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Social activist Anna Hazare took a more aggressive stand against the government on Wednesday as he observed his one-day fast against the police eviction of Baba Ramdev and his supporters from Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan festival grounds.
Speaking at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial to an assembly of mostly urban elites Mr. Hazare first condemned the incident on early Sunday. “Police lathi [baton]-charged children and women sleeping at midnight. This is throttling of humanity, throttling of democracy.”
‘Shame’ hollered back the crowd, whom the police put at around 3,000, as it sheltered under a white tent on a day when the temperature was around 36C.
“What’s the difference between British rule and the democratic rule?” said the septuagenarian activist, who models his life and habits on Gandhi. “It’s comparable to Jallianwala Bagh” – he said, alluding to the 1919 action by colonial police on an unarmed gathering at a garden in the northern Indian city of Punjab that left many dead.
Mr. Hazare then dwelt on the drafting of the Lokpal Bill, which aims to set up an anti-corruption ombudsman’s office. He said the government is “creating hurdles on the drafting of the Lokpal Bill. If government continues to do so we will have to wage a second war of Independence all over the country.”
He told the government not to see his movement as something apart from it: “We are one. You just have to give up the feeling of being superior.”
“The government has forgotten that people are the owners and it is their servant. We have to change this perception” – he said.

Anna Hazare.

Social activist Anna Hazare, who went on a day-long fast here this morning near Raj Ghat (the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi), threatened another indefinite hunger strike in the capital from August 16 if the proposed Lokpal Bill were not passed by Independence Day.
Today’s fast by the 71-year-old Gandhian was to protest against last Saturday night’s police crackdown on Ramlila Ground in the capital where yoga guru Baba Ramdev and thousands of his followers were on a hunger strike against corruption and black money.
Describing his campaign against corruption as the second freedom struggle, Mr Hazare said: “If the Lokpal Bill is not passed by August 15, I will once again begin a fast unto death at Jantar Mantar from August 16. No government can stop us.”
He called upon the people to join him in the campaign and reminded them that they were the real ‘masters’ of the country while Ministers and bureaucrats were ‘servants’.
He said today’s protest was aimed at underlining the message that the Government must treat all as equals.
Before launching his fast at 1000 hours, Mr Hazare and some of his colleagues paid floral tributes at Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘samadhi’ at Raj Ghat.
Addressing the hundreds of people who had gathered at the venue of the fast, Mr Hazare said the Government was not serious about bringing the Lokpal Bill. He said the Prime Minister must be brought under the ambit of the proposed law, something about which the Government has reservations.

After the Delhi Police gave permission for civil rights activist Anna Hazare to hold a one-day fast on Thursday against the violent way the Ramlila Maidan was evacuated on Saturday night, traffic arrangements have been made to ensure that traffic is not disrupted.
The protest is supposed to take place on Powerhouse Road, which connects Rajghat and the Delhi Secretariat. Traffic restrictions will be in place on that road as around 5,000-odd protesters are expected to congregate in the area, said the police.
“There will be some restriction on the movement of vehicles on that road but there is enough parking in the vicinity and we have provided two alternatives for vehicles travelling to and from the Delhi Secretariat. Commuters can use Vikas Marg or the Velodrome Road to travel to Delhi Secretariat and back. We will ensure that there are enough traffic personnel deployed in the area to ensure minimum dislocation of traffic” – said joint commissioner of police (traffic) Satyendra Garg.
Traffic cops maintained that general traffic was likely to remain unaffected due to the protest. “We are expecting some dislocation during the arrival and departure of the protestors. However, since the protestors are likely to arrive only in groups, traffic in the morning hours will probably not be affected. While dispersing, after the protest is over, there may be a slight dislocation for a while but we have enough traffic personnel in place to manage the situation. Since there is enough parking in the vicinity, a large number of vehicles can be accommodated so there should not be a problem” – said a senior traffic police officer.