Mumbai: Anna Hazare is gearing for another fight – this time not against corruption but for the word corruption.
The office of the joint charity commissioner of Pune has issued notices to 15 NGOs asking them to delete words like “corruption” or “anti-corruption” from their names. One of these NGOs is Hazare’s Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Andolan Nyas.
The anti-graft crusader said he had not received the notice yet but had heard that it was on the way. “I want to know under which provision of law has the Pune joint charity commissioner ordered the deletion of words like corruption and anti-corruption from the names of NGOs,” he said, speaking from his home in Ralegan Siddhi village in Pune district.
The septuagenarian activist, who had spearheaded a massive agitation for an anti-corruption Lokpal law in 2011, said he was seeking legal opinion to counter any such move.
Joint charity commissioner Shivkumar Dighe, an official tasked with monitoring charitable trusts and NGOs, confirmed the notice but did not reveal the names of the organisations. The notices, he added, have been sent because there had been “complaints that many of these NGOs used their platform to blackmail bureaucrats and politicians”.
Asked for specific examples, Dighe lost his cool. “Controlling corruption is the government’s job,” he said, “not (the job of) NGOs.”
Hazare dismissed the explanation. “If controlling corruption is the government’s job, then how come in the last couple of years at least six ministers… had to resign on corruption charges?” he asked. Hazare also wondered how the order would be effective when there were hundreds of anti-corruption NGOs across the country. “My NGO is spread out across India,” he said. “What is this man doing?”
Top Maharashtra lawyer Ujjwal Nikam said even if Hazare’s trust is spread across the country, the commissionerate has jurisdiction over it as the trust is registered in Pune. “But for NGOs not registered in Pune, the commissionerate has no control.”
“Contrary to his pre-election promises, it is clear that Narendra Modi has no intention to fight corruption,” Hazare said, adding that he had received a threat mail from “one Sanjay Gholap from Ahmednagar” warning him against taking up any agitation against the BJP.
