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Victory for Democracy, Triumph of People Power: Anna Hazare's Non-Violent Anti-Corruption Movement
Excerpts
A Civil Movement to End the Malaise
To rein in corruption in the country, intellectuals had long been calling for the enactment of a strong Lokpal act with investigative as well as judiciary powers. They wanted the Lokpal to have a supervisory role over Parliament, the Council of Ministers, the PMO, the Bureaucracy, and the Judiciary... |
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The Making of a Mass Movement
The Delhi police had to use a stadium to house the thousands of Hazare supporters who were taken into custody on August 16, 2011, while protesting against his arrest. Nationwide protests were reported from Mumbai, Pune, Nasik, Nagpur,....
Government Fumbles
The government came under the scanner for the way it handled events in the run-up to Hazare's fast. Arun Jaitley, leader of the opposition, commented that the government was viewing the issue through the prism of technicality and legality rather than finding a political solution. Sri Sri Ravishankar, the spiritual guru, said, "The government is making one mistake after another. It does not seem to be getting proper advice"......
The Nation Unites - One Demand Becomes a National Chorus
While the civil society movement led by Hazare was pushing their version of the Lokpal Bill called the Jan Lokpal Bill, there were three versions of the Lokpal Bill being debated in the public domain: the Lokpal Bill of the government, the Jan Lokpal Bill of Hazare and team, and a third version formulated by Aruna Roy and the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI).......
Role of Social Media
On the day Hazare was arrested, 9 out of the 10 top trends on Twitter were related to Hazare's movement. Twitter was also used to fix up meeting points for protests. During the period of agitation, Brand Anna and the Jan Lokpal movement were able to reach the 10th spot on the India Influencer List compiled by the digital brand management firm Pinstorm...
Parliament vs People
On the day Hazare was arrested, 9 out of the 10 top trends on Twitter were related to Hazare's movement. Twitter was also used to fix up meeting points for protests. During the period of agitation, Brand Anna and the Jan Lokpal movement were able to reach the 10th spot on the India Influencer List compiled by the digital brand management firm Pinstorm...
Heralding a New Direction?
"A popular movement can bend even the most supercilious administration to its will. That's the takeaway after Parliament, in a rare display of maturity cutting across party lines, cleared the way for Anna Hazare's conditions to go to the standing committee, and Hazare himself broke his fast on Sunday", commented The Economic Times in an editorial...
Exhibits
Exhibit I: Anna Hazare - The Making of a Mass Leader
Exhibit II: Media Management
