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Summary India's government worked to end an eight-day hunger strike protest by a popular protest leader.
he government called for all the parties in Parliament to debate his demands for stringent anti-corruption legislation.Anna Hazares fast has drawn tens of thousands of supporters to his protest site in the heart of the capital and inspired smaller rallies across India.Hazare, 74, indicated he would give up the fast if the government pledged in writing to push for a watchdog with power over the prime minister and judiciary. In the meantime, he refused to let doctors feed him intravenously, and his aides appealed to supporters to pray for his health.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sent a letter to Hazare on Tuesday asking that he end his fast and offering to ask Parliament to debate Hazares tougher version of proposed reform legislation. Singh also sent the finance minister to negotiate directly with Hazares aides in a sign the government may meet some of his demands.Several hundred people, singing songs and playing instruments, camped overnight in the rain at Hazares New Delhi protest. Police doubled their security, posting more than 60 officers around his concrete stage in addition to police deployed around the city to keep order over enthused and sometimes-rowdy Hazare supporters who have held impromptu rallies in Delhi metro stations, on streets and in front of Cabinet ministers homes.Hazare styling himself after Indian freedom fighter Mohandas K. Gandhi has called his campaign a second revolution. While his demands involve details of the watchdog bill, his basic focus on rooting out corruption has struck a chord among Indians fed up with rampant bribery and favoritism in India.It has also tested a government beset by controversy after a string of scandals implicated top officials from both the governing and main opposition parties, and revealed billions in lost funds and revenues.Indian TV stations have given breathless coverage to the hunger strike and described the crowds as a sea of humanity.More muted, however, has been the criticism against Hazare, with some saying his tactics are undemocratic and verging on demagoguery while falsely pretending to represent all of India. Critics have also said Hazares more sweeping draft legislation is unconstitutional and undermines other democratic institutions.Representatives of Indias lowest-caste dalits, or untouchables, planned a counterprotest Wednesday, saying Hazares proposal wouldnt protect the poor masses.
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