Thousands in Delhi anti-corruption protest

Last Updated: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:26:00 +1000

Streets in the Indian capital, Delhi, were brought to a standstill by hundreds of thousands of dancing and singing supporters of an anti-corruption activist freed from prison.

Anna Hazare was to immediately begin a 15-day hunger strike in the city.

Mr Hazare, 74, wants the government to strengthen an anti-corruption bill.

He says it says is too weak.

Smiling, waving and pressing his palms together in the Indian gesture of greeting, he was driven through the streets like the all-conquering hero his adoring followers believe him to be.

Rains

Shrugging off heavy monsoon rains that drenched the capital, hundreds of thousands of ecstatic, dancing, flag-waving supporters cheered the man they trust to purge their country of the blight of endemic corruption.

"Hail Anna Hazare!" "Hail Mother India" they chanted as the diminutive, all white-clad Hazare passed on an open-top truck taking him from jail to an open venue in central New Delhi where he will stage the hunger strike.

At times the crowds were so thick that his convoy was forced to stop as people surged forward to throw flowered garlands up at Hazare, who was protected from the driving rain by a large, camouflage-patterned parasol.

The Indian government, which has slammed Hazare's anti-corruption campaign as "totally misconceived", could only stand by and watch as his triumphal procession brought areas of New Delhi to a complete standstill.

The whole event, which had been carefully choreographed by Hazare's media-savvy India Against Corruption campaign team, was broadcast live across the country by English, Hindi and regional language 24-hour news networks.

With his trademark white cap and large spectacles, and his espousal of fasting as a form of non-violent protest, the veteran activist is seen by many of his followers as a latter-day Mahatma Gandhi.

Doctors brought in to monitor his health during the fast, took his blood pressure, after which Hazare sat down, cross-legged and looked out over the packed grounds.

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