Anna stays in Tihar tonight; Protest starts tomorrow at Ramlila Maidan

Mtoday news / PTI

New Delhi, August 18:   Anna Hazare will stay in Delhi’s Tihar Jail tonight and is likely to proceed tomorrow to Ramlila Maidan to launch a 15-day protest against corruption with thousands of supporters.  And Team Anna has made clear that his is an "indefinite fast and dharna" and not "a fast unto death."


The Gandhian activist has spent two nights in jail already, though the police said he was free to leave on Tuesday, hours after he was arrested and taken to prison, prompting huge protests across India.

 

 

Yesterday, Anna was with his aides in a conference room at Tihar while they negotiated with the Delhi Police the terms of the mass protest they had planned.  Anna, powered by public support, won hands down.  The police granted permission for his group to use Ramlila Maidan for 15 days. These grounds - which can accommodate several thousand people - are being cleaned up and prepped with tents, toilets and other facilities for the large crowds that are certain to gather around Anna.
 
The 74-year-old’s fast began on Tuesday.   Doctors supervising his health include some from a government hospital and famous heart specialist, Dr Naresh Trehan.  Anna team member Kiran Bedi specified this afternoon that his fast is "not a fast unto death, it is an indefinite fast" and that the activist’s health will be scrupulously monitored. This morning, he went through several health tests at Tihar Jail.

Mr Hazare was taken to Tihar Jail on Tuesday after he was arrested.  He was formally allowed to leave prison on Tuesday night, after the Delhi Police signed his release warrants. But the anti-corruption campaigner said he would stay in jail till the police agreed to let him stage his demonstration without limiting either the duration of his hunger strike or the number of people that could gather at his camp.  The breakthrough came last night with another Anna team-member, Kiran Bedi, sharing the details of the compromise on Twitter.  "Delhi Police removed the unacceptable conditions and offered 15 days permission. Anna accepted," she wrote.

 

 

As Anna’s team held their ground, thousands of Indians held rallies in support.  Last evening, upto 20,000 people marched in groups from India Gate to Jantar Mantar in the capital. Candlelight vigils were held in Mumbai, Guwahati, Chennai. And Bangalore continues to be one of Anna’s staunchest supporters - for the third day in a row, Freedom Park was packed with students and techies, wearing "I am Anna" t-shirts and caps. "I have skipped classes," said a young college student.  "I will not get this opportunity again."


It is Anna’s focus on fighting corruption that has served as a lightning rod for a country exposed to unprecedented corruption since September.  Many of those who are participating in his movement admit they don’t know the details of his agenda. 

 

 

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. The Lokpal Bill which provides for an ombudsman committee is weak, says Anna, and provides too many loopholes for politicians and bureaucrats who may need cover when accused of corruption.  The government, Anna’s critics, and other activists say that Anna’s own version would create an authoritarian panel with few checks and balances.


For middle class India, though, the India Against Corruption campaign fronted by Anna is both an outlet to vent its frustration, and a channel to demand change.  So far, the government has proven itself hopelessly out of synch with the public.  Anna’s arrest, his move to Tihar Jail (associated with hard-core criminals and home recently to politicians charged with corruption), and the Prime Minister’s statement yesterday in Parliament on these developments exposed that the UPA government’s political instincts are failing it when they are most needed.  The Opposition has found in Anna a uniting force, and it has launched a strong and effective attack on the government for violating Anna’s right to peaceful protest, as well as the alleged "lack of political will" in combating corruption.

Those who want to move into Ramlila Maidan in anticipation of the mass-protest have to wait a little longer.  The grounds are muddy on account of this week’s showers in Delhi.  Sniffer dogs and bomb disposal squads are clearing the area.