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India Against Corruption

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India Against Corruption (IAC) is a non-political anti-corruption movement in India since 2007 which rose to prominence during the anti-corruption protests of 2011. Divisions among personalities on IAC's platform eventually led to the formation of the Aam Aadmi Party.

Rise

The IAC popular movement which began in 2007[1][2] as a Hindutva affiliated movement for Right to Information activists concerned with exposing Commonwealth Games and other "scams", expanded as part of a larger wave of demonstrations and protests from 2010.[3] which hoped to bring about a corruption-free India. The campaign gained strength through social media, building a massive network of supporters. Initially Ramdev, a populist Indian yogi seemed to be the figurehead for this campaign but his connections to the right-wing Sangh Parivar threatened to damage the credibility of what was perceived as an apolitical movement.[4][5] This led to IAC's managers substituting him as centrepiece by Anna Hazare whose connections to Sangh Parivar were less obvious.[6][7][8] Hazare's support base is described by Meera Nanda as being largely "from urban middle-classes and idealistic youth". The urban support for Hazare attracted high-profile support for the campaign from Bollywood stars, the internet-savvy, and mainstream English-language news media.[9]

Aftermath

In 2012, the IAC began to disassociate from Hazare's followers (then popularly known as "Team Anna").[10][11] On 3 August 2012, the deep differences of opinion among the central figures of the anti-corruption protest spilled into the public domain. Arvind Kejriwal's faction conducted an online survey which suggested that direct involvement in politics was preferable, leading to their exit to form the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). On 5 August 2012 Hazare rejected the survey findings and announced he was disbanding Team Anna.[12][13][14]

In November 2012 Hazare said that he was forming a new Team Anna 2.0 which would have a new office in New Delhi and use the label India against Corruption.[15][16] Eventually Team Anna instead adopted the name Jantantra Morcha after the India Against Corruption name owners swiftly took it over to focus instead on Right to Information issues instead of the Jan Lokpal.[17] Welcoming Anna's Jantantra Morcha initiative in 2015, National convener of India Against Corruption, Sarabjit Roy said IAC has nothing against Anna since he was never officially a part of IAC nor was he a leader of the movement. IAC's concerns were that Anna is misled into associations with projects and people that he shouldn't be with and Anna was then in the company of scoundrels. As per Roy, IAC is now a group of intellectuals after Arvind Kejriwal took all the aam aadmis (common folk) to politics.[18] The denuded Team Anna's sporadic claims to the India Against Corruption name for political purposes was regularly disputed by the India Against Corruption organization which stated

These persons are imposters of IAC who are misusing our name for electioneering purposes. IAC is a non-political body, and we strongly object to utilisation of our well known name in connection with Mr. Anna Hazare or for political motives.[19]
Gen (Retd.) V.K.Singh was never associated with India Against Corruption and neither was Mr. Anna Hazare a part of it. Referring to them in the context of IAC is misleading especially in context of political activity."[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ Desk, Web (15 September 2020). "Rahul says AAP was propped up by BJP to bring down UPA, subvert democracy". The Week. Retrieved 25 March 2024. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  2. ^ https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/iac-rejects-congress-s-conspiracy-charge-against-forum-117122500566_1.html [bare URL]
  3. ^ Ghosh, Abantika (29 December 2011). "Shifting stir to Mumbai a mistake: IAC". The Indian Express. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  4. ^ How Ramdev & Sri Sri got together, grew apart, 2 June 2011, retrieved 16 April 2024
  5. ^ "Ramdev's agitation fully backed by RSS & its front organisations: PC". The Economic Times. 9 June 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  6. ^ Ghosh, Abantika (9 January 2012). "IAC 100% RSS front: Long-time aides tell Anna to correct course". The Indian Express. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  7. ^ "No differences with IAC, we work together: Anna Hazare aides". India Today. 9 January 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  8. ^ Srivastava, Piyush (8 October 2011). "Congress sharpens knives for Anna Hazare over RSS link". India Today. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  9. ^ Nanda, Meera (2011). The God Market: How Globalization is Making India More Hindu. NYU Press. pp. xxii–xxiii. ISBN 9781583673096.
  10. ^ "No differences with IAC, we work together: Anna Hazare aides". 9 January 2012.
  11. ^ Schoen, Douglas E. (2013). The End of Authority: How a Loss of Legitimacy and Broken Trust Are Endangering Our Future. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 185–186. ISBN 9781442220324.
  12. ^ "Anna Hazare tells Arvind Kejriwal not to use his name, photo for votes as they part ways". India Today. New Delhi. PTI. 19 September 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  13. ^ "So what is the Aam Aadmi Party all about". India Today. New Delhi. 24 November 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  14. ^ "Hazare disbands Team Anna, says no talks with govt on Lokpal". The Times of India. 6 August 2012. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  15. ^ "After announcing team, Anna Hazare to inaugurate new office in Delhi". IBN Live. 11 November 2012. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  16. ^ "Team Anna gets new people. But will their gameplan be a game-changer?". India Today. 15 November 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  17. ^ Khandekar, Nivedita (3 September 2013). "Anti-corruption body abandons Janlokpal". Hindustan Times. New Delhi: Hindustan Times. Retrieved 13 April 2024. Hazare, who formed the Jantantra Morcha. The group, which now runs — and claims to own — the IAC, mostly comprises Right to Information (RTI) activists. The group had taken over the IAC immediately after the split but held its first formal meeting on Monday. Its national convenor Sarbajit Roy said: "We do not support Janlokpal or the Lokpal. You cannot have a comprehensive Lokpal dealing with petty local corruption as well as systemic mega corruption deals such as 2G or defence deals." In its new avatar, the IAC decided that the RTI was virtually dead and that "there is a need to defend RTI in India".
  18. ^ Shrivastava, Anvit (3 April 2015). "Anna Hazare launches anti-graft front". Times of India. Times of India. Retrieved 13 April 2024. National convener of India Against Corruption, Sarabjit Roy, cautiously welcomed Anna's initiative. "We have nothing against Anna. He was never officially a part of IAC nor was he a leader of the movement. Our concern is that Anna gets associated with projects and people that he shouldn't be with. He has been misled. He was in the company of scoundrels. IAC is no more an aam aadmi movement, as Arvind took all the aam aadmis to politics. We are a group of intellectuals now."
  19. ^ "Anna to address on electoral reforms". The Tribune. 16 April 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  20. ^ Ramachandran, Smriti Kak (17 November 2021). "BJP is the only party that thinks of national interest, says V.K. Singh". The Hindu. Ghaziabad. Retrieved 13 April 2024. Gen (Retd.) V.K.Singh was never associated with India Against Corruption and neither was Mr. Anna Hazare a part of it. Referring to them in the context of IAC is misleading especially in context of political activity
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