New Delhi:
In an exclusive interview to NDTV, Anna Hazare explains why he thinks those who drink should be beaten and humiliated in public.
Explaining how he got people in his village Ralegaon Siddhi and the surrounding areas to give up drinking, the 74-year-old Gandhian activist said, "...we will give three warnings because after all they are our people. But after the warnings, we drag that person to the temple and make him promise that he will never drink again in his life. Even after all this if they continued, we used to tie him in a pole near the temple and beat him."
But this prescription seems to have little or no political support. In a debate on NDTV, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari likened this to the Taliban and said, "I think the Taliban used to say the same thing. By that analogy, you will possibly have to flog half of Kerala, three-fourth of Andhra Pradesh and about four-fifth of Punjab. So, I think that is quite a tall order."
The BJP's Nirmala Sitharaman said that while here party supported Anna's anti-corruption movement, they were not in favour of such radical methods. "We are big supporters of anyone who fights against corruption. But on this, I won't even comment. That is his view, very well. Those are not the ways to implement anything," said Sitharaman.