Anna Hazare to take on PM Narendra Modi

Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare has said he will launch a campaign against the government, three years after he staged a hunger strike that forced radical policy changes.

Mr Hazare said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had failed to enact the changes his hunger strike had called for. He said the government had also failed to recover any of an estimated $500bn (£300bn) stashed illegally overseas. Mr Hazare's 2011 campaign energised a national anti-corruption movement. It forced the Congress party government to bring in the Lokpal bill, which envisaged setting up an independent ombudsman with the power to prosecute politicians and civil servants. Mr Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party defeated Congress last year, and promised to tackle corruption. However, Mr Hazare told NDTV news channel: "In eight months, the government has not given any priority to corruption and there has been no progress on the Lokpal law. We are gathering people for a movement." While campaigning for last year's general election, Mr Modi had also promised to bring back funds held overseas within 100 days of being voted into power. "People were promised during the elections that black money will be brought back within 100 days, 1.5 million rupees will be deposited in the accounts of every citizen, but not even 15 rupees have come," Mr Hazare said. During his 2011 campaign in Delhi, Mr Hazare was assisted by the leader of Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party Arvind Kejriwal and former police officer Kiran Bedi. Mr Kejriwal and Ms Bedi have both since joined politics and are contesting the Delhi assembly elections, due next week. They are fighting each other in a bitter battle for the chief minister's post. But Mr Hazare has distanced himself from his former proteges, saying he has no interest in their political campaigns. Source: BBC