Bhopal, Jun 16 : Even as social activist Anna Hazare yoga guru brought Mahatma Gandhiji's satyagraha into limelight, Janata Dal (U) president Sharad Yadav today said he was against fasts as a means of protest as it relegated the issues to the background.
Addressing a press conference here, he said he was in agreement with views of leaders like Jai Prakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia that fasts do not serve any purpose and only bring the persons observing it into spotlight.
Refusing to comment on the fasts held by Hazare and Ramdev against corruption, Yadav said whenever a fast is held, issues fail to get importance and after a few days people begin talking about the health of the person holding the fast.
Soon after the fast, the administration and media starts talking about the person's blood pressure and weight, he said adding that because of this, he did not undertake any fast in his long political career.
While expressing concern at the rising level of corruption in the country, Yadav also said he was confident that the nation would overcome the challenging situation.
Yadav said Hazare and Ramdev may have given a bigger dimension to the issue of corruption but opposition parties had been raising the issue earlier too.
The Janata Dal (U) president said real estate, information technology and development schemes for the poor have become major areas for corruption.
History teaches us that no popular agitation in the country has succeeded without the support of political parties, he said.
Yadav said a “qawwali” of statements was being played between the civil society, the government, Congress and the BJP these days but his party was not a part of it.
He said that it was because of the activism showed by the courts that the CBI was moving in the right direction to deal with corruption. PTI
