Swami Agnivesh, who was accompanying the anti-corruption bill crusader, Anna Hazare, to a visit to Gujarat on Thursday was slapped by a local Mahant. In a meeting Swami Agnivesh tried to greet Mahant Nityanand Das, the chief of a temple near Nadiad, while the latter slapped him.
The Mahant, who was arrested by the police, told journalists before leaving the venue that his anger against Swami Agnivesh was for his comments about the holy Amarnath shrine of Lord Shiva.
Swami Agnivesh, on the sidelines of a recent peace conference in Srinagar, had allegedly commented that the ice lingam of Amarnath was “artificially made,” and that the annual “Amarnath yatra” was a “religious deception.”
The Mahant had earlier announced a “reward” of Rs. 51,000 for anyone who would dare to hurl a shoe at Swami Agnivesh in public. He said he had nothing against Mr. Hazare and totally supported his crusade against corruption, “but I cannot take the Swami’s comments against a holy shrine of the Hindus.”
Meanwhile addressing a gathering here Anna Hazare said that Gujarat was likely to emerge as next Kurukshetra for him. Hazare said his group would start a movement against acquisition of poor people’s land for industrial houses in Bapu’s land.
Salim bhai from Kutch, Razak bhai Baloch from Saurashtra, Bharatbhai, Kishorbhai, Rameshbhai, Ram Muhurt Mahuria – few faces among the hundreds of aggrieved people and social activists who attended the public hearing at Gujarat Vidyapith organised for Anna Hazare and his team and raised their grievances against the state government’s land policy.
Blaming the state government, Hazare said, “After meeting people here, I am seeing plenty of scams in Mahatma Gandhi’s land. I have noticedthat liquor is more readily available here than milk.”Swami Agnivesh said the Anna team wanted to ensure that this movement against corruption remain 100 % non-violent and people’s participation must be there.”
Lambasting Vibrant Gujarat celebrations in the state, Swami said, “Gujarat is not vibrant, it is a land of scams. It is shameful that Gandhi’ s Gujarat is today ‘Ghotale ka Gujarat’ (state of scams).” He further said, “The public hearing has exposed the Gujarat government’s false claims of development. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is making use of American media agencies to paint a false picture of what is exactly happening in the state,” he said.
Addressing a discussion session Arvind Kejriwal explained to the people how a Lokpal bill will work. He said: “The Lokpal will not work as individual but it works as an institution. Eleven-membered Lokpal will look after issues related to Central government while a Lokayukt will be appointed in 28 states across the country.”
Former Gujarat DGP R B Sreekumar in his representation to Anna Hazare stated that the government favoured Tata by providing them land at cheap rates near Sanand. “To that, they helped the state with R K Raghavan, head of Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing post-Godhra riots, who was till recently employed by Tatas,” said Sreekumar in his letter. The letter also highlighted land allotment scam in Gandhinagar.