New Delhi, Aug 28: In front of a huge near-delirious crowd of vociferous supporters at the historic Ramlila Maidan, noted Gandhian activist Anna Hazare on Sunday ended his 13-day-long fast by taking coconut water mixed with honey from a Dalit girl (Simran) and a Muslim girl (Ikra), and after a brief speech left for Dr Naresh Trehan's Medanta Medicity Hospital in Gurgaon in a well-equipped ambulance.
In his significant speech, Anna made the following salient points:
- He would not rest with the Lokpal issue and would take up the demands for Right to Recall and Right To Reject
- Right to Recall relates to voters being allowed to recall their elected representatives, an old point raised by the late Jayaprakash Narayan in 1975 during his Sampoorna Kranti movement
-Right to Reject relates to inclusion of a provision in the ballot wherein the voter shall have the right to reject all the candidates seeking election. If the majority of voters chose this right, the election shall be countermanded.
-Hazare is going to raise issues relating to forcible acquisition of farm lands and indiscriminate exploitation of land for mining
-Hazare assured he would soon go on a nationwide tour to raise awareness about these new demands.
"The battle for change has just begun", said Hazare. "You need not remain silent even after a powerful Lokpal is set up. The torch must not be extinguished so long as we do not see change."
On Right to Reject, Hazare said, a politician who spends Rs 10 crores on a single election will get a befitting lesson if the voters opt for the right to reject. "Deemag thikane lag jayega" (He will be shown his place), he said.
The Gandhian also talked of the right of Gram Sabhas to vote out an elected Gram Panchayat if the latter does not perform.
"Today the entire power is concentrated in the Mantralaya (secretariat). Such concentration of power is not true democracy. Power has to be decentralized", said Anna.
In his thanksgiving speech, Anna's aide Arvind Kejriwal also spoke of the right to recall, right to reject and judicial reforms. He also urged Anna's supporters to take a vow never to give bribe or receive bribe.
