Seven years after his watershed agitation, Anna Hazare is returning to Delhi. This time, he plans to take on Narendra Modi
Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district is no longer the parched village it once was. A network of canals provides year-round water supply, while windmills and solar power units have made the village self-sufficient in energy. The transformation has been so impressive that rural development activists consider Ralegan Siddhi a model of sustainable development.
Much of the credit for it goes to the initiatives carried out under the leadership of Kisan Baburao, alias Anna Hazare. A soldier-turned anti-corruption crusader, Hazare became a household name across India in 2011, when he launched an agitation in Delhi against the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.
The protest brought about significant shifts in Indian politics: It brought focus on the Jan Lokpal Bill, a proposed anti-corruption legislation drawn up by activists, and propelled Narendra Modi and the BJP to power at the Centre in 2014. Arvind Kejriwal, Hazare’s right-hand man during the agitation, floated the Aam Aadmi Party and became Delhi chief minister.
One of Modi’s key campaign promises had been appointing the lokpal, the anti-corruption ombudsman envisaged by the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013. But, it is four years since he became prime minister, and Modi is still to keep his word.
This story is from the April 01, 2018 edition of THE WEEK.
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This story is from the April 01, 2018 edition of THE WEEK.
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