RIP: Anna Hazare’s virtual voice

Three months after launching it, anti graft crusader Anna Hazare has decided to shut down his blog, his maiden foray into the world of social media.

The decision was taken by Hazare on Saturday, after his blog administrator Raju Parulekar used the platform of Hazare’s blog to take potshots at key Team Anna member, Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan and Kiran Bedi, accusing them of being “undemocratic and fascist”.

Parulekar’s posting comes a day after the Gandhian publicly declared that he had never spoken to him about “restructuring team Anna core committee”. Hazare was fielding questions from the media in New Delhi on Friday prior to attending the parliamentary standing committee meeting regarding the Lokpal bill.

In his vitriolic post, Parulekar claimed that Hazare was unhappy with his team and was in the process of reconstructing his core team. In particular, Parulekar claimed that Hazare was dissatisfied with the trio, who, he claimed, had their pawns in the core committee.

Kejriwal refused to comment on the allegations.Hazare’s tryst with the social media of blogging, started in September and Parulekar had a significant contribution in influencing Hazare’s decision. With the help of his whiz-kid friend Milind Verelekar, Parulekar had ensured that Hazare’s blog was linked to more than 700 major international and national media houses. 
Sources close to Hazare said the Gandhian had insisted that his long-time confidante and chief information commissioner of Maharashtra Vijay Kuvalekar share the administrative rights for his blog with Parulekar.

Other than reaching out to the millions of his followers, Hazare also wanted the blog to reflect his own point of view and stop the chances of him being misquoted or having words put into his mouth either by his team members or any one else.

The apparent stand off between Parulekar and other team Anna members especially Kejriwal happened when the team was in Ralegan Siddhi last month.

Team Anna members had objected to Parulekar’s style of functioning and his assuming the role of Hazare’s official spokesperson. Parulekar, in his posting, has denied the allegations and countered them with his own charges.