Congress hints at US hand in Anna Hazare protest

NEW DELHI: The 'foreign hand' made a return to the Congress's lexicon nearly four decades after the party had dubbed the JP movement as a handiwork of external forces.Congress hinted at an American hand behind Anna Hazare-led protests, asking why had the US spoken in favour of an agitation in the country for the first time since Independence. It urged the government to probe the angle of the hidden hand trying to destabilize the country.The party stuck to its charge that Anna was indulging in blackmail by imposing its draft of the Lokpal bill on Parliament and said House's dignity was being sullied which cannot be tolerated.
But it was the talk of the US hand that surprised observers. The conspiracy theory, floated by AICC spokesman Rashid Alvi, drew from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement in Parliament where he said India should not fall prey to the forces envious of country's rise as an economic power.
Briefing both the Houses about Anna's arrest, the PM said, "We are emerging as one of the important players on the world stage. There are many forces that would not like to see India realize its true place in the comity of nations. We must not play into their hands."
But while Singh only hinted at the possibility, Alvi went a step further. The Congress spokesperson said the sophisticated nature of the orchestrated campaign called for urgent attention to the hidden hand while recalling in the same breath the surprise statement from the US State Department urging the Indian government to respect democratic protests.
"Anna is alone. He has no organization. Then how did this movement start and grow? Who are these people spreading the word on internet and telephones; the way video message was recorded prior to arrest," he said, while adding, "The US had never spoken about any movement in India. This is the first time that it did. We show the path of democracy to others, what was the need for the US to say it. This has created suspicion," Alvi said.
He rejected the suggestion that outpouring of support could be a genuine grievance of people affected by day-to-day harassment from a corrupt system, saying the cause for agitation had already been defused with the tabling of Lokpal bill in Parliament.
Stressing on the existence of forces envious of national growth story, Alvi said no country out of the hundreds which had gained Independence around or after 1947 had reached the heights that India had touched. He added that there were forces at home and abroad which were interested in destabilizing the government.