NEW DELHI: When anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare's fast demanding the constitution of Lok Pal shook the nation in April 2011, the movement was supposed to be an apolitical one in nature. Hazare and the core members of the team repeatedly assured the followers that they will not convert it into a political movement or join any political party to achieve desired goals. The apolitical nature of the mass movement had attracted a large following across India within a short span of time.
The political class which was literally shaken by the impact and growing popularity of the team Anna, challenged them to join the politics and change the system through electoral process, not through street protests. But, it was ridiculed and rejected by team Anna. For over a year, the India Against Corruption (IAC) remained an apolitical movement committed to eradicate corruption from India and hold political class responsible for the maladministration.
However, the things started to change in mid-2012. Hazare's right hand man Arvind Kejriwal started hinting at launching a political party based on the enormous goodwill earned during the movement. It was vehemently opposed by Hazare, former Supreme Court judge and a key member of the team Justice Santosh Hegde and Kiran Bedi.
When he failed to convince them, Kejriwal quit IAC and floated the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in October 2012. There were talks of Bedi also joining his party. But, she refused to join him. Even after Kejriwal's spectacular performance in Delhi, Hazare refused to back him.
During the last Lok Sabha election, both Kejriwal and the BJP tried to get Hegde on board. But, he rejected their offers. Even Bedi dismissed the reports about her joining the BJP saying that she would never join politics.
The declaration of assembly election to Delhi assembly has changed that. The leaderless BJP in Delhi has been able to get Bedi on board. The party wants to field her in the Assembly election to stop the march of Kejriwal brigade.
Will she be BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate? Will she contest against Arvind Kejriwal from New Delhi assembly seat? One has to wait and see. Kejriwal played it safe by welcoming her into politics. In a tweet he said, "I have been fond of Kiran Bedi ji. I always tried to convince her that she shud join politics. I am happy she did it today."
The most important thing is - with Kiran Bedi joining the BJP, the conversion of most of team Anna members to politics has been completed. Except Hazare and Hegde, all other top members have now become politicians. While Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan are with the AAP, Bedi is with the BJP. With this, things have come full circle for most of the team Anna members.
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