NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – A vast and jubilant crowd cheered as Gandhian activist Anna Hazare walked out of jail in New Delhi today to carry on a hunger strike in public, the latest act in a drama of popular fury over corruption that has put India’s government in a bind.
Fumbling as support for the anti-corruption crusader surged across the country, the government first jailed Hazare on Tuesday, then ordered his release and finally – when he refused to leave – granted him permission to stage his fast for 15 days.
There was a deafening roar of celebration as Hazare emerged from Delhi’s Tihar jail into a throng of fans undeterred by monsoon rains. Live TV images broadcast across the country showed people perched on electric poles and even traffic lights to catch a glimpse of him, and many chanted “Anna we are with you”.
Just past the gates he addressed the crowd. Raising his hand, he shouted “Victory to Mother India” and “A fight for freedom has begun”, before slowly winding his way in a truck decorated with flags through the crush of supporters.
Dressed in his trademark white cap, kurta and spectacles, the slight 74-year-old has evoked memories of the ascetic independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, who is revered as the father of the nation.
“There was a revolution and British left. But corruption and mismanagement did not. Now this is a second fight for freedom, a second revolution,” Hazare later told a crowd of about a thousand at the open ground where he is to fast.
Several scandals, including a telecoms bribery scandal that may have cost the government up to $39 billion, led to Hazare demanding anti-corruption measures. But the government bill creating an anti-graft ombudsman was criticised as too weak.
Hazare’s initial demands then mushroomed to catch the imagination of millions of Indians, especially a new middle class angry at constant bribes, from getting a driving license to winning a university place.
“We have not seen this kind of thing in the last 60 years in India,” said S.K. Sharma, 48, a company executive, outside the jail as he waited for Hazare. “If this carries on in this way for the next four days, you will see a new changed India.”
A blundering official response has led the Congress party-led government to face one of the most serious protest movements in India since the 1970s, just the latest in a series of setbacks for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s second term that have paralysed policy making and economic reforms.
One banner outside the jail read “Wake up Manmohan Singh.”
Many critics say Hazare’s arrest only inflamed passions and galvanised thousands.
However, some commentators said his campaign may peter out now he is out of from jail and, indeed, crowds were smaller than expected at the site of his public fast, an open ground caked in mud from the rains.
A medical team was on standby to monitor Hazare’s health as he began his hunger strike in jail. A sharp deterioration in his condition could further worsen the crisis for the government, although his supporters say it is not a fast-to-death.
