Hunger strike protester claims victory in corruption protest
Source: Agencies |
August 29, 2011, Monday
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Print Edition
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SIPPING coconut water and honey, a self-styled Gandhian anti-corruption reformer ended a hunger strike on its 13th day yesterday, a protest that had sparked huge rallies across the country.
After initially arresting Anna Hazare and dismissing him as an anarchist, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government caved in to the demands of the 74-year-old as parliament backed anti-graft legislation that met many of his demands.
"It is a proud moment for the country that a mass movement which was carried out for 13 days was peaceful and non-violent," said Hazare in New Delhi. He added: "The people's parliament is bigger than Delhi's parliament."
Hazare tapped a groundswell of public anger against endemic corruption, uniting the country's bulging -middle-class against a hapless political elite.
More than 40,000 supporters flocked to witness Hazare break his fast, according to local media, while TV pictures showed hundreds of people dancing, celebrating and distributing sweets in the activist's home town in western India.
Anti-corruption legislation was presented in early August, but activists criticized the draft version as toothless because the prime minister and judges were exempt from investigation.
Hazare demanded the bill include putting civil servants and similar agencies under a proposed corruption agency's authority, and created a citizen's charter.
In calling off the hunger strike, his second this year, the veteran activist fired a warning shot at lawmakers and the weary government, threatening to restart his agitation should parliament renege on its promises.
That threat, a headache for the ruling Congress Party that will hope to move on from the crisis to tackle key economic reforms shelved in the political melee, came as another social activist cautioned against expecting "a miracle."
Santosh Hegde, a former Supreme Court judge who sat on the panel that drafted the bill, said: "We have achieved the first milestone in having a strong law and it may take its own time. It is not something you can expect today, tomorrow or next month.
"Let not the people of India expect a miracle."
Hazare also declared his intention to campaign against "corrupt" politicians in the 2014 general election, in a country where 30 percent of lower house members of parliament have criminal cases pending against them, according to research by the Association for Democratic Reforms.
Undermined by graft scandals and seen as out of touch with voters battling high inflation, Congress's failure to deal with Hazare's campaign before it flared into a national issue spells danger for the ruling party in state polls.
While protests in India are not uncommon, the sight of many well-off young professionals, using Twitter and Facebook, taking to the streets of Asia's third-largest economy suggest an awakening of a previously politically-ambivalent middle-class.
"Anna wins it for the people," said India's Sunday Times newspaper.
After initially arresting Anna Hazare and dismissing him as an anarchist, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government caved in to the demands of the 74-year-old as parliament backed anti-graft legislation that met many of his demands.
"It is a proud moment for the country that a mass movement which was carried out for 13 days was peaceful and non-violent," said Hazare in New Delhi. He added: "The people's parliament is bigger than Delhi's parliament."
Hazare tapped a groundswell of public anger against endemic corruption, uniting the country's bulging -middle-class against a hapless political elite.
More than 40,000 supporters flocked to witness Hazare break his fast, according to local media, while TV pictures showed hundreds of people dancing, celebrating and distributing sweets in the activist's home town in western India.
Anti-corruption legislation was presented in early August, but activists criticized the draft version as toothless because the prime minister and judges were exempt from investigation.
Hazare demanded the bill include putting civil servants and similar agencies under a proposed corruption agency's authority, and created a citizen's charter.
In calling off the hunger strike, his second this year, the veteran activist fired a warning shot at lawmakers and the weary government, threatening to restart his agitation should parliament renege on its promises.
That threat, a headache for the ruling Congress Party that will hope to move on from the crisis to tackle key economic reforms shelved in the political melee, came as another social activist cautioned against expecting "a miracle."
Santosh Hegde, a former Supreme Court judge who sat on the panel that drafted the bill, said: "We have achieved the first milestone in having a strong law and it may take its own time. It is not something you can expect today, tomorrow or next month.
"Let not the people of India expect a miracle."
Hazare also declared his intention to campaign against "corrupt" politicians in the 2014 general election, in a country where 30 percent of lower house members of parliament have criminal cases pending against them, according to research by the Association for Democratic Reforms.
Undermined by graft scandals and seen as out of touch with voters battling high inflation, Congress's failure to deal with Hazare's campaign before it flared into a national issue spells danger for the ruling party in state polls.
While protests in India are not uncommon, the sight of many well-off young professionals, using Twitter and Facebook, taking to the streets of Asia's third-largest economy suggest an awakening of a previously politically-ambivalent middle-class.
"Anna wins it for the people," said India's Sunday Times newspaper.
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