Gandhian activist Anna Hazare on Friday said he would launch a new satyagraha from March 23 and it will continue till life was in his body.
He said this while addressing a press conference in New Delhi to announce the launch of the satyagraha to press for the demands of Lokpal, Lokayukta, farmers' issues and election reforms.
"The satyagraha will start from March 23 and there will be no set time frame to end it. It will continue till life is in my body," Hazare said.
The Gandhian also complained that the government has still not allotted space for holding the satyagraha. He threatened to start the satyagraha from jail if space is not allotted before March 23.
"We have written 16 times to the government in the last four months to allot the place for satyagraha but till date it has not been allotted. Four days before, I wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said 'your government is deliberately not allotting the place and if it is not allotted, then I will start satyagraha from jail'," Hazare said.
He also said Prime Minister Modi is not replying to his letters about the issues of Lokpal, Lokayukta, farmers' issues and election reforms.
"I have written 40 letters to the prime minister over Lokpal, Lokayukta, farmers' issues and election reforms but he has not replied to a single letter. Before elections in 2014, he (Prime Minister Modi) used to say that if the BJP comes to power then, it would create model villages akin to Anna Hazare's model village in Maharashtra. And, now you are not even replying my letters. Don't reply but allot us place to do satyagraha," the activist demanded.
Talking about the farmers' issue, he demanded setting up of a agriculture price commission on the lines of the Election Commission and NITI Aayog.
"Agriculture price commission should get autonomy and Constitutional status. There should not be government's interference in it. Eminent agriculture experts should be appointed in the agriculture price commission and then the farmers will get fair price of their produce," Hazare said.
Earlier on Friday, he chaired a core committee meeting in which 31 'apolitical' farmer associations from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh participated to set the agenda for the March 23 satyagraha.
Retired Supreme Court judge and former Karnataka Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde has announced he would be joining the social activist's stir.