New Delhi:
Delhi is waiting for Anna Hazare to emerge from Tihar Jail; he's running about 30 minutes late so far. From prison, the Gandhian will head to Ramlila Maidan to launch his 15-day mass-protest in Delhi. En route, he will stop at India Gate and visit Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat.
2000 people have gathered outside Tihar in solidarity with the anti-corruption activist. Many had spent the night at Tihar, waiting for a glimpse of the man they believe can force change in India.
Anna has been fasting since Tuesday, when he was arrested. Doctors have been examining him regularly in prison. They will check on him thrice a day once he moves to Ramlila Maidan, the large grounds in Central Delhi that have been granted to Anna's team as a base-camp. About 1000 people have gathered there already, despite rain all morning.
Though Anna was told he could leave Tihar on Tuesday night, hours after he was arrested, he refused, launching a complex and extensive negotiation with the Delhi Police. What Team Anna wanted- and won after 24 hours of talks - was permission to hold a huge demonstration that would not restrict either the length of Anna's fast, or the number of people that could join the protest. In a matter of huge relief for the government, Team Anna has said his fast is "not a fast unto death but an indefinite fast." A set of conditions imposed upon the mass-protest mandate that Anna will allow doctors from both a private and government hospital to examine him.
Since Anna was arrested on Tuesday morning, the country has responded with huge marches and candlelight vigils. The government has finally accepted that the 74-year-old Gandhian has been nominated by the country as the icon of the war against corruption. So the government will work behind-the-scenes to persuade Anna to cut short his fast. It will also try and engage with Anna's close aides, some of them from his home turf of Maharashtra, in new discussions.
What Anna has been pushing is his team's version of a new anti-corruption law that Parliament plans to debate during its current session. Team Anna says that the Lokpal Bill which provides for an independent investigating agency to handle charges of corruption - an ombudsman committee- is weak. Team Anna has developed a parallel version of the
Lokpal Bill and wants the government to circulate this draft in parliament too.
As a possible compromise, the government may request Anna to appear before a parliamentary committee that's studying the Lokpal Bill.