In support of the protesting farmers, activist Anna Hazare on Thursday, 14 January, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to express his intent to launch the “last hunger strike” of his life on the farmers’ issues, reported PTI.
Insisting on people’s participation in the drafting of legislations, Hazare told PTI that the new farm laws do not conform to “democratic values”.
Without specifying a date, Hazare in his letter to the PM said that he will be staging a fast in the national capital by month-end.
According to The Hindu, on 14 December, 83-year-old Hazare in his letter to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar warned of a hunger strike if his demands were not met. The letter also mentioned demands on the implementation of the MS Swaminathan Committee’s recommendations on agriculture and the granting of autonomy to the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, according to PTI.
Hazare further mentioned that even after getting in touch with the government five times, he had not received any response from them. “As a result, I have decided to go on the last hunger strike of my life,” Hazare was quoted as saying by PTI.
He also told PTI that he had written four letters to the concerned authority seeking permission to organise the hunger at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan but had received no response.
Back in 2011, when Hazare went on a hunger strike for anti-corruption movement, the then UPA government had called a special session of the Parliament in which the senior ministers from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who were in the Opposition at that time, had praised him.
“Now, despite giving written assurances over the demands, you are not fulfilling them,” he told PTI.
He further said that the current laws are not keeping with the democratic spirit. The government should allow people’s participation in drafting bills so that they are made according to people’s need and requirement.
Since both the sides are adamant on their stands, no immediate end to this issue can be seen, he said. He also said that Supreme Court’s stay on the implementation of the laws is a “moral defeat” on the part of the government.
(With inputs from PTI and The Hindu)
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