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,...

-The Economic Times   At the time of writing, efforts are on to find an amicable solution to the Jan Lokpal Bill agitation and let us hope that a satisfactory solution will be found to deal with the very serious malady of corruption. I appeal to Anna Hazare to break his fast as the nation can't take any risk with the condition of his health. Corruption in high places is undoubtedly a matter...

The anti-politician feeling generated by Anna Hazare's agitation, combined with Arvind Kejriwal's association with the Youth for Equality, the organisation that spearheaded the anti-reservation agitation in the AIIMS, has triggered a sense of unease among parliamentarians belonging to Dalit and backward communities. Dalit and OBC MPs on Wednesday lamented the "attack on the supremacy of Parliament and the Constitution". From BJP's Hukumdeo Narain Yadav to JD-U president Sharad Yadav and Lok...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday restored NAC member Aruna Roy's place in the Lokpal debate, telling Parliament that along with Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal bill, it would also discuss the drafts by Roy and JP Narayan of Loksatta. The comment came a day after BJP dislodged Roy as the reference point for the new Lokpal bill by limiting the reference to non-government input to Jan Lokpal bill in the resolution...

In the unseen and unheard margins of Team Anna’s Ramlila Surge, there’s a growing sense of disquiet —especially among minority and marginalised groups. Despite carefully choreographed images of Muslim children publicly breaking their Ramzaan fast with Anna Hazare, prominent Dalit, Muslim and Christian leaders are deeply suspicious of the faces on display and the voices emanating from the crowds. They argue that Anna’s ends — fighting corruption — is undoubtedly justified, they...