By Minu Jain, IANS,
New Delhi : The diminutive, bespectacled man sipped from a glass of juice and cheers resonated across the vast expanse that is India. Anna Hazare had broken his 97-hour fast, marking the culmination of an unparalleled people’s movement against corruption that saw the government promise a more powerful anti-graft bill in the next session of parliament.
As Hazare, 73, ended his hunger strike Saturday, so did hundreds of other crusaders who had also undertaken the fast-unto-death for a Lokpal (ombudsman) bill with more teeth to battle corruption in public life.
It was 10.52 a.m., activists at Jantar Mantar, ground zero of the pan-India movement, noted. A historical moment, they said, that would go down in posterity as the end of the most spontaneous and powerful people’s mobilisation since independence, one that had nothing to do with politicians or politics.
Hazare, who began his fast Tuesday morning, congratulated the people for the success of the movement that saw Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issue a statement promising that the Lokpal (ombudsman) bill would be introduced this July.
Terming the movement a second freedom struggle, he said the system had to be changed. “We have got a lot of strength from the people,” said the former soldier who had dropped out of school in Class 7.
“I have broken the fast today because the government has fulfilled our demand by issuing this order,” he said, triumphantly flashing the gazette notifying the formation of a 10-member panel that would draft a stringent Lokpal bill to combat corruption in high places.
“The fact that civil society and government have joined hands to evolve a consensus to move this historic legislation augurs well for our democracy. I am pleased that Anna Hazareji has agreed to give up his fast,” the prime minister said in a statement.
“This is a scourge that confronts all of us.”
According to the notification – a point the government was reluctant to agree to but gave in as the civil society leaders insisted on it – the drafting committee of the Lokpal bill would comprise five ministers and five nominees of Hazare, including himself.
While the five ministers are Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram, M. Veerappa Moily, Kapil Sibal and Salman Khursheed, the civil society members are Anna Hazare, former Supreme Court judge N. Santosh Hegde, advocates Shanti and Prashant Bhushan and activist Arvind Kejriwal.
The chairperson of the committee is Finance Minister Mukherjee, co-chair Shanti Bhushan and the convenor, Law Minister Moily.
Shanti Bhushan, former law minister, said he expected the proposed Lokpal Bill to be passed unanimously by both houses of parliament.
He added that all strata of society were worried about graft, “whether it is small corruption or big corruption like the 2G scam”.
While experts sorted out the legalities, there was exultation in India. It was an emotive moment for the many thousands of unlikely activists who said they had been pulled into the movement because of the ideal of a clean India and because corruption affected them all.
“Youth got a chance to think… there will come a day when parents will ask their children not how many marks they got but how many people they helped,” said Ajay Rahul, who has been running a page of the social networking site Facebook from Jantar Mantar.
In Mumbai, television actor Kunika said overwhelmed was a minor word to describe her feelings. “When the notification came, it was euphoric. I couldn’t stop my tears,” she said.
In Amedabad, danseuse Mallika Sarabhai joined the other campaigners to burst into song, hailing the victory of the people.
In the corridors of power, officials tried to come to analyse the reasons for the massive upsurge of support for Hazare.
According to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) S.Y. Quraishi, the situation was comparable to the bursting of a pressure cooker. “There is a safety-valve in a pressure cooker to prevent bursting and breaking. But when the valve does not function, the cooker breaks.”
Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Vinod Rai said the people should take upon themselves the task of cleansing the system as the government “had failed to fight graft”.
The celebrations will continue all evening long with hundreds, including Anna Hazare, converging at India Gate in the national capital. And others elsewhere in the country.