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The humble protest is reborn, recognise it?: The Indian Express
Mumbai, Aug 13: Please do not insist on making conversation.`` This warning board seems strange at a maidan where a social crusader is protesting, what else, corruption. Nearby, a minister holds court on a red-carpetted stage. Both are on hunger strike, but it doesn`t immediately appear that way.
Mumbai, Aug 13: Please do not insist on making conversation.’’ This warning board seems strange at a maidan where a social crusader is protesting, what else, corruption. Nearby, a minister holds court on a red-carpetted stage. Both are on hunger strike, but it doesn’t immediately appear that way.
Because Gandhi’s humble azadi fasts have come a long way at the historic Azad Maidan.
India’s best known name to wield hunger strikes — Anna Hazare — reclines relaxed on pillows, facing a screen that projects his son-of-the-soil achievements to a reverently gaping audience — thousands daily — from rural Maharashtra. Speakers blare his speeches. CDs and English translations of his autobiography are on sale.
Visiting hours start 9.30 am, with breaks listed by the pandal. Newly rigged ceiling fans keep the flies away. Mineral water and a private doctor are always at hand.
Nearby at this favourite playground for politicians and trade unions, food and civil supplies Minister Suresh dada Jain, in stiff white kurta, answers sympathy calls. There are chairs for his ample audience, newspapers stacked beside plump cushions.
BOTH are quite a match at fasting prowess and swinging debates.
For Anna, morning meditation is secret shakti. ‘‘I’ve never needed injections. Even in Delhi I am on so many committees, no time to eat and sleep.’’
While NCP clocks tick on party T-shirts, Jain sips only warm water. ‘‘My religion teaches me how to fast for eight days, a month. The stomach needs rest, it’s scientific.’’
Among Anna’s demands — 50,000 leaflets have been circulated here since day 1 on August 9 — are laws governing bureaucratic transfers, right to information (the State began implementation on Day 3) and a CBI probe into corruption charges he’s levelled against four ministers including Jain. And Jain wants an inquiry by a retired High Court judge into Anna’s public trusts.
‘‘Just get the Governor’s signature, and you can release ordinances in a week. Until then I don’t want State officials to meet or talk to me,’’ Anna told The Indian Express, energetically waving his rakhi-laden arm on day four of the fast. ‘‘Jain and those ministers will go some day but corruption won’t. The government just says yes, yes every time I fast.’’
Jain guesses reporters have met Anna and quickly warns, please don’t believe the ‘‘slippery’’ man’s interviews. ‘‘If Anna’s so concerned why doesn’t he contest elections and become CM?’’
BOTH have brought plenty of faithfuls. ‘‘By 9 pm Anna goes to sleep and we draw curtains on the pandal,’’ says Avinash Kutepatil, who’s taken 15 days leave from a sugar factory in Ahmednagar to serve Anna.
‘‘We eat here, and sleep here on the ground,’’ says Ashok Lonkar, an electrician from Shrirampur. ‘‘Wait another week. His followers bring their cattle and children in trucks for his blessings during fasts.’’
At Jain’s, a crony in NCP shirt and cap chases reporters. ‘‘You will print only Jain’s name? Not mine?’’
BOTH use words to spin a good fast. Yeh ladai hain diye ki aur toofan ki says a board at Anna’s stage. Meanwhile audio speeches stress the benefits of the Internet for government offices.
On Tuesday, a Hazare spokesperson e-mailed to newspersons, ‘‘Today again rumours are that he is likely to be lifted to hospital. I have received a call from CM requesting me to meet him at Mantralaya at 7 pm to find ways of solving current deadlock.’’
Jain’s men circulate a booklet on Anna’s charges. There’s a counter to add signatures to his campaign. Anna caricatures are pasted everywhere. NCP men pose for personal photographs — to capture a new turn to history at the maidan.
India’s best known name to wield hunger strikes — Anna Hazare — reclines relaxed on pillows, facing a screen that projects his son-of-the-soil achievements to a reverently gaping audience — thousands daily — from rural Maharashtra. Speakers blare his speeches. CDs and English translations of his autobiography are on sale.
Visiting hours start 9.30 am, with breaks listed by the pandal. Newly rigged ceiling fans keep the flies away. Mineral water and a private doctor are always at hand.
Nearby at this favourite playground for politicians and trade unions, food and civil supplies Minister Suresh dada Jain, in stiff white kurta, answers sympathy calls. There are chairs for his ample audience, newspapers stacked beside plump cushions.
BOTH are quite a match at fasting prowess and swinging debates.
For Anna, morning meditation is secret shakti. ‘‘I’ve never needed injections. Even in Delhi I am on so many committees, no time to eat and sleep.’’
While NCP clocks tick on party T-shirts, Jain sips only warm water. ‘‘My religion teaches me how to fast for eight days, a month. The stomach needs rest, it’s scientific.’’
Among Anna’s demands — 50,000 leaflets have been circulated here since day 1 on August 9 — are laws governing bureaucratic transfers, right to information (the State began implementation on Day 3) and a CBI probe into corruption charges he’s levelled against four ministers including Jain. And Jain wants an inquiry by a retired High Court judge into Anna’s public trusts.
‘‘Just get the Governor’s signature, and you can release ordinances in a week. Until then I don’t want State officials to meet or talk to me,’’ Anna told The Indian Express, energetically waving his rakhi-laden arm on day four of the fast. ‘‘Jain and those ministers will go some day but corruption won’t. The government just says yes, yes every time I fast.’’
Jain guesses reporters have met Anna and quickly warns, please don’t believe the ‘‘slippery’’ man’s interviews. ‘‘If Anna’s so concerned why doesn’t he contest elections and become CM?’’
BOTH have brought plenty of faithfuls. ‘‘By 9 pm Anna goes to sleep and we draw curtains on the pandal,’’ says Avinash Kutepatil, who’s taken 15 days leave from a sugar factory in Ahmednagar to serve Anna.
‘‘We eat here, and sleep here on the ground,’’ says Ashok Lonkar, an electrician from Shrirampur. ‘‘Wait another week. His followers bring their cattle and children in trucks for his blessings during fasts.’’
At Jain’s, a crony in NCP shirt and cap chases reporters. ‘‘You will print only Jain’s name? Not mine?’’
BOTH use words to spin a good fast. Yeh ladai hain diye ki aur toofan ki says a board at Anna’s stage. Meanwhile audio speeches stress the benefits of the Internet for government offices.
On Tuesday, a Hazare spokesperson e-mailed to newspersons, ‘‘Today again rumours are that he is likely to be lifted to hospital. I have received a call from CM requesting me to meet him at Mantralaya at 7 pm to find ways of solving current deadlock.’’
Jain’s men circulate a booklet on Anna’s charges. There’s a counter to add signatures to his campaign. Anna caricatures are pasted everywhere. NCP men pose for personal photographs — to capture a new turn to history at the maidan.