Social activist Anna Hazare. File picture
\| Photo Credit: PTI

Dialogue is superior to conflict, social activist Anna Hazare said on Wednesday (July 22, 2026) in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said he was pained by reports of police action and violence in Delhi and stressed that the government should resolve people’s concerns through dialogue and not through suppression. He called the government’s response to climate activist Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike “undemocratic”, and said the greatest responsibility of a democratic government was to maintain people’s trust.

“Whenever any irregularity in government functioning is exposed, the responsibility is placed only on lower-level officials, while the government itself takes the credit for what is good. This is not appropriate. The ultimate accountability to the public lies at the senior level,” he said in his letter supporting the agitation at Jantar Mantar.

The letter comes five days after he had said that the Government should have initiated talks with Mr. Wangchuk, irrespective of whether it wanted to accept his demands or not. Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption agitation held 15 years ago at Jantar Mantar has been a point of discussion during the current protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi against the NEET paper leaks. The protestors have sought the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Fixing responsibility

On Wednesday, in his formal letter to the PM, Anna said that asking a minister to resign will lead to the fixing of responsibility and will send a strong message to other ministers. Asking the government to be sensitive to youths’ anxiety and dissatisfaction over paper leaks, delays in recruitment processes, unemployment, and other issues, he said that the problem cannot be treated as a mere law and order issue. “Even in the year 2024, there was a case of leakage of NEET exam papers and serious irregularities in the examination process. This year too there were incidents of question papers being leaked. There have also been reports of 22 students dying by suicide due to frustration. There have been reports of widespread irregularities in the results of the re-conducted exams,” he wrote in the letter.

‘Display restraint’

Anna appealed to the government to show restraint, sensitivity and tolerance towards the protestors, and asked it not to treat the people’s voice as the voice of the opposition parties. He expressed agitation and concern that the government did not initiate any dialogue for a long time though the peaceful protest has continued for 25 days. He said this was not in line with the spirit of a democratic system.

“The voice of the public should not be treated as the voice of the opposition. The protestors are also citizens of this country. Listening to them patiently, creating an atmosphere of trust, and finding solutions through positive dialogue, is the real measure of democracy. Our country is the inheritor of Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas of Satyagraha and the democratic values ​​enshrined by the Indian Constitution. It is natural to have differences, but they must be resolved through dialogue, sensitivity and mutual respect,” he said.

Published - July 22, 2026 10:50 pm IST