New Delhi, Aug 3: Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy today lashed out at Team Anna saying it has made indefinite fast a mockery.
Taking part in a live debate on India TV, Dr Swamy said, it is now clear that Anna Hazare, a nice, old man, was fooled by Team Anna. "If Anna cannot run Team Anna, then how can he run the country", asked Swamy.
On Team Anna's move to float a political alternative, Dr Swamy pointed out that even Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose could not make his party (All India Forward Bloc) a success after breaking away from the Congress.
"Similarly, Dr B R Ambedkar lost his deposits thrice after floating a new party after breaking away from Congress", Swamy pointed out.
Lashing out at Team Anna, Swamy said, everybody knew these 15 or 16 central ministers were corrupt, but what was the point in sitting on fast unto death to prove the point.
"We took the route via Supreme Court, which monitored the 2G scam and sent the ministers behind jails. Kejriwal thought government would bow just because he was sitting on fast", said Swamy.
The Janata Party chief said, earlier there were several persons in Team Anna, who were members of National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi, and some of these members had then even hinted that Rahul Gandhi would come to Anna's fast at Ramlila Maidan. Did it happen?, he asked.
On floating a political alternative, Swamy, who heads the rump Janata Party, said, Team Anna should know contesting elections is not easy.
"You need at least 3 agents for a single polling booth, and in a parliamentary constituency, there are 1,500 polling booths, that amounts to 7,500 workers for a single constituency", said Swamy.
The Janata Party president said: "There was never a thing called Anna phenomenon, it was only the media's magic. The people of India were fed up of corruption. While Baba Ramdev began his movement, we began our action through courts.
"Anna had the aura of a 'tyagi' (sacrificing saint). That's why Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Ramdev and even the RSS came closer to him, but once they went away, Anna's fast, both in Mumbai and here in Delhi, had no impact.
"I doubt Anna's leadership. He does not have an organisation with him. His party will prove to be a zero, because you need a big management exercise for running a party.
"I remember, during the Emergency, the late Jayaprakash Narayan was told by his detractors that he was taking help from the RSS. During the 1977 elections, the Janata Party swept the north, because RSS was strong there, but came a cropper in the South, because the RSS, at that time, was weak in the south.
"JP told me, that he took the help of RSS during emergency, just like Churchil took Stalin's help to defeat Hitler", said Swamy.
