NAGPUR: Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal was today heckled at a meeting and booed by a group of activists who shouted slogans against him over alleged RSS links, provoking his supporters to beat them up.
About 20 activists belonging to ‘Ghantanad’, a local organisation, waved placards and black flags and raised slogans against Kejriwal outside the hall where the meeting was held.
As soon as his speech was over, the protesters were beaten up. Later, speaking to reporters, Kejriwal condemned the incident saying it was wrong to indulge in violence.
In October, the activist was attacked at a public meeting in Lucknow when a man hurled a shoe at him saying he was misleading the public on the issue of corruption. Asked about his allegation of phone-tapping of Team Anna members, Kejriwal said the government must answer whether it considered them as a threat to national security. “Is Anna Hazare a threat to the nation?” he asked and demanded an answer from the Union Home Ministry.
“The Government permits tapping of phone of a person in the larger national interest if that person is posing threat to the security of the nation. I don’t know why our phones are being tapped,” when asked about the alleged tapping.
Asked whether he will meet top brass of RSS at the Sangh headquarters here, Kejriwal said he has no such plans. “But all are welcome to support our cause, be it people from Congress, BJP, RSS and others,” he added.
On the possibility of mid-term polls in the country, Kejriwal said he was not for it as the mission is to pursue the Jan Lokpal bill. About Team Anna’s demand for Right to Recall, he said, “We are pursuing the Jan Lok Pal bill first and would later take up electoral reforms…. In many countries, there is also an option of Right to Reject (candidate) and we are studying it.” (PTI)
