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| Simran (left) and Iqrah offer coconut water and honey to Anna Hazare on Sunday morning at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi. Iqrah, a shy eight-year-old Muslim girl from Daryaganj, was repeatedly asked what Hazare told her while she was sitting with him for nearly an hour. “Annaji told me to study well,” she mumbled to her uncle Ahmed, who repeated it for the cameras, reports PTI. Iqrah’s father Shakimullah said he was told by Hazare’s team that his daughter would be one of the two kids who would offer Anna coconut water to break his fast. The other child, five-year-old Dalit girl Simran, was too shy to face the cameras and left the grounds without speaking to television crew. Picture by Ramakant Kushwaha |
New Delhi, Aug. 28: Anna Hazare broke his fast at 10.20 this morning by accepting coconut water and honey from two little girls: Simran, a five-year-old Dalit, and Iqrah, an eight-year-old Muslim.
The symbolism was hard to miss: sections of Dalits and Muslims had opposed the campaign fearing it was undermining the Constitution by trying to concentrate powers in the Lokpal and curtail civil rights.
Hazare aide Arvind Kejriwal was more explicit. “We are not against the Constitution. We salute Dr B.R. Ambedkar who made the world’s best Constitution,” he said.
“We want to tell Dalits not to have doubts over our movement, because the Jan Lokpal will not change the Constitution.”
Hazare too claimed he had drawn inspiration from Ambedkar “to strengthen this Constitution”.
He said he had “suspended my fast, but only temporarily” and asked supporters to “keep the torch burning till the full Jan Lokpal bill is passed. If Parliament does not agree, the jan sansad (people’s parliament) must be prepared to rise again.”
Hazare said his fight would now be for the “right to recall” and “right to reject” as part of electoral reforms so that corruption can be reduced.
“While the right to recall would be for those elected, the right to reject will be a column in the ballot paper which would ensure the voter has a right to say that he does not like the listed candidates,” he told the Ramlila Maidan crowd.
“We have to reform the electoral system. (We need the) right to reject. You should be able to reject your candidates on the ballot paper. We have to do that. If the majority in a constituency say that they reject all the candidates, the election should be cancelled,” Hazare said.
“How much money will they (the candidates) distribute? Once the candidate spends Rs 10 crore on one election and the election is cancelled, right sense will dawn upon them.”
Hazare was flanked by aides Shanti and Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi, Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and singer Kumar Vishwas. Kejriwal thanked Sri Sri Ravishankar for “creating a peaceful consensus with parties”. He and Bedi asked the crowd to gather at India Gate at 6pm for the victory celebrations.
Soon afterwards, Hazare was admitted to the Medanta Medicity Hospital in Gurgaon, where he will remain for two or three days under the observation of Dr Naresh Trehan.
After his admission, Trehan told journalists that Hazare was dehydrated and exhausted but stable.
Prashant Bhushan told the media: “We hope the government convenes a special session of Parliament within a month’s time to pass the Lokpal bill. By that time, we hope that the standing committee would complete its work so that the bill can be passed.”
Police personnel at the venue said they felt relieved. A constable said he and his colleagues were sometimes forced to do 24-hour shifts and often had to skip meals.
“It is hard to control the crowd when small groups turn unruly. We can’t even hit back,” he said.
Ecstatic Hazare supporters danced on the roads around the Ramlila Maidan. Many had come from Uttar Pradesh at 4am to see the Gandhian break his fast. Drumbeats broke out at New Delhi Railway Station and Metro stations. People distributed sweets and marigold garlands at Turkman Gate and Minto Road.
Dinesh Singh, a Hindi writer from Bulandshahar, Uttar Pradesh, said Hazare had shown that a jan sansad was possible.
“Despite politicians trying to fool him, we won. I will willingly participate in any of his fasts in future. No one can ignore us now.”
Gobandhi, a woman from Rajasthan who was selling the Tricolour, sashes and Anna buttons, said she felt sad about having to go back to her life as a casual brick kiln worker in Alwar. “Here I was earning Rs 100 every day but over there, when I am able to find work, I am paid Rs 60-70 per day.”
She thought Hazare was a religious “baba” and hoped he would come back.