Anna-Kejriwal battle a ‘guru-chela’ affair: Tewari

Panaji – Dismissing the public spat between social activist Anna Hazare and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal as a “guru-chela” affair, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari Wednesday said it was merely a “sideshow” in the greater electoral battle.

“This is a guru-chela (master-pupil) war. What does the Congress have to do with it. It is only a sideshow,” Tewari said. He was addressing a press conference here ahead of the inauguration ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

Anna Hazare is currently engaged in a war of words with his one-time associate and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal over the alleged misu! se of funds.

Tewari also said that the main concern for Indian voters was whether they should really be voting for a person and a party that backs unauthorised state surveillance on “mothers, sisters and daughters”.

He was referring to the alleged snooping over a young woman, carried out at the behest of the Bharatiya Janta Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s close aide Amit Shah, according to an investigative report by two websites.

“The question people should think about is whether they want to live in a place where their ‘mothers, sisters and daughters are put under illegal surveillance’,” Tewari said.

He further said that the right to privacy of the daughter as well as the father, who are caught in the eye of the surveillance controversy, was important. Also, he said that the unauthorised surveillance, which they were subjected to by individuals in government, could not be ignored.

“There is a difference between surveil! lance and security. They (Bharatiya Janata Party) are trying to fool pe! ople about it,” he said.