New Delhi:
After nearly 250 hours, Anna Hazare has ended his hunger strike in Delhi. In the ten days that he fasted, the 74-year-old lost six kilos, persuaded thousands to attend his camp in Delhi or march in solidarity in other cities, forced the government to blink first and blink hard, and generated international headlines.
Despite recurring concern about his health among his doctors and his methods among critics who charged him with hijacking democracy, Anna held his ground. From Delhi's sprawling Ramlila Maidan, where he drew blockbuster audiences, the Gandhian negotiated from a position of strength. "Anna, tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhaare saath hain (Anna, you fight, we are all with you)" became India's verbose equivalent of "Yes, we can." Anna's topi or cap was seen on newborns, freedom-fighters and women senior citizens. "I am Anna," declared T-shirts sported by students who skipped college to park themselves at Anna's sit-in.
Anna's challenge to the government was direct and simple: He would not eat till it introduced his version of a new anti-corruption bill for consideration in Parliament. The Lokpal Bill is named after the agency it mid-wives, which will have nine members with the power to pursue complaints of corruption against public servants. The activist and his advisors, nicknamed Team Anna, wrote off the government's draft as one designed to under-achieve. Team Anna put together its own version, which they titled the Jan Lokpal Bill or People's Lokpal Bill. Not all civil society activists support Anna's draft. Another group led by Aruna Roy has created a third version of the Lokpal Bill.
Anna's critics say the extent of his give diminished his claim to represent the will of the entire country. His original demand was that only the Jan Lokpal bill should be introduced in Parliament and accepted before this Parliament session ends on September 8. The government has said all three drafts of the bill will be discussed. But it has agreed that points in Anna's bill that earlier seemed contentious are being resolved.
Anna's anti-corruption movement made its first appearance in April, when he fasted for four days demanding that the government introduce a Lokpal Bill. Various versions of the bill had been debated for 62 years. A series of financial scandals conceived and exercised by politicians and bureaucrats suggested the government had been operating in a continuum of corruption. The country was ripe for a new hero who could become its rallying point.
As many have pointed out, for the average Indian, it is the bribes embedded in daily life that mattered more than either the multi-crore price-tagged scams that cascaded across the political landscape or Anna's emphasis on the Lokpal Bill. And so as Anna fasted, the streets filled with his supporters. Stumped, as if it had no suggestion of the people's frustration with graft, the government fumbled, then agreed to Anna's first demands: That the Lokpal bill would be introduced before the Monsoon Session of Parliament ended, and that Anna and his team would help write it.
It was a dangerous precedent, the government stressed, for non-elected representatives to play a formal role in legislation. But the steely force and expanse of the support for Anna forced it to bend. So five ministers were married with Anna and four of his nominees in a drafting committee to write the bill.
The divorce, as expected, was swift and harsh. After private meetings that ended with public accusations, both sides decided to deliver different versions of the Lokpal Bill. Team Anna said the government was obliged to render both versions in Parliament. The government, in a decision that has haunted it since, reduced Anna's version to a footnote and earlier this month, tabled its own draft. The Opposition, like Anna, questioned the government's decision to exempt the Prime Minister's Office from the purview of the Lokpal. As the BJP's Arun Jaitley said, "Should the world's largest democracy suffer a corrupt PM?"
Team Anna prepped for battle. It declared Anna would start a new hunger strike on August 16 and asked India to participate in "a second freedom struggle." The government trafficked in a series of miscues to block the protest. Congress members attacked Anna's reputation, party spokesperson Manish Tewari said he was "seeped in corruption from head to toe." Anna was denied several locations in Delhi for his mass-protest; then he was granted a park where he was told the crowd had to be limited to 5000 people. When he said he would not follow these restrictions, he was arrested on August 16 and moved to Delhi's high-security Tihar Jail, famous once for hosting the most hardened criminals and more recently several politicians accused of bare-faced corruption. The government could not have created a worse PR nightmare for itself. Anna announced his fast had begun. Demonstrations began across the country; the government blamed the Delhi police for blaming Anna; his release was sanctioned the same night.
And then Anna pulled a switcheroo. He refused to leave jail till the government agreed to let him hold his protest without any conditions for how many people could attend or how long he could fast. Ramlila Maidan in Central Delhi was hastily made-over despite the Delhi rain and slush. Four days after he had entered Tihar Jail, Anna emerged. On a truck. With close to 2000 people following him, he stopped at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat before arriving to a hero's welcome at his camp on a Friday morning.
Over the weekend, Anna's drawing power blazed. Unprecedented numbers of people marched from India Gate to Ramlila Maidan. Twice a day, Anna addressed them, always urging them to stay peaceful, and constantly underlining, "Whether I am here or not, you must continue the fight. The torch of revolution has been lit. Don't let anyone extinguish it." He said he would not eat till the Jan Lokpal Bill was passed by Parliament.
Doctors checked Anna regularly. By Tuesday evening, they said his condition was worrying. The Prime Minister wrote to Anna urging him to end his fast. The government deputed two ministers, Pranab Muherjee and Salman Khursheed, to talk to Anna's representatives: Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi, all respected as activists in their own right.
The ministers said Anna's bill would have to be sent, as is customary, for scrutiny to a parliamentary committee before it could be debated. Team Anna said the committee would have to be bypassed so that a debate could begin immediately. Opposition parties told the government to find a compromise soon, given Anna's worsening health, but to ensure that parliamentary procedures were not subverted.
Talks were progressing, the two sides said on Tuesday night, on how to bridge the gap between their separate drafts of the Lokpal Bill. The next 24 hours undid all that. Team Anna accused the government of reneging on commitments it had made. The government retaliated that Anna's aides were distorting facts and statements.
Widely criticised for refusing to comment or in any way address the nation throughout the crisis, Dr Manmohan Singh finally chose Parliament and a debate on corruption to speak about Anna. Acknowledging Anna's role in highlight the need to cleanse corruption, he said, "His point has been registered. I respect his idealism. Anna Hazare has become the embodiment of people's concern and disgust with corruption. I applaud him, I salute him."
The government also decided that Anna's aides were part of the problem. So the PM sent a message directly to Anna through Vilasrao Deshmukh. A senior leader from Maharashtra who has also served twice as Chief Minister, Mr Deshmukh has handled Anna's fasts in his home state on six different occasions. The activist and he share a good rapport. Mr Deshmukh repeated what the PM had offered in Parliament - that all three drafts of the Lokpal Bill including Anna's would be introduced for debate in Parliament.
Despite recurring concern about his health among his doctors and his methods among critics who charged him with hijacking democracy, Anna held his ground. From Delhi's sprawling Ramlila Maidan, where he drew blockbuster audiences, the Gandhian negotiated from a position of strength. "Anna, tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhaare saath hain (Anna, you fight, we are all with you)" became India's verbose equivalent of "Yes, we can." Anna's topi or cap was seen on newborns, freedom-fighters and women senior citizens. "I am Anna," declared T-shirts sported by students who skipped college to park themselves at Anna's sit-in.
Anna's challenge to the government was direct and simple: He would not eat till it introduced his version of a new anti-corruption bill for consideration in Parliament. The Lokpal Bill is named after the agency it mid-wives, which will have nine members with the power to pursue complaints of corruption against public servants. The activist and his advisors, nicknamed Team Anna, wrote off the government's draft as one designed to under-achieve. Team Anna put together its own version, which they titled the Jan Lokpal Bill or People's Lokpal Bill. Not all civil society activists support Anna's draft. Another group led by Aruna Roy has created a third version of the Lokpal Bill.
Anna's critics say the extent of his give diminished his claim to represent the will of the entire country. His original demand was that only the Jan Lokpal bill should be introduced in Parliament and accepted before this Parliament session ends on September 8. The government has said all three drafts of the bill will be discussed. But it has agreed that points in Anna's bill that earlier seemed contentious are being resolved.
Anna's anti-corruption movement made its first appearance in April, when he fasted for four days demanding that the government introduce a Lokpal Bill. Various versions of the bill had been debated for 62 years. A series of financial scandals conceived and exercised by politicians and bureaucrats suggested the government had been operating in a continuum of corruption. The country was ripe for a new hero who could become its rallying point.
As many have pointed out, for the average Indian, it is the bribes embedded in daily life that mattered more than either the multi-crore price-tagged scams that cascaded across the political landscape or Anna's emphasis on the Lokpal Bill. And so as Anna fasted, the streets filled with his supporters. Stumped, as if it had no suggestion of the people's frustration with graft, the government fumbled, then agreed to Anna's first demands: That the Lokpal bill would be introduced before the Monsoon Session of Parliament ended, and that Anna and his team would help write it.
It was a dangerous precedent, the government stressed, for non-elected representatives to play a formal role in legislation. But the steely force and expanse of the support for Anna forced it to bend. So five ministers were married with Anna and four of his nominees in a drafting committee to write the bill.
The divorce, as expected, was swift and harsh. After private meetings that ended with public accusations, both sides decided to deliver different versions of the Lokpal Bill. Team Anna said the government was obliged to render both versions in Parliament. The government, in a decision that has haunted it since, reduced Anna's version to a footnote and earlier this month, tabled its own draft. The Opposition, like Anna, questioned the government's decision to exempt the Prime Minister's Office from the purview of the Lokpal. As the BJP's Arun Jaitley said, "Should the world's largest democracy suffer a corrupt PM?"
Team Anna prepped for battle. It declared Anna would start a new hunger strike on August 16 and asked India to participate in "a second freedom struggle." The government trafficked in a series of miscues to block the protest. Congress members attacked Anna's reputation, party spokesperson Manish Tewari said he was "seeped in corruption from head to toe." Anna was denied several locations in Delhi for his mass-protest; then he was granted a park where he was told the crowd had to be limited to 5000 people. When he said he would not follow these restrictions, he was arrested on August 16 and moved to Delhi's high-security Tihar Jail, famous once for hosting the most hardened criminals and more recently several politicians accused of bare-faced corruption. The government could not have created a worse PR nightmare for itself. Anna announced his fast had begun. Demonstrations began across the country; the government blamed the Delhi police for blaming Anna; his release was sanctioned the same night.
And then Anna pulled a switcheroo. He refused to leave jail till the government agreed to let him hold his protest without any conditions for how many people could attend or how long he could fast. Ramlila Maidan in Central Delhi was hastily made-over despite the Delhi rain and slush. Four days after he had entered Tihar Jail, Anna emerged. On a truck. With close to 2000 people following him, he stopped at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat before arriving to a hero's welcome at his camp on a Friday morning.
Over the weekend, Anna's drawing power blazed. Unprecedented numbers of people marched from India Gate to Ramlila Maidan. Twice a day, Anna addressed them, always urging them to stay peaceful, and constantly underlining, "Whether I am here or not, you must continue the fight. The torch of revolution has been lit. Don't let anyone extinguish it." He said he would not eat till the Jan Lokpal Bill was passed by Parliament.
Doctors checked Anna regularly. By Tuesday evening, they said his condition was worrying. The Prime Minister wrote to Anna urging him to end his fast. The government deputed two ministers, Pranab Muherjee and Salman Khursheed, to talk to Anna's representatives: Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi, all respected as activists in their own right.
The ministers said Anna's bill would have to be sent, as is customary, for scrutiny to a parliamentary committee before it could be debated. Team Anna said the committee would have to be bypassed so that a debate could begin immediately. Opposition parties told the government to find a compromise soon, given Anna's worsening health, but to ensure that parliamentary procedures were not subverted.
Talks were progressing, the two sides said on Tuesday night, on how to bridge the gap between their separate drafts of the Lokpal Bill. The next 24 hours undid all that. Team Anna accused the government of reneging on commitments it had made. The government retaliated that Anna's aides were distorting facts and statements.
Widely criticised for refusing to comment or in any way address the nation throughout the crisis, Dr Manmohan Singh finally chose Parliament and a debate on corruption to speak about Anna. Acknowledging Anna's role in highlight the need to cleanse corruption, he said, "His point has been registered. I respect his idealism. Anna Hazare has become the embodiment of people's concern and disgust with corruption. I applaud him, I salute him."
The government also decided that Anna's aides were part of the problem. So the PM sent a message directly to Anna through Vilasrao Deshmukh. A senior leader from Maharashtra who has also served twice as Chief Minister, Mr Deshmukh has handled Anna's fasts in his home state on six different occasions. The activist and he share a good rapport. Mr Deshmukh repeated what the PM had offered in Parliament - that all three drafts of the Lokpal Bill including Anna's would be introduced for debate in Parliament.
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