Indian anti-graft activist arrested as protests spread

Anna Hazare

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – Police arrested India’s  leading anti-corruption campaigner today, just hours before  he was due to fast to the death, as the beleaguered government  cracked down on a self-styled Gandhian activist agitating for a  new “freedom” struggle.
At least 1,200 followers of the 74-year-old Anna Hazare were  also detained, signalling a hardline stance from Prime Minister  Manmohan Singh against anti-government protests, a gamble that  risks a wider backlash against the ruling Congress party.

Anna Hazare
Anna Hazare

Dressed in his trademark white shirt, white cap and  spectacles in the style of independence leader Mahatma Gandhi,  Hazare was driven away in a car by plainclothes police, waving  to hundreds of supporters outside his residence in New Delhi.
His followers later said Hazare, a former army  soldier, had begun his fast in detention. He was ordered held  for one week and taken to Tihar jail, where he joins several  government officials, including the former telecoms minister,  who are under arrest over a multi-billion dollar telecoms graft  scandal.
“The second freedom struggle has started … This is a fight  for change,” Hazare said in a pre-recorded message broadcast on  YouTube. “The protests should not stop. The time has come for no  jail in the country to have a free space.”
In a country where the memory of Gandhi’s independence  battles against colonial rule with fasts and non-violent  protests is embedded in the national consciousness, the  crackdown shocked many Indians across all walks of life.
It also comes as Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi is in  the United States being treated for an undisclosed condition.
The question for many is whether Hazare and his movement  will grow across the fast-urbanising nation of 1.2 billion  people whose increasingly assertive middle class is fed up with  constant bribes, poor services and unaccountable leaders.
In a worrying sign for a government facing crucial state  elections next year, spontaneous protests broke out against the  crackdown in major cities from India’s financial centre of  Mumbai to Kolkata. Police said several hundred people were  arrested, mainly in New Delhi.
An anti-graft protester was found dead in a blood-soaked car  in Bhopal, where hundreds had taken to the streets. A senior  police officer told Reuters it was not clear whether the death  was linked to the protests.
“If the government stops protests or not, what it can’t stop  is the anger, which ultimately means bad news for Congress when  people go to the polls,” said M.J. Akbar, an editor at  influential news magazine India Today.
“People expect Singh to be strong on corruption, not to be  strong on those who protest against corruption.”
Home Minister Palaniappa Chidambaram said Hazare  and other leaders had been placed under “preventative arrest” to  ensure they did not carry out a threat to protest.
“Protest is welcome, but it must be carried out under  reasonable conditions,” Chidambaram told a news conference.
Opposition parties demanded Hazare’s immediate release.

“A MURDER OF DEMOCRACY”
Hazare has become a serious challenge to the authority of  the government in its second term as it reels from a string of  corruption scandals and a perception that it is out of touch  with millions of Indians hit by near-double-digit inflation.
Both houses of parliament were adjourned for the day after  the opposition protested at the arrests of Hazare and his key  aides, further undermining the chances that reform bills — seen  as crucial for Asia’s third-largest economy — will be passed.
Acting Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi called a top-level  emergency meeting with senior cabinet ministers to discuss the  escalating crisis.
“This is murder of democracy by the government within the  House and outside the House,” said Arun Jaitley, a senior leader  of the opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party  (BJP).
The scandals, including a telecoms bribery scam that may  have cost the government $39 billion, have smothered Singh’s  reform agenda, dented investor confidence and distracted  parliament just as the $1.6 trillion economy is being hit by  inflation and higher interest rates.
Those arrested included Kiran Bedi, one of India’s  first female police officers and a widely respected figure for  her anti-graft drive. She tweeted from detention that she had  refused an offer of bail.
Police denied Hazare permission yesterday to fast in a park  near a cricket stadium because he had refused to end his fast in  three days and ensure no more than 5,000 people took part.
Opposition figures likened the crackdown to the 1975  “Emergency” when then-prime minister Indira Gandhi arrested  thousands of opposition members to stay in power.

A HARDENING STANCE
Singh and Congress have hardened their stance against Hazare  in recent days, fearing that these protests could spiral.
Critics of Hazare say he is taking democracy hostage.
“When you have a crowd of 10,000 people, can anyone  guarantee there will be no disruption? … The police is doing  its duty. We should allow them to do it,” Information and  Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told CNN-IBN television.
The prime minister used his Independence Day speech yesterday to criticise Hazare, and Congress spokesman Manish Tewari  said Hazare was surrounded by “armchair fascists, overground  Maoists, closet anarchists”.
Hazare rose to fame for lifting his village in western state  of Maharashtra out of grinding poverty. His social activism has  forced out senior government officials and helped create the  right to information act for citizens.
It is unclear whether the tactics will backfire and spark  further protests. They could also help the image of a prime  minister criticised as weak and indecisive. A previous crackdown  this year on a fasting yoga guru successfully broke up his  anti-corruption protests.
Hazare became the unlikely thorn in the side of the  Congress-led coalition when he first went on a hunger strike in  April to successfully win concessions from the government.
Tapping into a groundswell of discontent over corruption  scandals in Singh’s government, Hazare lobbied for a  parliamentary bill creating a special ombudsman to bring crooked  politicians, bureaucrats and judges to book.
Hazare called off that fast after the government promised to  introduce the bill into parliament. The legislation was  presented in early August, but activists slammed the draft  version as toothless, prompting Hazare to renew his campaign.