Daijiworld Media Network
Mumbai, Nov 22: Anna Hazare, social activist and reformer who has become the voice of millions of Indians with his anti-corruption campaign and demand for the Jan Lokpal Bill, finds himself in a controversy now.
The Gandhian's comments on how alcoholics are treated in his model village Ralegaon Siddhi have drew flak from parties across the political spectrum. Anna Hazare had said that alcoholics should be flogged in public if they refuse to get rid of their habit, and claimed that such a method had actually worked in his village as people were 'scared' to drink.
Elaborating, he said that the alcoholics Ralegaon Siddhi would be given three warnings, and even after that if they refused to quit, they would be dragged to the temple and made to swear before god that they would give up drinking.
"Even after all this he drinks then we will tie him up to the electric pole in front of the temple and then beat him up so that he gets scared," he said.
Hazare added that it was done for the good of the alcoholic, and that the fear of public embarassment and flogging had kept many away from getting addicted to alcohol.
However, his comments drew sharp criticism from both Congress and the BJP. While Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari compared it to Taliban, his BJP counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman said that BJP does not support such extreme methods.
"I think the Taliban used to say the same thing. By that analogy, you will possibly have to flog half of Kerala, three-fourth of Andhra Pradesh and about four-fifth of Punjab," Tiwari said.
Even social networking sites and blogs reacted strongly to Anna's statement, some of them even comparing him to Hitler. Others urged him to focus on corruption, while still others felt that he was exceeding his limits.
He also had supporters too, who felt the politicians were deliberately shifting focus away from corruption by raising trivial issues.