New Delhi:
After 160 hours without food, Anna Hazare has lost six kilos. The 74-year-old Gandhian has made it clear he will not end his hunger strike till his version of the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill is adopted.
''There are some ketones in his urine, but his health is fine,'' said his close associate, Arvind Kejriwal, at Ramlila Maidan, where Anna is the centrifugal force of a massive protest. Close to 35,000 people gathered there today. At every public speech that he delivers, Anna stresses, "You are my power." Sometimes, he cuts short his speeches by stating, "You'll have to forgive me, I am a little tired." Often, he can be seen lying down on the huge stage that has become his position of strength.
A team of 36 doctors are taking turns keeping tabs on Anna - three medical check-ups every day was among the deliverables his team agreed to when the Delhi Police granted permission for the 15-day protest at the public grounds in Central Delhi.
''An average person can fast and yet remain safe and healthy for up to about two weeks. But people like Anna Hazare, who have the experience and practice of fasting, can go on for much longer,'' said Dr. Ashok Pangaria, President of the association of neurologists in India.
Anna's record speaks for itself. He has fasted on 15 different occasions for different causes. The first, in 1980, lasted a day. His longest hunger strike -12 days -played out in 1996, when he asked the Maharashtra government to dismiss two corrupt ministers. Both the ministers in question had resigned on the eighth day of the fast. However, the Gandhian had continued with his fast, demending a 3-member committee to probe the corrution charges against the two ministers.
In April this year, his five-day hunger strike at Delhi's Jantar Mantar turned his India Against Corruption campaign into a force that the government could not ignore. As a way out of the impasse, the government offered Anna and his associates entry to a committee that would develop the Lokpal Bill, which provides for an independent anti-corruption agency. Anna's team worked with ministers. The mix was an unhappy one and ended with both sides clutching vastly disparate versions of the Bill.
Anna's core group has made it clear that his is not a fast unto death. Former cop and anticorruption activist Kiran Bedi appealed this evening to the public, urging "Anna's health is key. Don't let him down, come here and support him."