Anna Hazare to leave jail, stage public fast
Tens of thousands of Indians across the country have taken to the streets in recent days in a spontaneous national protest inspired by the 74-year-old Anna Hazare's campaign to strengthen a new anti-corruption law.
The movement has deeply shaken the Congress Party-lead coalition of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had condemned Hazare's campaign as "totally misconceived" and a threat to India's parliamentary democracy.
Hazare was arrested on Tuesday morning as he prepared to begin a "fast unto death" in a New Delhi public park to push for amendments to the anti-graft bill recently introduced in parliament.
In the face of mounting protests, police ordered his release, but Hazare refused to leave Tihar jail until the authorities lifted restrictions limiting his planned fast to three days.
After lengthy negotiations a compromise was reached in the early hours of Thursday, allowing Hazare to fast with his supporters for 15 days at Ramlila Maidan, an open venue in Delhi used for political rallies and festivals.
"The police offered seven days, he wanted it for one month, so in the course of the negotiations we agreed on 15 days," said Aswathi Muralidharan, a spokesman for Hazare's India Against Corruption campaign.
"There is no police limit on the number of people who can come to Ramlila Maidan. Anna is satisfied with the conditions and that is why he has agreed to leave Tihar (jail)," Muralidharan told AFP.
Hazare has actually been fasting ever since his arrest, but the public hunger strike will begin at 3:00pm (0930 GMT).
In scenes not witnessed in the capital for decades, tens of thousands marched through the heart of the city on Wednesday in a spontaneous display of anger at the endemic corruption that blights every level of Indian society.
Schoolchildren, office workers, retired government officers, army men and even a group of eunuchs were among those who rallied at the India Gate monument to call for an end to official graft.
The size of the protest and similar demonstrations in other cities piled pressure on Singh's government at a time of public outrage over a succession of multi-million-dollar scandals.
Singh's former telecoms minister A. Raja is currently under trial over a telecom licence scam that is thought to have cost the country up to $39 billion in lost revenue.
But corruption is most vividly felt in people's everyday lives, with seemingly endless requests for backhanders to secure everything from phone connections to birth certificates and school admissions letters.
The prime minister told parliament on Wednesday that Hazare's arrest had been justified by his refusal to accept the police restrictions on his planned fast.
"The path (Hazare) has chosen... is totally misconceived and fraught with grave consequences for our parliamentary democracy," Singh said as he was repeatedly interrupted by cries of "shame" from opposition benches.
Singh said using a public fast to try to shape the anti-corruption law constituted a direct challenge to the government.
"The question is who drafts the law and who makes the law," Singh told a packed lower house, adding that legislation was the "sole prerogative" of lawmakers.
The anti-corruption campaign has elevated Hazare into an enormously popular national figure.
His espousal of fasting as a form of protest, coupled with his trademark white cap and spectacles, have led to comparisons with his own professed hero, independence icon Mahatma Gandhi.
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@Karachi Se ...: Janaab, thanks a lot for making us aware of your similar saintly activists! We in India are hardly aware of such good people who are protesting in environments so much more difficult than us in India. Also I always say in my various write-ups, some even published by your DAWN, that India is Pakistan's only genuine friend. (http://www.dawn.com/2011/08/11/ties-with-india-pakistans-option.html) I was happy to read that Mr Jahangir Akhtar also thinks in the same direction. Such 'kaum' should be encouraged on both sides of the border. We are big fools to be killing each other over petty matters!
@K B Kale: In Indonesia, they are not in denial of their Hindu past and heritage. In Pakistan, this denial and warped self-loathing, as if one is tainted, by 'association' with their ancestry ... is at the heart of the identity complex. Indonesia, given its dictatorial history, and its radicalised Islamicists, is still able to create a diverse and ascendant economy. Pakistan, unfortunately, both for itself and for the wider prosperity of South Asia, hasn't succeeded in that project. In India, we are trying. In Bangladesh, they are learning from the mis-steps of both Pakistan and India. In Nepal, they are fumbling ... hopefully not for too long though. In Sri Lanka, they are recovering. But Pakistan as ever, remains at the cross-roads. I would say, all South Asia would change and pull together, if only Pakistan made the about turn. I sure hope, it will.
@K B Kale: Doesn't matter where do you live !!!!!!!! Because i have ample information on what south east asian muslims are doing with budhists and hindus in the region. Because these sane and secular and moderate people (to whome you were indicating in the reply to me) never fight the radicals in their religion. And i am afraid that the radicals are more in number than the liberals.
@K B Kale: but you cannot compare Indonesia and pakistan, the matter not largest muslim population, but is it's intensity, and the way of taking religion in policies and systems.
@Ravi [Bharat]: I live presently in Indonesia, a country with the world's biggest Muslim population. So I can't agree to your opinion. There are many saintly people in Indonesia.
@K B Kale: A country founded on religion can never have such a messiah. Pakistanis can only be united under the umbrella of Islam unlike indians who are united by the values guaranteed by the constitution of india. Also such movements need secular mindset which is rarely found in muslims.
@K B Kale: Pakistan has its share of hungerstrikes. Businessman, Jehangir Akhtar, has fasted before, and is mulling of doing the same, as Anna Hazare. But the more important thing is, how many ordinary and elite Pakistanis, will show up in Karachi, Quetta, Pindi, Islamabad, Lahore, Faisalabad, Hyderabad, Peshawar and every single geographic spot inbetween, to pressure the government and bureaucracy on corruption? . Here, in Pakistan, we not too long ago, made fun of a concerned young Pakistani, Zohair Toru, for actually taking the trouble, of showing up at a rally. See for yourself. The elite, would rather sit in cafes and drawing rooms on their laptops and update Facebook. Not very different, than in India, except, that in India, the middle class has decided to call corruption's bluff. In Pakistan, the middle class is seething but doesn't have blood-shot eyes.
Ever notice how a principled non violent man who is willing to take a stand can terrify an entire bureaucracy - reminds me a bit of how scared China is of the Dali Lama.
@shila: yaa, agree
a small portion from wikipedia
74 year old unmarried man, going to fast till the death for anticorruption, lokpal bill, for future of next generation and for future of India.
I always support him. He doing for us not like corrupt politician. My motto is who oppose him I don’t vote him next time (who ever from my local MP congress, BJP, NCP,...) Jai Hind.