Team Anna bristles as police impose terms

NEW DELHI : The stage seemed set for another round of confrontation between the government and Team Anna with Delhi Police imposing 22 conditions for their scheduled fast from August 16 and the Prime Minister late Saturday night rebuffing the Gandhian leader’s appeal to intervene in the issue.

Shanti Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal, both prominent leaders of the campaign, termed “unconstitutional” the police demand for a written undertaking that the activists would vacate Jayaprakash Narayan Park in three days and that at no point would the number of people at the park exceed 5,000.

Fellow activist and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi said that the draft permission letter showed the police were not acting independently but were being dictated by the government.

Anna Hazare, on his part, made a direct appeal to the PM seeking his intervention in giving him a suitable venue to hold his fast. “You are 79 years old and occupy the highest position in the country. What else do you want from life? Show some gumption and take concrete steps. We are willing to sacrifice our lives for the country and look to the leader of the country to give us an appropriate place,” Anna said reading out from a letter to the PM.

However, Manmohan Singh made it clear that the government was not inclined to re-engaging with the Hazare campaign and suggested that his grievances could be addressed by local authorities.

“Your grievance that the police has given you permission to protest and go on fast at JP Park only for three days needs to be addressed by the statutory authorities who have taken that decision,” the PM wrote to Hazare. The relevant authority in this case is Delhi Police.

By stating that the terms of his protest can be settled by authorities concerned, the PM underlined that the government is not likely to yield on Hazare’s demand that he be allowed to go on an indefinite fast. With the government’s Lokpal bill before a parliamentary standing committee, the possibility of the draft being radically altered to suit the activists is ruled out.