India Seeks Deal to End a Hunger Strike

Gurinder Osan/Associated Press

Supporters of India's anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare wave Indian flags as they gather to display their solidarity  during a hunger strike in New Delhi.

By JIM YARDLEY

Published: August 25, 2011

NEW DELHI — India’s Parliament met a major demand of the protest leader Anna Hazare on Thursday by agreeing to consider his proposed anticorruption legislation, but it remained unclear whether Mr. Hazare would finally end a hunger strike that has spawned a nationwide popular movement and deeply shaken India’s government.

By late Thursday, Mr. Hazare, 74, still had not announced his intentions after completing the 10th day of his fast at Ramlila Maidan, a public ground in New Delhi. In a late afternoon address to his supporters, Mr. Hazare suggested that political leaders needed to do more than merely introduce his legislative proposal. To break his fast, he said, he wanted a resolution guaranteeing that certain crucial provisions would be passed.
Some Indian news media outlets were predicting that Mr. Hazare’s fast could end as soon as Friday, once his proposal is introduced in Parliament. Negotiations were still continuing early Friday morning on language for a resolution that would persuade Mr. Hazare to end his fast.
One of his advisers, Kiran Bedi, indicated that the lack of a resolution that addressed the main issues raised by Mr. Hazare and his supporters could mean that Mr. Hazare would continue his fast. The lingering uncertainty came after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh delivered a dramatic, and at times highly personal, speech in Parliament that helped create a breakthrough. Mr. Singh, known for his probity, has seen his reputation take a beating in recent months as corruption scandals have shaken his government. Criticism has intensified during the past week with the government’s mishandling of the Hazare situation.
But on Thursday, Mr. Singh seemed determined to take the offensive, both in his dealings with Mr. Hazare and in confronting his critics. He made a personal appeal to Mr. Hazare, asking him to end his hunger strike, and promised that the Hazare legislation would be introduced and debated in Parliament, a new overture.
“I respect his idealism,” the prime minister said. “He has become an embodiment of our people’s disgust and concern about tackling corruption. I applaud him and salute him. His life is much too precious. I would urge Sri Anna Hazare to end his fast.”
Across India, hundreds of thousands of people have joined rallies or marches for Mr. Hazare in what has become a swelling anticorruption movement. Mr. Hazare’s hunger strike is a pressure tactic intended to force the government to introduce and pass his legislation to create an independent anticorruption agency. His advisers have argued that a government bill pending before a special parliamentary committee is far too weak.
Mr. Hazare’s popular support has seemingly increased in recent days, but his impasse with the government has evolved into a confrontation over the supremacy of Parliament in India’s democracy. His demand that Parliament not only introduce but pass his bill — and do so by Aug. 30 — has been criticized by people across the political spectrum who say that it disregards India’s democratic processes.
Mr. Singh rejected the Hazare team’s demand that only its legislation be considered, instead agreeing that it should be debated before Parliament along with other proposals put forward by other civil society leaders. He said this approach should satisfy Mr. Hazare while also maintaining the principle of the supremacy of Parliament.
“There is anger in the country,” Mr. Singh said. “There is anger about the misuse of public offices. It is our obligation to clean up the system of governance. I commit our government to doing exactly that.”
Opposition political leaders quickly fell in behind the prime minister.
“The prime minister’s appeal should become the appeal of the whole house,” said Sushma Swaraj, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, or the lower house of Parliament.
On Thursday, Mr. Hazare reached his 10th day of fasting, having already lost more than 12 pounds and refusing the advice of his doctors to accept a glucose drip. At Ramlila Maidan, Mr. Hazare has spent much of his time resting or speaking to supporters on a platform festooned with a giant poster of Mohandas K. Gandhi, India’s founding father.
Concerns are mounting that Mr. Hazare’s health could begin to deteriorate rapidly, given the extended duration of his fast. Under Indian law, the police would have the right to forcibly take him to a hospital if his life was believed to be in danger, but the authorities are acutely aware that such a step would almost certainly enrage Mr. Hazare’s supporters. Mr. Hazare has already asked his followers to peaceably block the police if they try to take him to a hospital.

Hari Kumar and Nikhila Gill contributed reporting.

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