Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Leader of Corruption Protest Arrested in India by Jim Yardley

Leader of Corruption Protest Arrested in India by Jim Yardley

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Aug 18, 2011   modified Modified on Aug 18, 2011

An anticorruption protest leader whose arrest on Tuesday morning reverberated across India, inciting outrage at the government, ended the day with a very different twist: He refused an offer to be released from jail.

By late Tuesday, the scene outside Tihar Jail was playing on all-news channels across the country. More than 1,000 supporters waved flags and banners, chanting slogans, as the protest leader, Anna Hazare, rejected a police release order because it contained a condition he could not accept — that he agree not to stage an indefinite hunger strike. He began one in jail anyway.

The late-night drama came after a long day in which Mr. Hazare had initially planned to begin a hunger strike at a park in New Delhi, augmented by rallies across the country. Seeking to pre-empt the demonstrations, the police arrested Mr. Hazare and his aides and detained more than 1,200 of his followers, though most had been released by early evening.

The spectacle roiled the Indian political landscape. Parliament adjourned for the day. Opposition leaders assailed India’s national government, blaming officials for cracking down against peaceful protesters. Meanwhile, a top government official defended the police action as a law-and-order issue since Mr. Hazare had insisted on staging his hunger strike in defiance of a police order that he call it off.

Throughout the day, the police had made a major show of force, ringing Jayaprakash Narayan Park, where Mr. Hazare had intended to lead his protest. As rain fell, protesters in the park yelled slogans and voiced outrage that Mr. Hazare had been taken away.

“Why have you arrested him?” P. K. Gupta, a businessman, shouted at officers as he stopped on his scooter. “You should arrest corrupt people! Why have you arrested a simple, honest man? The government is atrocious. God is watching! God will not save you, Delhi police!”

For weeks, a showdown has been brewing as Mr. Hazare and his allies sought to mobilize a national movement to pressure India’s leaders into creating an independent anticorruption agency, known as a Lokpal. He gained national prominence in April, when he undertook a “fast unto death” for a Lokpal and unexpectedly attracted thousands of mostly middle-class supporters around the country.

Startled by the popular outrage, government officials persuaded Mr. Hazare to abandon that protest by inviting him and his aides to join a special committee to draft legislation for a Lokpal. Talks ensued for weeks, and a Lokpal bill is now pending before Parliament. But Mr. Hazare and his followers denounced the legislation as too weak, and Mr. Hazare vowed to stage a new hunger strike this week to renew pressure.

The arrests and detentions on Tuesday come as India’s government has spent months on the defensive about several scandals. During a national address on Monday to commemorate India’s Independence Day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh dedicated nearly half his speech to corruption, expressing support for a strong Lokpal, even as he warned that no “magic wand” could sweep away the problem.

Mr. Singh said the government was introducing several bills in Parliament to combat corruption and asked that critics of the current Lokpal legislation participate in the political process rather than stage demonstrations. “They should not resort to hunger strikes and fasts unto death,” he said.

With India’s economy growing at roughly 8 percent a year, official corruption has become a widespread problem and a source of public disgust. Public confidence is low in the government’s ability to eradicate graft, and many people have embraced the idea of an independent Lokpal agency, beyond the controls of political parties.

Mr. Hazare’s supporters envision an organization with sweeping powers, including the right to investigate the prime minister and the judiciary. Government officials have warned that exposing the prime minister and the judiciary to the Lokpal could upset the constitutional balance of powers.

The likelihood of a showdown on Tuesday became evident once Mr. Hazare applied for a police permit to stage an indefinite fast. Police responded with 22 conditions, 6 of which Mr. Hazare refused, including a three-day limit to the fast and a cap of 5,000 protesters. Mr. Hazare’s allies declared these conditions to be violations of the constitutional right to protest and pledged to fast.

On Monday evening, hours after the prime minister had completed his address, Mr. Hazare went to the Rajghat, the cremation site of India’s founding father, Mahatma Gandhi, where he spent two hours meditating as his supporters began to arrive. During a news conference later that night, Mr. Hazare declared that he would start his fast at Jayaprakash Narayan Park on Tuesday morning, despite the police order.

But he apparently had anticipated his arrest. Soon after his morning detention, a video appeared on YouTube, apparently taped on Monday night, in which Mr. Hazare called on millions of Indians to rise up in nonviolent protest against corruption. In the video, Mr. Hazare spoke as if he had already been arrested and said other leaders would guide such protests.

“The second war of independence has started,” he declared.

Mr. Hazare elicits different reactions in India. His supporters regard him as a rare Gandhian, a simple, principled man in a new, materialistic age. His enemies accuse him of trying to undermine the government at the behest of opposition parties — accusations they reject. Yet many Indians sympathetic to Mr. Hazare’s cause are less enthusiastic about his methods and worry that theatrical demonstrations and hunger strikes undermine democratic values.

The home minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, denied on Tuesday that the government itself was undermining democratic rights by detaining protesters. In June, the government was criticized for an early morning police crackdown against followers of another anticorruption protester, the yoga guru Baba Ramdev.

“We are not prohibiting a peaceful democratic protest,” Mr. Chidambaram told reporters. He said the police had made every effort to find a “reasonable set of conditions under which the protest can take place.”

“Nowhere in the world is a protest allowed to take place without conditions,” he added.

Mr. Hazare is being held at Tihar Jail after refusing to apply for bail. Neeraj Kumar, the jail administrator, said Mr. Hazare and his aides were being kept in different cells, separate from the general population. Among the inmates currently housed at Tihar are several public officials accused of corruption.

Hari Kumar contributed reporting.


The New York Times, 16 August, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/world/asia/17india.html?scp=3&sq=india&st=cse


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close