India graft activist leaves jail to huge cheers

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.