GUWAHATI | May 19 : Anti corruption crusader Anna Hazare has arrived in Guwahati today to take part in the anti-graft rally on Friday. Anna Hazare has been accompanied by Swami Agnivesh and Arvind Kejriwal. Akhil Gogoi led Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), a farmers’ body, has organized the rally on Friday.
It is pertinent to note Anna Hazare was supposed to come on May 2 to participate in the anti corruption rally of May 3 (but postponed)at Judges Field in Guwahati but that programme had encountered an opposition from the city administration over the venue. The administration had objected to the rally citing an Election Commission directive that disallows public meetings or rallies within a kilometer radius of a strong room. Anna Hazare too did not come due to ill health.
Mentionably, the strong room at Cotton College where ballot boxes are being kept for counting on May 13 is close to Judges Field. On Thursday, RTI activist and KMSS general secretary Akhil Gogoi said, “Hazare will take part in a street march before addressing the public rally." “The focus of the rally will be on value-based politics and a corruption-free Northeast,” Gogoi added.
The KMSS had been fighting its own ‘war against corruption’ before aligning with Hazare’s mission. It organized a series of rallies across Assam in the run up to the assembly polls and asked people to reject ‘corrupt’ Congress. His appeals had few takers as the Congress won 78 seats in the 126-member assembly.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi had described Akhil Gogoi as a “political man in the garb of a social activist”. He alleged that the RTI activist was selective in his “so-called” crusade against corruption as he had a “hidden political agenda”.
It is pertinent to note Anna Hazare was supposed to come on May 2 to participate in the anti corruption rally of May 3 (but postponed)at Judges Field in Guwahati but that programme had encountered an opposition from the city administration over the venue. The administration had objected to the rally citing an Election Commission directive that disallows public meetings or rallies within a kilometer radius of a strong room. Anna Hazare too did not come due to ill health.
Mentionably, the strong room at Cotton College where ballot boxes are being kept for counting on May 13 is close to Judges Field. On Thursday, RTI activist and KMSS general secretary Akhil Gogoi said, “Hazare will take part in a street march before addressing the public rally." “The focus of the rally will be on value-based politics and a corruption-free Northeast,” Gogoi added.
The KMSS had been fighting its own ‘war against corruption’ before aligning with Hazare’s mission. It organized a series of rallies across Assam in the run up to the assembly polls and asked people to reject ‘corrupt’ Congress. His appeals had few takers as the Congress won 78 seats in the 126-member assembly.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi had described Akhil Gogoi as a “political man in the garb of a social activist”. He alleged that the RTI activist was selective in his “so-called” crusade against corruption as he had a “hidden political agenda”.
