New Delhi: Some members of anti-graft campaigner Anna Hazare’s team were detained briefly by the police on Sunday after protesting in front of the residences of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari.
The grouping, which calls itself India Against Corruption and includes Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan, Kumar Vishwas, Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai, on their release continued their protest at the Jantar Mantar grounds in the capital.
“They are protesting against those who are protesting against corruption,” BJP leader Kirti Azad told reporters. “They are aimless. God bless them, they don’t know what they doing.” BJP is the principal opposition party to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
The UPA administration is on the backfoot after a slew of corruption charges, including the government auditor’s report that the government allocated coal-mining areas to private firms that caused heavy losses to the treasury.
“When the entire political establishment is conspiring to loot India, people have to act,” said Bhushan.
Hazare and Kiran Bedi, a key member of the anti-graft campaign, were not present in Sunday’s protests.
Earlier this month, Hazare and his supporters staged a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar to press their demands for an ombudsman law but failed to garner the massive support their protests saw last year.
