Jan Lokpal Bill: What Anna Hazare does when he's not on stage?

NEW DELHI: Well before he comes before the people every morning at the Ramlila Ground, Anna Hazare locks himself in a 10x10 feet makeshift room backstage and writes in meditative silence for over two hours. It is an activity he's particular about.

Though the activist abstains from his routine yoga during fasts, writing is one thing he never compromises on, said Suresh Pathare, a Hazare confidant who is from his Ralegan-Siddhi village in Maharashtra.

His schedule during his hunger strike, which entered the seventh day Monday, goes something like this.

The 74-year-old wakes up at 6.30 a.m. in a room hidden behind the grand stage. He takes about an hour to get ready. Shaving is a must, "a habit from his military days", says Pathare, who has been with Hazare for about 10 years.

An hour later, he gets down to writing.

What does he write? "About little things, humanity, rights... He puts on paper a lot of internal thoughts," says Pathare, 31.

"Even in Tihar (Jail), he used to write a lot. In jail he used to read newspapers and watch news on TV, but here he just writes."

Pathare added: "In the village, he sometimes doesn't come out of his house for days. No one has the guts to knock on his door.

"If someone has to bring him food, he'll keep it outside and leave. No one can dare to disturb him."

Pathare first met Hazare during a rural development project in the village. He has since become his loyal aide.

It is only at around 10 a.m. that Hazare appears before the waiting crowd, which bursts into a prolonged applause on seeing the former soldier who ferried supplies to the frontlines in the Indian Army.

He stays on the stage till 9 p.m., sometimes sitting in an upright posture and sometimes taking help of the bolster to give his body some stretch.

The gathering keeps a steady chant of slogans hailing him. He faintly smiles. It is only occasionally that he picks up a mike and addresses the crowds.

A portable toilet is placed next to his makeshift room. Doctors check him every three hours.

At around 10 p.m., the activist calls it a day and retires to his room.

"Anna likes to sleep at the venue when he's fasting," said Pathare, who has been with Hazare during all his last 10 fasts in the past decade.

However, during the five-day fast at Jantar Mantar here in the city centre, Hazare used fellow activist Swami Agnivesh's home nearby to get fresh.

Besides the multiple medical check-ups daily, a 24-hour ambulance is parked outside Hazare's night shelter.

Balram Gupta, a doctor from Medanta Medicity, told IANS: "His blood pressure, heart rate, everything is fine. He's a very tolerant man."

Volunteers are parked behind the stage.

Around 300-400 activists are deployed at the ground, which is bigger than a football field, apart from police force.

Hazare's meetings are restricted to close aides and special guests.

Pathare said that Hazare was very particular about time.

"If he has two back-to-back engagements and the first function stretches on a little and he gets late for the second meeting, he gets very angry," he said.

Aswathi Muralitharan, who has been with India Against Corruption (IAC) for two years, reveals another Hazare characteristic.

"He will never sign a document without going through it. He'd check it 100 times and make at least 50 changes. No one can impose anything on him."

Adds Pathare: "He writes, rewrites, improvising again and again, till he's satisfied. He's a perfectionist."

What Anna Hazare does when he's not on stage?

NEW DELHI: Well before he comes before the people every morning at the Ramlila Ground, Anna Hazare locks himself in a 10x10 feet makeshift room backstage and writes in meditative silence for over two hours. It is an activity he's particular about.

Though the activist abstains from his routine yoga during fasts, writing is one thing he never compromises on, Suresh Pathare, a Hazare confidant who is from his Ralegan-Siddhi village in Maharashtra, said.

His schedule during his hunger strike, which entered the seventh day on Monday, goes something like this.

The 74-year-old wakes up at 6.30am in a room hidden behind the grand stage. He takes about an hour to get ready. Shaving is a must, "a habit from his military days", says Pathare, who has been with Hazare for about 10 years.

An hour later, he gets down to writing.

What does he write? "About little things, humanity, rights... He puts on paper a lot of internal thoughts," says Pathare, 31.

"Even in Tihar (Jail), he used to write a lot. In jail he used to read newspapers and watch news on TV, but here he just writes."

Pathare added: "In the village, he sometimes doesn't come out of his house for days. No one has the guts to knock on his door.

"If someone has to bring him food, he'll keep it outside and leave. No one can dare to disturb him."

Pathare first met Hazare during a rural development project in the village. He has since become his loyal aide.

It is only at around 10am that Hazare appears before the waiting crowd, which bursts into a prolonged applause on seeing the former soldier who ferried supplies to the frontlines in the Indian Army.

He stays on the stage till 9pm, sometimes sitting in an upright posture and sometimes taking help of the bolster to give his body some stretch.

The gathering keeps a steady chant of slogans hailing him. He faintly smiles. Occasionally that he picks up a mike and addresses the crowds.

A portable toilet is placed next to his makeshift room. Doctors check him every three hours.

At around 10pm, the activist calls it a day and retires to his room.

"Anna likes to sleep at the venue when he's fasting," said Pathare, who has been with Hazare during all his last 10 fasts in the past decade.

However, during the five-day fast at Jantar Mantar here, Hazare used fellow activist Swami Agnivesh's home nearby to get fresh.

Besides the multiple medical check-ups daily, a 24-hour ambulance is parked outside Hazare's night shelter.

Balram Gupta, a doctor from Medanta Medicity, told IANS: "His blood pressure, heart rate, everything is fine. He's a very tolerant man."

Volunteers are parked behind the stage.

Around 300-400 activists are deployed at the ground, which is bigger than a football field, apart from police force.

Hazare's meetings are restricted to close aides and special guests.

Pathare said that Hazare was very particular about time.

"If he has two back-to-back engagements and the first function stretches on a little and he gets late for the second meeting, he gets very angry," he said.

Aswathi Muralitharan, who has been with India Against Corruption (IAC) for two years, reveals another Hazare characteristic.

"He will never sign a document without going through it. He'd check it 100 times and make at least 50 changes. No one can impose anything on him."

Adds Pathare: "He writes, rewrites, improvising again and again, till he's satisfied. He's a perfectionist."

No single solution to tackle problem of corruption: Manmohan

The Prime Minister said creation of Lokpal as an institution would not solve the problem and reiterated that there was no 'magic wand' to remove corruption.


With Team Anna stepping up the heat on the corruption issue, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said the government was open to reasoned debate on the Lokpal Bill but made it clear that there was no single solution to tackle the problem.

“We have introduced the bill in Parliament which is now before the standing committee. There are differences of views on details of the bill,” Dr. Singh said at the golden jubilee function of the Indian Institute of Management here.

“We have made it clear that all concerned individuals should convey their concern on different aspects of the bill to their representatives in Parliament and to the standing committee”, he said.

Dr. Singh said, “We are open to a reasoned debate on all these issues”.

Recalling his Independence Day address, Dr. Singh said, “I said (in my speech) that there is no magic wand that can solve the problem in one stroke. There is no single solution. We need to act on multiple fronts”.

He said that the creation of Lokpal as an institution would help but it would not solve the problem. “It needs to be supported by improvements in the pace and quality of judicial processes”.

He said that corruption has not disappeared from the system and it surfaces in many forms.

“The ‘aam aadmi’ faces corruption when he has to pay a bribe to facilitate ordinary transactions with the government”, the Prime Minister said.

“There is also corruption on a larger scale. Large government contracts can breed corruption when government procedures are inadequate”, he said.

He said that strong procedures were needed to eliminate corruption and the government was serious to remove it.

“It is a mistake to see corruption as a consequence of economic liberalisation and reforms, Dr. Singh said, adding “any area which has actually seen systematic reforms has seen disappearance of corruption.”

'Need to strengthen regulatory institutions'

The Prime Minister said many of the controversies that have arisen in the recent past were due to inadequacies of our regulatory institutions.

“We need to strengthen this regulatory framework, including strengthening their technical capacity”, he said.

The funding of elections and of political parties was another area calling for reforms to reduce the scope for generation of black money, he said.

Stressing the need to thoroughly revamp existing government procedures to reduce discretion and to make the basis of decision making as transparent as possible, the Prime minister said, “I have asked a group of Ministers to look into this issue and I am confident we will come up with systemic solution“.

He urged the IIM students to contribute as managers to the process by suggesting mechanisms that would increase transparency.

Pointing out that many countries have a law to govern government procurement, he said, “We propose to introduce legislation along these lines. The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law has recently modified its earlier model procurement law. We can benefit from this latest model law and internalise international best practices.

“I would urge state governments to do the same”, he said.

He said, “A comprehensive restructuring of government system and procedures along these lines is necessary if we want to clean up the system. Clean it up we must“.

Observing that economic reforms were aimed at unleashing India’s enormous entrepreneurial potential to accelerate the pace of economic development, Dr. Singh said, “Along with the techno-economic issues which we deal with in our planning process, we also need to change our system of governance to eliminate corruption. It will take time and effort but it can be done”

NCP not happy with Hazare's arrest, says it was not proper

Leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a key Congress ally at the Centre and in Maharashtra, on Saturday said that the arrest of social activist Anna Hazare was not proper and everyone had a right to express their feelings and opinions in a democratic society.

Speaking to the media, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who belongs to the NCP, said everyone has a right to express their opinion and also to go on a hunger strike. But to arrest someone even before he went on a fast was not correct and then later taking him to jail and asking to leave was improper, he pointed out. Mr. Pawar was speaking to the media after a Congressman from Ahmednagar Rajeev Rajale joined the NCP.

Earlier, NCP general secretary D.P. Tripathi too said that there was no need for Mr. Hazare's arrest. Besides, the Congress did not take its allies into confidence before this action, he added.

HE MADE IT KNOWN

Mr. Pawar said that Mr. Hazare had made his demands much in advance and already indicated that he would go on a hunger strike. Referring to Mr. Hazare's protests in Maharashtra, Mr. Pawar said that he had carried out many protests and fasts and the leadership had found a way out through mediation and discussion. He said even now when there were issues, he and the Chief Minister discussed and tried to resolve matters. However, he was not willing to get drawn into any criticism against the Centre.

Mr. Pawar said the Jan Lokpal bill was pending and since this was a democracy, elected representatives in the Parliament would discuss it later. He said if any expertise from the State was needed, then Maharashtra was well-represented in the Union Cabinet. The Centre was perfectly capable of taking decisions on its own. In fact, some time ago, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had called a meeting of all the allies. When asked if he felt the Congress had not taken its allies into confidence, he said he would not comment on it.

‘NCP NOT UNLEASHED'

In response to questions, he said it was totally wrong to say that the NCP was being “unleashed” on the Congress as was reported in a section of the media. He clarified that the NCP was not against Mr. Hazare at all and everyone was for eradicating corruption. However, it must be done within a legal and constitutional framework. He said even the Prime Minister had accepted the need for a Jan Lokpal and it could be passed through the Parliament with amendments, if necessary. “There are no two opinions that corruption must be cleaned up and the bill such as this is can be debated,” he said.

Mr Pawar said that the current agitation of Mr. Hazare had kept political parties at bay and even their flags were not permitted. Anna's supporters were apolitical, he said.

MAVAL ISSUE

On the Maval issue, Mr. Pawar said he had condemned it in the State Legislative Assembly the very next day after the incident and both he and the Chief Minister had discussed the matter. Asked about Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's visit, he said that Mr. Gandhi was a leader and possibly a future Prime Minister and he went wherever there was an issue involving farmers. The NCP had already stated that the firing should not have happened.

When asked about proposed changes in the Home Ministry, Mr. Pawar said he had only read about it in the newspapers. There had been a lot of buzz that R.R. Patil was on his way out as the NCP was unhappy with his functioning. However, Mr. Pawar denied he went to New Delhi as was reported in the media and clarified there was no discussion on any change in the Home Ministry. If there was going to be any change, the party high command would decide and he was not going to meddle in it. And it will not be discussed with the media first, he pointed out.

NCP president Sharad Pawar is in the city to attend the Iftar party hosted by it. There are reports that he may visit Mawal en route Pune on Sunday.

Hazare's protest

It is not any ‘outside' force (as claimed by the Congress) but the ‘force' called corruption that is inducing people to come out in large numbers in support of Anna Hazare. It is evident that the UPA government is concerned more about taking on him, not corruption. Instead of targeting him and seeking to divert people's attention, the Congress-led coalition should think of some constructive ways of adding weight to the Lokpal Bill. Whether or not people support Mr. Hazare, they feel that the government Bill is a fractured one.

S. Pravish,

Chennai

A few have described Mr. Hazare's protest as blackmail that undermines Parliament. But can they tell us how to end corruption, now that the Prime Minister has said he doesn't have a magic wand to eradicate it? It is not just the Congress but the entire political class that is against an effective tool to curb corruption.

No system is foolproof. Laws, including the Constitution, are subject to change in the interest of the nation. All that Mr. Hazare is doing is mobilising public opinion to rectify some flaws in our system. Can't Parliament, which accommodates even those who have criminal cases pending against them, consider Team Anna's Jan Lokpal Bill?

Biranchi Narayan Acharya,

Cuttack

Mumbai dabbawallahs' decision to strike work for a day, breaking a 120-year tradition, to support the Jan Lokpal Bill points to the remarkable assertion of the common man against the growing menace of corruption. It is an unmistakable demonstration of the importance the country attaches to good governance.

K.V. Raghuram,

Wayanad

A strong Lokpal is the need of the hour. Mr. Hazare is the right person to lead the fight against the political class which has showed no resolve to eliminate corruption. The movement against corruption should not be seen as a showdown between the government and civil society. Every citizen has the right to a corruption-free administration.

Basavaraj Revannavar,

Dharwad

I am amused on reading the reports, articles and letters on corruption. Everyone knows what the sources of corruption are. We know full well that nobody can buy or sell property, get an electricity or water connection or work done in a government office without bribing. We all know that educational institutions bribe the higher bodies to get recognition. There are institutions where bribe appears ‘legalised.' But nobody even murmurs because all of us are interested in getting things done at the earliest.

We also know that corruption and black money can be reduced to a great extent if we make the punishment for the offences stringent. What is lacking is the will.

A. Ramadas,

Puducherry

Some readers have expressed the view that we should stop bribing in our day-to-day lives if corruption is to be eradicated. Common people do not give bribes willingly; they are forced to pay. Of course, there are a few who bribe others for selfish reasons. But most people offer bribes because they have no choice. Mr. Hazare is doing what people want, which is why they are with him. What other option do they have?

Rajapandi Selvaraj,

Chennai

The allegation that Mr. Hazare is obstinate and unreasonable is misplaced. To brand his agitation a blackmailing tactic is unfair. Was the Dandi march against the salt tax unlawful and belligerent? If yes, then Team Anna's protest is anti-everything too. It is apparent that no politician wants an effective Lokpal.

Anilkumar Kurup,

Anna is not India nor India Anna

With the anti-corruption movement spearheaded by Anna Hazare winning the first round hands down and the United Progressive Alliance government capitulating to its demand that the Gandhian must be allowed to lead an indefinite fast without any restrictions worth speaking about, the focus shifts to what the agitation can expect to achieve in terms of an effective Lokpal Bill. The conditions seem propitious considering that the unintended consequence of a scam-tainted government's initial reaction — which bore the stamp of Pavlovian conditioning — has been the strengthening of the anti-corruption mood in the country. What the agitation symbolised by Mr. Hazare has succeeded in doing is to totally discredit the content of, and the motivation behind, the Lokpal Bill the UPA government has introduced in Parliament — which Prashant Bhushan, a key member of Team Anna, has taken to calling the ‘Promotion of Corruption Bill.' The wise course for the government is to withdraw the Bill immediately, without standing on false prestige. Not to do so would only strengthen the popular perception, reflected in a number of public opinion surveys, that it is bent on perpetuating and covering up corruption.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's exposition of a “constitutional philosophy” in his August 17 statement in the Lok Sabha misses the mark by a mile. Even a cursory look at the history and sociology of how major laws are shaped in India and other parliamentary democracies shows that quite often they are the end product of movements and struggles of various kinds and that the proposition that it is “the sole prerogative of Parliament to make a law” is true only in the most literal, superficial, banal sense. Moreover, in the Indian constitutional scheme (in contrast to the British), Parliament is not supreme; it is the Constitution that is supreme. That said, it does not in the least follow that settling the terms of the anti-corruption institutional mechanism can be left solely to Team Anna or that its Jan Lokpal Bill, which has some impractical and unsound provisions, must be accepted in toto. In quite un-Gandhian fashion, a mood of triumphalism has taken over the current occupants of Ramlila Maidan. Mr. Hazare has stated that he would not budge from the venue until the Jan Lokpal Bill was introduced in Parliament; and Kiran Bedi, a widely admired member of Team Anna, was so carried away by the mood that she proclaimed, perhaps momentarily forgetting the slogan's authoritarian era associations, that “Anna is India and India is Anna.” Democratic, progressive, political India needs to find its own way. It must use this favourable moment to push forward and shape a law that centre-stages the principle of independent, effective, and quick-acting investigation and prosecution of corruption, especially in high places.

BJP supports Hazare’s crusade against corruption: Gadkari

Extending support to Anna Hazare’s anti-graft crusade, BJP President Nitin Gadkari on Thursday asserted that it was his party that brought corruption and black money issues to the forefront and now it will firmly stand behind the social activist in his agitation.

“BJP had not failed or delayed anywhere on raising such topical public issues. BJP very much voiced corruption in 2G spectrum and Commonwealth Games, and even did not allow ruling Congress-led UPA government to run both houses of Parliament,” Mr. Gadkari told media persons at the airport here while on his way to Ujjain for attending RSS meet.

The country and its citizens have woken up now, and no government can crush their agitation. ‘BJP anna ke saath hai’ (BJP is with Anna), Mr. Gadkari said.

He said after BJP spearheaded the corruption and black money issues in Parliament and in public, non-political and social organisations took it up and gave it a momentum.

He however said that Mr. Hazare and Baba Ramdev’s agitation against corruption does not indicate that political parties including the BJP are incompetent or have failed to raise the issue effectively.

“The agitation or movement on public issues by political parties and non-political (social) organisations should not be compared. Now its time to fight corruption jointly,” Mr. Gadkari said.

Govt works hard to free Anna Hazare

The stalemate between the UPA government and Team Anna continued even 24 hours after Anna Hazare and his colleagues were formally “released” from Tihar Jail. But the “release” remained on paper as Anna refused to walk out unless the government accepted his demands unconditionally.

“We will only begin negotiating with the government after we get permission for Anna to continue his fast without any conditions,” lawyer Prashant Bhushan told DNA.

Even as the government set up a team of five officers from the Intelligence Bureau to keep a close eye on Hazare’s movements, negotiations between the two sides continued late into the night, with everything hinging on the duration of the fast.

Team Anna wanted Delhi’s Ramlila grounds for 30 days, but the government wanted to keep it down to seven days with a possible extension of an additional week. The government was also firm that the electronic media would not be allowed to cover the agitation live.

And as the day progressed, crowds continued to swell across the national capital. Thousands were camped outside Tihar jail overnight while huge crowds congregated at India Gate and Chhatrasal Stadium. Earlier on Wednesday, director general (prisons) Neeraj Kumar told DNA that as Anna refused to move out of the jail he had been accommodated in the jail’s compound.

Inside Parliament, a furious debate between the government and the opposition raged with prime minister Manmohan Singh standing up to make a statement on Anna’s arrest that was immediately dismissed as “weak and ineffective”, designed to “protect the corrupt”.

Earlier, former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, who played a major role in the negotiations, told DNA that “Annaji has met the senior leadership of the Delhi police and the negotiations are on on the number of days the fast can go on.”

But the decision to arrest Anna and then take him to Tihar seems to have been the biggest strategic blunder that the UPA’s political managers committed. In a battle of perceptions, while the UPA was hell-bent on denying Anna space for the fast, they ended up giving him Tihar jail as a venue on a platter.

With Anna “in jail” the anger among his supporters spread quickly to other states.

“We made huge mistakes,” a senior Congress leader told DNA. “Had we allowed the protests, we would have probably tired them out without granting an inch. The protesters would have left after the initial enthusiasm. But with him in jail, the sympathy factor just galvanised the masses.”

This “blunder”, political and senior home ministry bureaucrats told DNA, was clearly an error of judgment by Union home minister P Chidambaram. There were three major mistakes that Chidambaram seems to have committed, they argued. His refusal to heed police commissioner BK Gupta’s pleas to avoid arresting Anna was the first mistake.

“There was a general consensus among the bureaucracy on this. The idea was to allow Anna to fast while the government hammered out an amicable solution,” a senior official told DNA.

The second mistake was the timing of Anna’s arrest. “It is a standard practice to arrest someone in the early hours and then extern him out of Delhi. But the government dithered and lost precious time and then failed to send him to Pune, as decided.”

The third mistake was to send Anna to seven days judicial custody that brought the crowds running to Tihar jail. People like Arvind Dhillon, (name changed), who is posted in Delhi with the Indian Air Force took leave to join the protests. “I took an off along with a friend from the Indian Navy,” Dhillon told DNA.

Manmohan, Chidambaram give different versions

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday gave two entirely different versions in the Lok Sabha on the reasons that prompted the police to move the magistrate to review his earlier order to remand social activist Anna Hazare and his supporters in seven-day judicial custody.

In his statement to the House, Dr. Singh said the police approached the magistrate on the basis of information ‘received' that Team Anna intended to move the Supreme Court challenging the police orders and the petition was likely to be mentioned before the apex court on Wednesday for urgent hearing.

Responding to the discussion on the Prime Minister's statement, Mr. Chidambaram conceded in response to a specific question by JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav that it was a “political decision” on his advice to the Police Commissioner. “When we heard that Shri Annaji has been remanded in judicial custody, I advised the Delhi Police Commissioner in the evening to go back to the magistrate to get the order reviewed,” Mr. Chidambaram said.

Dr. Singh in his statement said: “Late yesterday [Tuesday] evening, the Delhi Police received information that Shri Anna Hazare intended to move the Supreme Court challenging the orders of the Delhi Police. The Delhi Police also received information that the petition was likely to be mentioned before the Supreme Court on Wednesday, i.e. today, for urgent hearing.

“Since there were reasonable grounds to believe that Shri Anna Hazare had opted to seek legal remedies, the Delhi Police did not apprehend any imminent breach of peace or imminent disturbance to the tranquillity if the arrested persons were released. Hence, the Delhi Police moved the Magistrate concerned to review his earlier order and the Magistrate was pleased to release Shri Anna Hazare and the other arrested persons at about 7 p.m. on Tuesday.”