards. Hence I would like to end my ‘maun’ and start off touring different states and hold discussions with them,” Hazare wrote in his blog on Monday.

“I hope to gather as much energy from these young men and women as I had during my previous movement. The same energy will be utilised to get the Janlokpal bill and then my struggle will continue for ‘Right to Reject’ and ‘Right to Recall’. I believe all my countrymen will be connected with me directly in this struggle.”

Members of Team Anna had met at Ralegan Siddhi over the week end after the core committee meeting took place in Ghaziabad. Team Anna’s Arvind Kejriwal claimed Congress was running a smear campaign to malign Hazare and attempts were made to break the team but Team Anna will not let it happen. He said that absence of some members at the core committee meet was interpreted as ‘cracks developing’ in the team and there were also rumours that the core committee will be abolished but nothing of the sort has been done. Hazare went through a health check up on Saturday. Doctors treating him said his blood pressure was on the higher side and this may be because of the stress built due to the ‘maun vrat’ that he was observing.

The doctors have advised him to consume normal food and avoid mental stress.