Overview

• Posters in Pune’s Pashan-Sutarwadi urged Anna Hazare to ‘wake up’ and lead a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar over alleged ‘vote theft’, featuring his photo and naming local activist Sameer Uttarkar.
• Responding to the display, Hazare said he has done his part and that the younger generation should carry forward the work rather than expecting him to lead again at his age.
• Hazare described being told to ‘wake up’ as unfortunate and said it saddened him, noting his decades-long push for laws such as the Right to Information and the Lokpal framework.
• Political criticism mounted, with Congress’s Atul Londhe and state chief Harshwardhan Sapkal questioning his silence and NCP (SP) leader Prashant Jagtap urging him to state his position.
• AAP’s Vijay Kumbhar faulted Hazare’s ‘selective’ stands yet agreed youth should step up, as the episode feeds a broader dispute driven by Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of irregularities in voter rolls, bogus voting and EVMs, with no Hazare-led protest announced.