Activist holds fast against India corruption
NEW DELHI — India's government faced a new challenge Wednesday from a popular 73-year-old Gandhi devotee who began hunger strike in demonstration against corruption and police brutality.Well-known activist Anna Hazare, who…
NEW DELHI — India's government faced a new challenge Wednesday from a popular 73-year-old Gandhi devotee who began hunger strike in demonstration against corruption and police brutality.Well-known activist Anna Hazare, who has a large public following, began his symbolic one-day fast at the site in New Delhi where Mahatma Gandhi, considered the father of the nation, was cremated.Indian police at the weekend crushed a protest by television yoga star Swami Ramdev, who drew a crowd of 50,000 people to New Delhi at the start of an indefinite hunger strike against graft.Hazare, who sat on a stage dressed in his trademark white cotton clothes, called his protest against the crackdown on Ramdev which left more than 70 people injured, two seriously.About 500 Hazare supporters made their way through extremely tight security by mid-morning and the protest was front-page news and given blanket coverage on Indian news channels."I am here to support Anna. I was shocked by the way the police misbehaved with innocent protesters during Baba Ramdev's demonstration," Rolly Mishra, a 25-year-old software engineer who had taken the day off work, told AFP."In a democracy, everyone has a right to stand up for a cause and no government can stop us from doing so."Anger about corruption is mounting in India after a series of scandals, notably a telecom licence scam that might have cost the country up to $39 billion.Some observers predicted the government's heavy-handed treatment of Ramdev, an eccentric with hardline proposals for tackling corruption, could lead to further protests.One of India's most popular authors, Chetan Bhagat, has orchestrated an online campaign against the government, calling on his followers on Twitter to observe a one-day fast in solidarity with Hazare.In April, Hazare observed a 98-hour hunger strike against corruption that won concessions from the government over the drafting of an anti-graft law. Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
last modification 2011-06-08 08:45:37
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