Anna Hazare condemns Kejriwal's demand to prove surgical strikes

Veteran social activist Anna Hazare on Tuesday disagreed with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give a "befitting reply" to Pakistan over the surgical strikes, saying it is not good to ask for proof of such actions and the army should not be mistrusted.

"I don't know whether Kejriwal has said it or not. But we should not mistrust the army. I will condemn those who speak against army or doubt the army," said Anna, who was in the capital to promote his upcoming biopic "Anna".

"Before doing surgical strike, our military generals and other people must have done some planning. So why will they lie on it? We should trust them. This matter is of army, the country and its citizen. In such talks, it's not good to justify someone on it.

"They must have planned it. So how can we doubt them," he added.

Speaking in Jodhpur on Tuesday, Kejriwal urged Modi to give a "befitting reply" to Islamabad's insistence that no such operation took place and New Delhi was lying about the September 28-29 surgical strikes.

Kejriwal's comments followed a spate of aggressive criticism by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which accused the Delhi Chief Minister of raising doubts about the surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC).

India said it carried out the operation and destroyed terrorist launch pads following the September 18 attack by terrorists on an army camp which killed 19 soldiers at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir.

Talking about the film, which has been directed by Shashank Udapurkar and features him in the lead role, Anna said: "I never drempt that a film will be made on a poor man like me. It will give out a message that those who will do work like this poor man, people will also make films on their lives.

"The film tells the story of my whole journey from a small child till the time I fought against corruption. They can't show my whole journey in two hours, but the film will give a summary of my life."

During the press conference, Anna, who went on a hunger strike in 2011 to exert pressure on the Indian government to enact a stringent anti-corruption law, The Lokpal Bill, also said warned the central government doesn't implement it soon, then he will take the same step again.

"The youth has witnessed a lot of change since 2011. I promise if the central government will not bring the Lokpal Bill, I will again protest at Ram Lila Maidan," said the 79-year-old.

"Anna" is slated to release on October 14.

--IANS

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