Indian to take hunger strike public

August 19, 2011|Associated Press

Supporters of anticorruption activist Anna Hazare carried his photo yesterday… (Gurinder Osan/Associated…)

NEW DELHI - A renowned Indian anticorruption crusader plans to embark on a 15-day public hunger strike that will pit him and his thousands of supporters against the scandal-plagued government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his aides said yesterday.

Anna Hazare, who has been fasting since Tuesday, reached an agreement with police to hold the demonstration starting today to push for tough new anticorruption legislation, after a two-day standoff at a New Delhi jail.

Hazare’s ordeal has struck a chord with Indians fed up with rampant corruption. Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through cities across the country to show their support for his demand to strengthen a government reform bill.

“People were feeling suffocated in an environment of corruption around them,’’ an exuberant Hazare said in a video posted by his supporters on YouTube. “There is a limit to people’s patience. That’s why people came out on the streets.’’

The government has accused Hazare of trying to blackmail Parliament with his threat to fast to death if they do not pass his proposed legislation to create a powerful ombudsman to police the government.

Hazare said he would not stop agitating until the proposed bill is adopted into law.