The Anna Hazare agitation is showing signs of becoming a political and social monster. There are several disturbing elements already in evidence, perhaps more disturbing than the awfulness of corruption. Whatever one thinks of the anti-corruption bill drafted by the government, the agitation, by the day, is growing scarier. There is a combustible mix here of hero worship, cult propagation, populist absolutism and irrational exuberance, mass hysteria, de-politicization, militarization, and,...

-The Hindu   On a day of fast-paced developments, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday reached out to the fasting anti-corruption crusader, Anna Hazare, with a new formula to break the log-jam on the contours of the proposed Lokpal institution: a debate in Parliament over his proposals with a promise to refer the sense of the House to the Standing Committee for its consideration. This was followed by an extraordinary gesture from...

Babasaheb Ambedkar was the chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution, and so Dalits have an emotional attachment to the Constitution. If a movement sets itself above the Constitution and challenges democracy, a key pillar of the Constitution, Dalits will refuse to support it, says Bhanwar Megwanshi Anna Hazare's 'anti-corruption' movement has received considerable support across the country. The 'mainstream' media is awash with stories about Anna and his...

Anna Hazare is not Mohandas Gandhi or Jayaprakash Narayan. No one wants to seriously hear his diagnosis of the ills of the Indian political system or his vision of a future India and, so, it is pointless to find fault with either. He is not even a Gandhian satyagrahi looking for self-purification or waiting to listen to his inner voice. He has used his fasts to unashamedly pressure a corrupt,...

-IANS   Talks between the government and Anna Hazare's team on a sweeping anti-corruption law ended in a deadlock Wednesday night, shattering hopes of an early resolution to spiralling political crisis triggered by the social activist's indefinite fast. At the latest round of talks between the two sides, the civil society activists insisted that their version of the Lokpal bill should be passed expeditiously, but the government refused to bypass parliamentary procedures. Hazare's representatives...