Smiling, waving and pressing his palms together in the Indian gesture of greeting, Anna Hazare was driven through the streets like the all-conquering hero his adoring followers believe him to be.
Shrugging off heavy monsoon rains that drenched the capital, hundreds of thousands of ecstatic, dancing, flag-waving supporters cheered the man they trust to purge their country of the blight of endemic corruption. “Hail Anna Hazare!” “Hail Mother India” they chanted as the diminutive, all white-clad Hazare passed on an open-top truck taking him from jail to an open venue in central New Delhi where he will stage a 15-day hunger strike.
At times the crowds were so thick that his convoy was forced to stop as people surged forward to throw flowered garlands up at Hazare, who was protected from the driving rain by a large, camouflage-patterned parasol.
The Indian government, which has slammed Hazare’s anti-corruption campaign as “totally misconceived”, could only stand by and watch as his triumphal procession brought areas of New Delhi to a complete standstill. The whole event, which had been carefully choreographed by Hazare’s media-savvy India Against Corruption campaign team, was broadcast live across the country by English, Hindi and regional language 24-hour news networks.
With his trademark white cap and large spectacles, and his espousal of fasting as a form of non-violent protest, the veteran activist is seen by many of his followers as a latter-day Mahatma Gandhi. And the 74-year-old Hazare wasn’t shy about reinforcing the comparisons, making Rajghat, the memorial to India’s independence icon, his first stop after jail. Like any visiting foreign head of state, he laid a garland at the plinth that marks the site of Gandhi’s cremation, surrounded by hordes of chanting supporters. Another huge crowd greeted Hazare at Ramlila Maidan, the venue for the fast that he has vowed to pursue unless the government accedes to his demands for stronger anti-corruption laws.
Teachers and their students, doctors, office workers and retirees were among those packed into the 25,000-capacity field, usually reserved for religious festivals. Top Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar and Indian icon Amitabh Bachan endorsed Hazare’s cause and showed their support through social networking site Twitter. Anna Hazare’s campaign against corruption is winning him popular support of influential people all over India.
