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| Anna Hazare trumps power crisis, |
| Anna Hazare trumps power crisis, draws large crowd at protest camp
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| INDIA
, 30-July-2012
6:15:57 AM |
| Delhi woke up to a Monday without any electricity. Metro trains weren't running, so commuters hit the roads, where traffic lights weren't working because of a massive power outage across North India. At 9 am, attendance was sparse at activist Anna Hazare's protest camp in the capital.
But perhaps because it was overcast and cool in Delhi as 75-year-old Anna entered the second day of his hunger strike, or because the Left had called a demonstration against rising food prices at the same location, a few hours later it was house-full at Anna's venue, Jantar Mantar. Activists used the occasion to deny reports of a growing rift within their ranks.
As Anna took the stage, he warned, "The way this wave of protest against corruption is building in the country, I get the feeling that this government will have to bring a strong Lokpal Bill or else it will have to go."
Anna and his activists want the government to ensure that the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill is cleared by Parliament urgently. The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in December, but was stalled in the Rajya Sabha. It creates a Lokpal - a new national ombudsman agency- empowered to investigate charges of corruption against government servants. Last year, a 16-day fast by Anna in Delhi forced the government to promise him that the Lokpal Bill would be debated in Parliament in its Winter Session. This time around, sources say, the government does not plan to enter discussions or negotiations with the activists.
Since it began its protest in Delhi on July 25, Team Anna has been trying to provoke the sort of fervour that moved thousands of middle-class Indians to march on the streets last year, demanding the Lokpal Bill championed by Anna. But equally public are the differences within those who work most closely with Anna.
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