India's Anti-Corruption Figurehead Arrested

By Shannon Liao
August 16, 2011

New Delhi police detained the figurehead of India’s anti-corruption movement on Tuesday, the day he was to start a hunger strike unto death or until the Indian government agreed to pass strong anti-corruption legislation.

The arrest of Gandhian social activist, Anna Hazare, 73, sent thousands of supporters into the streets to protest. India Against Corruption (IAC), the organization behind the protests, reported that 10,000 people joined demonstrations in 20 locations across India resulting in 2,500 arrests. Hours after the arrests, the roughly 1,100 detained protesters in Mumbai were released, reported the Hindustan Times.

Hazare and IAC are demanding that the government adopt the Jan Lokpal Bill—an anti-corruption bill drafted by ministers, legal experts, and civil society designed to stop corruption, resolve grievances, and protect whistle-blowers.

The bill calls for a central government institution called Lokpal whose members would be appointed by judges and would be supervised by the Cabinet secretary and the Election Commission. Under the bill, corruption whistle-blowers would receive protection for their efforts.

The Indian government drafted its own version of the bill, which activists consider too weak to be effective. The activists’ version gives Lokpal more authority and extends the maximum punishment for corruption from seven years to a life sentence.

Chairman of anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International India, P.S. Bawa, said in a statement on the organization’s website that the government shouldn’t ignore activists’ complaints about the bill because they have a lot of validity.

Hazare declared that he would start fasting on Aug. 16 until the Jan Lokpal Bill passed, according to a letter he wrote to the Indian prime minister on Aug. 14. He had also told the PM that fellow activists would join him.

“I and my team are ready to give our lives away,” wrote Hazare. According to his letter, the plan was to practice civil disobedience until the bill is passed, even if they are arrested for illegal protests and have to protest from jail cells.

On June 5, Swami Ramdev, a renowned yoga guru, was arrested, a day after he began an indefinite fast in support of the Lokpal Bill.

“The country is today ridden by corruption,” states the Lokpal Bill Public Consultation website. “What we need is an effective and independent institutional mechanism for tackling the malaise of corruption in this country. That institution is the Jan Lokpal.”

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/indias-anti-corruption-figurehead-arrested-60463.html.