One arrest unites thousands

From sporting rebellious T-shirts to shaven heads and organising poetry recitals, protesters of all hues took to the streets across urban India seeking the release of anti-graft activist Anna Hazare. Most governments chose to take a soft stand while some termed his arrest a throwback to the

Emergency era.Responding to Hazare's call to fill jails, some 1,100 people were detained in Mumbai. “There was no law and order problem as the protesters were courting arrest themselves,” said Mumbai police commissioner Arup Patnaik, adding they were released a few hours later. But NGO India Against Corruption said some 10,000 people had turned up for the rally and 2,500 of them had courted arrest.

Social activist Medha Patkar led the protests at Azad Maidan. Actor Shabana Azmi said, “We condemn the arrest and the ban on the proposed fast. Right to protest peacefully is a democratic right.”
Jammu tense
Lawyers abstained from judicial work to lead the protests in Jammu. The day, though, was marked by some animosity after police evicted students from a rally venue in the Satwari area.
Gujarat and Haryana
The protest began with two Hazare supporters shaving their heads. BJP-ruled Gujarat carried out a series of rallies and candle protests. In Surat, thousands of diamond workers took to the streets forcing the factories to shut down. Protesters in Ambala, Haryana, also resorted to blockade of railway tracks. In Punjab, protesters converged in strategic spots across urban areas.
Fast in Lucknow
Five persons undertook a fast unto death. Mohd Aslam from Deva in Barabanki, came all the way on his wheelchair carrying the tricolour. 
Bangalore joins 
Some 500 techies and students took a break from work and studies to rally behind Hazare. They sported T-shirts with the underlying theme ‘India Against Corruption’. One of the T-shirts read: Alt+Ctrl+Del Corruption.
Hyderabad protests
In Hyderabad, Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu joined protesters in a 10-km march to condemn the “arbitrary and unconstitutional” arrest of Hazare and his supporters.
Nitish nod in Patna
More than 7,000 pro-Hazare protesters in Bihar found an ally in chief minister Nitish Kumar. “It seems that people at Centre don’t value democracy. The Central government is afraid of the mass support the movement has,” he said.
Bhubaneswar shouts
Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik aired his support for the anti-corruption movement and condemned Hazare’s arrest. “These incidents remind one about what used to happen during Emergency,” he said.
Northeast pitches in
The eight-state Northeast pitched in with Assam leading the way. Some 200 advocates, students, peasants and senior citizens took part in a jail bharo programme in Guwahati.
Kolkata subdued
Used to michils (rallies), Kolkata was unusually subdued. Some 600 protesters gathered together on a sunny day seeking Hazare’s release. One of the organisers, Jago Swabhimani, even staged a kavi sammelan for a poetic twist to the protest.

Anna Hazare arrested by Delhi Police ahead of fast

NEW DELHI: Anna Hazare courted arrest after being detained by Delhi Police at his residence in Mayur Vihar ahead of his indefinite fast on Tuesday.
Senior officers of Delhi Police reached Anna Hazare's flat early in the morning and informed him that he could not leave his home. However, Hazare turned down the request following which he was detained.
"We have detained him as he did not budge from his position of defying prohibitory orders," police official said.
Anna in his addresses to the nation before his arrest asked his supporters not to stop the agitation. He urged the protesters to remain peaceful.

Hazare says will speak to PMO, Rahul or Maha CM

Anna Hazare on Monday told a TV channel that he is ready to be flexible about including judiciary in the Lokpal Bill and but will only negotiate with the Prime Minister's Office, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi or the Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.

According to the CNN-IBN, Hazare has refused to speak to non government mediators but expressed his willingness to keep the judiciary out of Lokpal's purview.

He also said that strong judicial acciountibility needed if judiciary is not included in the ambit of the Bill.
However, Team Anna wants the Bill to be passed by passed in Parliament by August 30, the deadline set by fasting Anna Hazare.
Reacting to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's proposal for a reasoned debate on Lokpal Bill, Team Anna said the government should ensure passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill by August 30.
"The Prime Minister should ensure passage of Jan Lokpal Bill and then only the intention of what he said could come true," activist Kiran Bedi said referring to Singh's remarks on corruption and its eradication.
"Your bill is very weak. Please understand that....You take five minutes to clear a bill if it is about your salary. Get the Jan Lokpal Bill passed. Still there are five-six days left," she said.
Earlier Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal said they had not received any proposal for talks from the government.
"No one has approached us," said Kejriwal, a close confidant of Hazare.
"The Prime Minister tells you (media) that they are ready for talks. We are asking them through you again and again, where should we come for talks and whom to meet," he said.
"Then the news comes from official sources that they are willing to talk, we cannot even react to that as long as we don't get a concrete proposal," he said at Ramlila ground.
Rejected allegations of promoting hooliganism, Kejriwal said that there was nothing wrong in urging people to protest in front of their MPs.
"What is wrong if Anna is asking people to go and ask their MPs to make their stand clear. Annaji is not saying you indulge in hooliganism, Annaji is not saying you indulge in violence...," Kejriwal said.
"Otherwise what is democracy, democracy is not only going and voting once in five years and then handing over your destiny for next five years in the hands of some other people," he said.
Kejriwal also accused MPs of not visiting their constituency. He, however, made it clear that Team Anna had no intention to topple the government.
"This promotion of corruption act which has been brought, either it should be changed and Jan Lokpal bill passed... Making the government fall is not our aim," he said.

Jan Lokpal Bill: Team Anna wants government to appoint negotiator, withdraw its bill

NEW DELHI: Team Anna has said that the government should appoint a negotiator to hold talks with Anna Hazare on the Jan Lokpal Bill and withdraw its draft from Parliament to create "an atmosphere of trust".

Swami Agnivesh, one of the members of Team Anna's core committee, said they were open for talks but the government should create an atmosphere for it.

"If the government wants to talk to us it should appoint a negotiator," he said.

"We are open for talks. In order to open a door for dialogue, the government has to create an atmosphere. They have to create an atmosphere of trust by withdrawing the government bill from Parliament and introduce Jan Lokpal Bill. We will not budge from our stand. This is the least they should do to earn our trust," Agnivesh said.

To questions on "strong words" being used by both government and members of Team Anna, Agnivesh said it would be good if both sides desist from using "such phrases" which could lead to any kind of confrontation.

On the meeting between senior Maharashtra government official and Hazare, he said the official has known the Gandhian for a long time and he met him in his personal capacity.

Siddharth supports Anna Hazare

Siddharth

Siddharth, the young lover boy, last seen in the Tamil film Nootrenbadhu (180) has always been one to speak his mind. On his micro-blogging website the actor has been expressing free willed support for Gandhian Anna Hazare who is fasting demanding for a strong and effective Lokpal Bill."
(The) blunder has made even the few remaining pro-UPA news channels (take) a pro-Anna stance! Anything's possible now. Keep pushing," tweeted Sidhdharth who has been tweeting regularly in support of Anna.
Taking a leaf out of his book is Nagarjuna who has also expressed his support for Anna Hazare on his social networking website. "Hello my friends - support Anna Hazare today for a brighter India tomorrow. Help eradicate corruption. Jai Hind! Jai Jan Lokpal," Looks like Anna has gathered support from all quarters!

Jan Lokpal Bill: Anna Hazare willing for dialogue, Govt opens back channel talks

NEW DELHI: Anna Hazare has expressed his willingness to have a dialogue on the Lokpal issue with the government which has opened a back channel with him through a top Maharashtra bureaucrat and a spiritual leader even as the Gandhian's fast entered the sixth day on Sunday.

Maharashtra additional chief secretary Umesh Chandra Sarangi, who visited Hazare on Saturday night, had a second meeting with the social activist along with Indore-based spiritual leader Baiyujji Maharaj. The spiritual leader is known to several top politicians from Maharashtra.

Sarangi has a good rapport with Hazare having handled several such situations in Maharashtra under former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh when he had either gone on fast or threatened to do so. His meeting was described as "personal" by Team Anna which maintained "no compromise formula" was discussed.

A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stated that the government was open for discussion, 73-year-old Hazare said his campaign against corruption has not closed the door of dialogue with it to resolve the differences on Lokpal bill.

"We have not closed the door of dialogue. We have kept it open. Only through dialogue the issues can be resolved," he told thousands of his supporters on a humid day at Ramlila Ground on the sixth day of his fast.

Minister of state for parliamentary affairs Harish Rawat said the Centre has initiated a dialogue process with Team Anna at various levels to break the deadlock.

"The dialogue process has already been initiated at various levels through well-wishers. This dialogue is at various levels which is not parallel to each other but complementary to each other," Rawat said in Dehradun.

The core committee of 'India Against Corruption' had a meeting during which its deliberated Prime Minister's readiness to hold discussions. It said no proposal has come from the government so far.

"With whom and where should we discuss what," Arvind Kejriwal, a key aide of Hazare, said announcing the five decisions taken at the meeting.

Give us our Lokpal Bill or quit: Anna warns government

NEW DELHI: Anna Hazare has warned government of "unprecedented revolution" in the country if Lokpal Bill is not passed by August 30 and said the Government will have to "either get the Bill passed or go."

Accusing the government of "betraying" the civil society on the Lokpal issue, Hazare, whose fast entered the sixth day on Sunday, told a large gathering of his supporters at the Ramlila Maidan here that the government is not "honest" in its intent to fight corruption.

"If the Government does not get the Lokpal Bill passed by August 30 there would be an unprecedented revolution in the country by the people.... The government will have to either get the Bill passed (in Parliament) or go," he said after a large number of people marched from India Gate to the Maidan expressing solidarity with him.

Calling his campaign against corruption as the beginning of "second struggle for Independence", the 73-year-old Gandhian asked the youth to keep the "flame of revolution burning whether Anna is alive or not."

Noting that he has been fighting against corruption for the past 20 years, Hazare said the government betrayed them on the Lokpal issue despite constituting a joint committee for drafting the Bill.

"They constituted a joint committee after my fast in April. But nothing came out of that meeting despite talking for two months. They betrayed the civil society.... The government's intention to fight corruption is not noble," he said.

Recalling the events leading to his arrest by the Delhi Police on Tuesday before he was to launch his indefinite fast at J P Park, Hazare said the police came and took him and some of his associates and later told them that they have been arrested.

Hazare said, "We told them that we are not scared of getting arrested. Only people who commit crime are scared of arrest, people who go to jail for the cause of the nation are proud of getting arrested."

He said within hours after he was lodged in Tihar Jail, a police officer came to him and said that he was being released.

"I told him that I will not leave the jail until Parliament passes the Jan Lokpal Bill. I told him very clearly...," he said.

"The fight has begun now.... The youth should be ready for the fight," he told the gathering.

Hazare also recalled the struggle in the run up to RTI Act being passed in Parliament and said the legislation has now brought scams like 2G and Adarsh to light.

"They have been brought to light because of the RTI Act. We fought for the RTI Act. I have fasted on many occasions for many causes," he said.

Hazare said there was no "dark spot" in his life otherwise his opponents would have "broken my life".

Lawyer and Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan said the Prime Minister should be brought under the ambit of the Lokpal.

"The government says if the Prime Minister is investigated for corruption charges, the government will be shaken. But if the Prime Minister is corrupt and no investigation is done, this will be a great danger to the country's security," he said.

Bhushan also said the Team Anna was ready to talk to the Government, but would not compromise on its core issues. "We are ready to talk if they are ready. Our Jan Lokpal Bill has been amended 13 times. All suggestions have been included," he said.

He said that the government can incorporate main points of the Jan Lokpal in its Bill and if they suggest any better system "we are ready to discuss that also".

Bhushan also demanded that the government bring a strong Judicial Accountability Bill along with the Lokpal Bill.