Anna Hazare addressing supporters after Lok Sabha passes Lokpal Bill.
It was a deja vu moment. Anna Hazare ended his fast on Wednesday, accepting coconut water from two school chidren in Anna caps as his supporters cheered and key aides like General VK singh and Kiran Bedi made speeches.
In a similar moment in 2011, Anna had ended a 16-day fast in Delhi on the promise that Parliament would soon pass the anti-graft Lokpal Bill. It did not happen for two years, impelling Anna's new fast in his Maharashtra village last week to pressure politicians to immediately pass the bill, which provides for a powerful national ombudsman to investigate wrongdoing in government,
With general elections round the corner, this time the Congress-led government rushed to ensure that both Houses passed a new version of the Bill. Anna ended his nine-day fast today, soon after the Lok Sabha cleared the bill, with the announcement that he will set up "watchdog bodies" made up of people of "impeccable integrity" to keep an eye on how the law
is enforced.
Missing from the picture today was Arvind Kejriwal, who was constantly by Anna's side in 2011, as they engineered a huge anti-graft movement that electrified middle-class India, on their demand for a Lokpal.
Today, Anna thanked political parties, legislators, a parliamentary committee, policemen, doctors and
"tentwalas" who helped at the venue of his fast, but made no mention of Mr Kejriwal and his role in building the Lokpal movement.
Instead, before he began his speech, the 76-year-old activist scolded some people standing in front of TV cameras and said, in an apparent reference to Mr Kejriwal, "The country or society does not benefit from people who stand before cameras. If I had chosen to stand in front of the
cameras, I would not have reached where I have."
Mr Kejriwal and Anna parted ways last year after the former decided to launch his party. Anna said he could not be associated with a political organisation.
They also disagree over the Lokpal Bill passed today; Anna approves of it, Mr Kejriwal's party said today, "The current Lokpal is weak."
"Anna deserves more than a Bharat Ratna; he has the respect and admiration of millions of Indians." AAP's Manish Sisodia said.