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Anna Hazare

Anna Hazare is a true Gandhian by nature. A full time social activist and above all thoroughly influenced by Swami Vivekananda, a great saint of India who established the name of Hinduism on a global plat form. Anna, as fondly addressed, was quite distressed in his life and even he attempted suicide but failed. During that phase he came across a book by Swami Vivekananda which extremely touched the life of Anna Hazare. He felt distressed because he lacked a goal or motivation for life. Well, the preaching of Swami Vivekananda brought solace to his life. In this book Swami Vivekananda preached that the ‘ultimate motive of human life should be service to humanity’. This preaching simply changed the perspective of Anna. It worked as a turnaround in his life. He took voluntary retirement from the Army, the then he was positioned as Sepoy. After that Anna went back to Ralegan Siddhi, his native village, and his journey as a social activist began without fail.

The erstwhile barren village has metamorphosed into a unique model of rural development due to its effective water conservation methods, which made the villagers self-sufficient. Earlier, the same village witnessed alcoholism, utter poverty and migration to urban slums. Inspired by Hazare’s unique approach of salvaging a hopeless village, the state government has implemented the `Model Village’ scheme as part of its official strategy. Hazare is now synonymous with rural development in India.

In 1991 Hazare launched the Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Aandolan (BVJA) (People's Movement against Corruption), a popular movement to fight against corruption in Ralegaon Siddhi. In the same year he protested against the collusion between 40 forest officials and timber merchants. This protest resulted in the transfer and suspension of these officials. In May 1997 Hazare protested alleged malpractice in the purchase of powerlooms by the Vasantrao Naik Bhathya Vimukt Jhtra Governor P. C. Alexander. On 4 November 1997 Gholap filed a defamation suit against Hazare for accusing him of corruption. He was arrested in April 1998 and was released on a personal bond of 5,000 (US$100).

On 9 September 1998 Hazare was imprisoned in the Yerawada Jail to serve a three-month sentence mandated by the Mumbai Metropolitan Court. The sentencing caused leaders of all political parties except the BJP and the Shiv Sena to support him. Later, due to public protests, the Government of Maharashtra ordered his release. Hazare wrote a letter to then chief minister Manohar Joshi demanding Gholap's removal for his role in alleged malpractices in the Awami Merchant Bank. Gholap resigned from the cabinet on 27 April 1999.

In 2003 corruption charges were raised by Hazare against four NCP ministers of the Congress-NCP government. He started his fast unto death on 9 August 2003. He ended his fast on 17 August 2003 after then chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde formed a one-man commission headed by the retired justice P. B. Sawant to probe his charges. The P. B. Sawant commission report, submitted on 23 February 2005, indicted Sureshdada Jain, Nawab Malik, and Padmasinh Patil. The report exonerated Vijaykumar Gavit. Jain and Malik resigned from the cabinet in March 2005. Three trusts headed by Anna Hazare were also indicted in the P. B. Sawant commission report. 220,000 (US$4,390) spent by the Hind Swaraj Trust for Anna Hazare's birthday celebrations was concluded by the commission as illegal and amounting to a corrupt practice, though Abhay Firodia, an industrialist subsequently donated 248,000 (US$4,950) to the trust for that purpose. The setting apart of 11 acres of its land by the trust in favour of the Zilla Parishad without obtaining permission from the charity commissioner was concluded as a case of maladministration. The commission also concluded that the maintenance of accounts of the Bhrashtachar Virodhi Janandolan Trust after 10 November 2001 had not been according to the rules and 46,374 (US$930) spent by the Sant Yadavbaba Shikshan Prasarak Mandal Trust for renovating a temple thwarted its object of imparting secular education.
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