Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare has once again succeeded in raising support for his fight against corruption. The 74-year-old Gandhi-inspired campaigner was arrested and sent to Delhi’s Tihar Jail on 16 August after threatening to stage a public hunger strike in protest against the Indian government’s new anti-corruption bill. The bill proposes that an ombudsman be responsible for investigating and prosecuting corrupt government officials, politicians and bureaucrats. However, senior judges and the prime minister are excluded from the purview of the ombudsman.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets following Hazare’s imprisonment. The movement even inspired supporters from the Indian diaspora in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Hazare was released on 19 August after reaching an agreement with the government that gave him permission to conduct a public hunger strike for 15 days.
[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”3″ ihc_mb_template=”2″ ]
Hazare first made international headlines in April, when he vowed to abstain from eating and drinking until the Indian government passed an effective anti-corruption law. The government responded with a promise to include civil society groups in the consultation process for a new anti-corruption bill. However, when the resulting Lokpal Bill was published, it was criticized by Hazare and his supporters for exempting the prime minister and senior judges.
Hazare has subsequently supported the adoption of an alternative bill called the Jan Lokpal Bill, which was drafted by a group of civil society representatives.
Speaking to India Business Law Journal, civil liberties lawyer Prashant Bhushan, an advocate of the Jan Lokpal Bill said: “The government should prepare a bill which incorporates the essential principles of the Jan Lokpal Bill and present it in parliament and let parliament take a call on that. That’s one option. The other is to have a referendum on the essential issues of difference between our bill and the government’s version of the Lokpal Bill and then put that version before the parliament. These are the two options that we think are viable.”
[/ihc-hide-content]
