Anna’s last chance

I am surprised by the public outpour of support for social activist Anna Hazare’s fast against corruption. Perhaps the supporters are unaware of Mr. Hazare’s weak credentials as a crusader. Readers following Maharashtra politics will remember how Mr. Hazare had launched several such fasts in the past against thugs in the Maharashtra Government, only to withdraw them after a token assurance from the state’s chief minister. Like Shane Warne’s complete mastery over Daryl Cullinan, the rioter and businessman Manohar Joshi (appointed as the Maharashtra Chief Minster by Bal Thakre in the mid-1990s) had Mr. Hazare’s  number: every time Mr. Hazare undertook one his fasts, Mr. Joshi made a few random reconciliatory noises, to see Mr. Hazare immediately give up his fast.  The only goon Mr. Hazare succeeded displacing in Mr. Joshi’s time was Baban Gholap, then Maharashtra’s social welfare minister.

This fast is therefore Mr. Hazare’s last chance for redemption, and I believe he has gotten the timing right: India’s civil society is looking for its Egypt moment, and being too secure and worldly-minded to come to streets and protest, the middle-class and the urban elite are searching for an icon to lead the fight, and Mr. Hazare provides them an opportunity. I only wish that Mr. Hazare fights until the end and does not frustrate his supporters once again.