Dalits consider Anna's anti-graft agitation "upper caste"!

New Delhi, Aug 25: This was not one definition that Gandhian Anna Hazare expected for his anti-corruption campaign, when certain Dalit and backward communities called Anna's anti-graft stir an "upper caste" endeavour.

The snub from the oppressed classes of society have dimmed the spirits of Team Anna who have strived to fight the common evil of corruption that affects all sections of the society. The cause of this sidelined feeling among the Dalits is likely to have caused by the apparent anti-politician feeling generated by Anna Hazare as well as the association with Arvind Kejriwal with the Youth for Equality. This particular group was behind a major anti-reservation agitation in the AIIMS.

MPs from the Dalit and OBC category called the Anna Hazare-headed agitation an "attack on the supremacy of Parliament and the Constitution". The MPs called the effort a move to undermine the Constitution, a comment that was slammed by BJP's Hukumdeo Narain Yadav, JD-U president Sharad Yadav and Lok Janshakti Party president Ram Vilas Paswan.

This anti-Anna rhetoric comes soon after Dalit leader Udit Raj of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations marched along with 500 activists from Jantar Mantar to India Gate protesting Anna'a agitation. Raj has been quoted as saying, "Anna must clarify his stand on several issues before he speaks about the Jan Lokpal Bill." The Dalit activists who marched on Wednesday called Anna's protest an "upper caste movement that has little to do with the oppressed classes of society."

There was also considerable criticism for Anna'a proposed Jan Lokpal Bill when Dalit supporters claimed that the bill excluded NGOs, media and the corporate sector from the Bill's ambit.

Team Anna also faced criticism from other quarters, like Narain Yadav, a Lok Sabha MP from Bihar who expressed irk after the weaker sections of society was avoided in the BJP parliamentary party meeting on the Lokpal Bill. JD-U president Sharad Yadav, on the other hand stated in Parliament that corruption was directly linked to the caste system, he said, "No law can prevent corruption that is inherent in Indian society because of the caste system. Unless there is social justice, corruption will continue to plague the system. When the drains are flowing with sewage, how will sprinkling a bit of DDT help? You need to clean the drain."