Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 30: Even as the Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia claimed that the Central Bureau of Investigation failed to unearth anything incriminating from his bank lockers too on Tuesday, the social activist Anna Hazare called the Delhi government’s new excise policy a sham promptly elucidating a response from his one-time “disciple” Arvind Kejriwal that he was being “used” by the BJP to attack his Aam Aadmi Party government.
Hitting out at the BJP for calling the national capital’s liquor policy a scam, the Delhi chief minister said the saffron party was using Hazare as a shooting launchpad. “Ab yeh Anna Hazare ji ke kandhe pe rakh ke bandukh chala rahe hain,” Kejriwal told reporters. “They (BJP) have been saying there’s a scam in the liquor policy, but the CBI said there’s no scam. Public is not listening to them,” Kejriwal said.
His statement came in response to an open letter written by his former “guru” Anna Hazare, with whom he had launched the agitation against corruption when the Congress-led UPA government was in power at the centre, slamming his government new excise policy and said the CM “seems to have sunk in the addiction of power.” Hazare said the new policy would encourage liquor sale and consumption and spur corruption.
Hazare, while citing the complete liquor ban in his village Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, reminded former associate Kejriwal about the latter’s book ‘Swaraj’ which favoured liquor ban.
The activist, who had penned the book’s foreword, said he has written a letter to Kejriwal for the first time since he became CM and that it pains him to read reports about the Delhi government’s new excise policy. “You wrote several idealistic things in the book. Everyone had hopes from you but it seems that after becoming the CM, you forgot that ideology and that is why the Delhi government came up with a new liquor policy,” he said.
It seems with the new policy, liquor sales and consumption will get encouraged and liquor shops could be opened in everywhere. “The policy will spur corruption and this thing is not at all in the interest of the people. But still, you took the decision to bring the new liquor policy. Like addiction of liquor, there is an addiction of power and it seems that you have sunk into it,” Hazare said in the letter.
Hazare and Kejriwal were the key faces of the anti-graft movement launched by the activist in 2011 to demand appointment of a Lokpal. The social activist, whose relationship with Kejriwal got strained after the latter chose to form a political party, further wrote that the CM “appears to be in the vicious circle of money though power and power through money.” Hazare said after becoming the CM, Kejriwal forgot about the Lokpal and Lokayukta law.
“You did not make any effort to bring in a strong Lokayukta Act, but instead the Delhi government has brought in a policy on liquor which destroys the life of people and affects women. This shows there is a gap between what you preach and practice,” he said.
Strongly reacting to Hazare’s open letter, the AAP supremo said using an individual as a platform the way BJP is doing with Hazare was “common in politics”.
Last month, Delhi Lt. Governor VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of Delhi’s Excise Policy 2021-22. The CBI inquiry was recommended on the findings of the Delhi Chief Secretary’s report showing prima facie violations of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) Act-1991, Transaction of Business Rules -1993, Delhi Excise Act-2009 and Delhi Excise Rules-2010.
Sisodia, however, claimed that the CBI “found nothing” after its four-member team conducted the search at a Punjab National Bank branch in Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, for nearly two hours. Sisodia and his wife were present at the time.
The CBI was acting under pressure from the prime minister Narendra Modi, Sisodia told reporters after the search was over. “I am happy that I got a clean chit from the CBI in searches today. They have found nothing (incriminating) from searches of my locker or residence,” Sisodia said.
On August 19, the federal probe agency had raided 31 locations, including Sisodia’s residence. While the CBI has so far not made public about its findings during the raids, Sisodia had claimed that the agency did not find anything incriminating from his residence either.