Anna Hazare hold symbolic fast

A popular anti-corruption activist ramped up pressure on the government Sunday for strong measures to fight graft, staging a brief symbolic fast in the Indian capital.Surrounded by thousands of flag-waving supporters, Anna Hazare planned to fast for seven hours to demand sweeping legislation to end Indias culture of corruption, in which bribes are paid for everything from health care to marriage certificates.My fast has begun. I will not speak much now, Hazare told supporters gathered around the stage where he sat.There was criticism of the fast before it even began, with governing Congress party General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi accusing Hazare of bringing unnecessary pressure on Parliament and democracy. Critics have called Hazares campaign intolerant of dissenting views.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called an all-party meeting for Wednesday aimed at reaching a political consensus before introducing an anti-corruption bill Dec. 19, but so far Hazare and the opposition have criticized the governments working draft as too weak. They want the bill to put low-level bureaucrats as well as the prime minister under an anti-graft watchdog.The government has given nothing substantial, Hazare aide Kiran Bedi told the protesters Sunday.Hazare a former army truck driver who now fashions himself after pacifist freedom fighter Mohandas K. Gandhi is seen by many as Indias greatest hope for confronting official corruption. His 12-day hunger strike in August drew tens of thousands of adoring supporters and forced a seemingly remote Parliament to put the issue on its agenda.He has called his campaign a second freedom fight in a country where top officials are regularly embroiled in scandals even as hundreds of millions of people are trapped in poverty. He also held a five-day fast in April that forced the government to include him in a committee drafting a bill.But Hazare has also drawn critics and skeptics who say his populist campaign unfairly vilifies elected officials while holding them hostage to his demands. They have also questioned Hazares pacifist commitment given his advocacy of corporal punishment for alcoholics and his recent call that the agriculture minister receive just one slap.His methods are not Gandhian, the liberation icons great grandson, Tushar Gandhi, told Press Trust of India. There is talks about beating up and hitting people.Before beginning Sundays fast, Hazare visited Gandhis memorial in New Delhi to meditate, surrounded by clamoring TV reporters and rolling cameras.Hazare has threatened an indefinite fast if legislation is not passed by the end of the parliamentary session on Dec. 22.