Hunger strike focuses anger on Indian corruption

[April 07, 2011]  NEW DELHI (AP) -- A public hunger strike by a 73-year-old activist has galvanized Indian anger at rampant, high-level corruption and increased pressure on the government to act.

More than a thousand Indians thronged a roadside tent Thursday in central New Delhi where Anna Hazare fasted for a third day to push for parliament to create a watchdog committee to investigate corruption allegations.

Since Hazare began fasting Tuesday, he has gained huge support from a public fed up with a seemingly unending scandals. Hazare -- whose protest is being covered in breathless, round-the-clock TV coverage -- is drinking water but consuming nothing else.

Cabinet Minister Kapil Sibal, chosen as the government's mediator with Hazare, said the government was willing to discuss his demand that civil society activists be involved in drafting a proposed corruption law.

At the protest site in the heart of the city, dozens of supporters joined Hazare's fast, while thousands of schoolchildren, office workers, farmers and doctors crowded into the tent or squatted on the nearby road in a show of solidarity. Many made overnight train journeys to join Hazare.

"The people are outraged. The government has to put an end to the free run that politicians and officials are enjoying. They are plundering the country," said Arti Ganguly, a doctor who came from the northern town of Varanasi, nearly 500 miles (800 kilometers) away, to protest.

Scores of volunteers distributed drinking water to thirsty supporters as they listened to speaker after speaker denounce the government for its failure to check corruption.

Public anger has been building following a series of recent scandals, including an investigation into the sale of cell phone spectrum in 2008 that reportedly cost the country tens of billions of dollars in lost revenue.

Hazare already appears to be making an impact. On Wednesday, Sharad Pawar, India's agriculture minister, withdrew from a committee on corruption after Hazare pointed out that charges of graft were raised against him.

[Associated Press; By NIRMALA GEORGE]

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