The Indian anti-corruption movement, popularly known as Anna Andolan, was a series of demonstrations and protests across India that began in 2011 and was intended to establish strong legislation and enforcement against perceived endemic political corruption. The movement was named as one of the "Top 10 News Stories of 2011" by Time magazine.
The wheels of this development took a public outburst first during the rally at Jantar Mantar organised by yoga guru Ramdev on 14 November 2010 to hand over police complaint against the corruption in 2010 Commonwealth Games.
A rally was organised at the historic Ramlila Maidan, Delhi, in which a group of notable people including Arvind Kejriwal, Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi, Ram Jethmalani, Medha Patkar, Swami Agnivesh, Col. Devinder Sehrawat, Sunita Godara, Harsh Mandar, the Archbishop of Delhi, Justice D. S. Tewatia, Devinder Sharma, PV Rajgopal and Trilok Sharma marched after holding a public meeting, in which the decision to invite social activist Anna Hazare to lead the movement was taken. Peaceful public marches against corruption were held in several cities in India. People demanded the proposed new Lokpal Bill.
The movement gained momentum from 5 April 2011, when anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare began a hunger strike at the Jantar Mantar monument in New Delhi. The movement aimed to alleviate corruption in the Indian government through the introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill. Another aim, which was led by Ramdev, Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal and others, was the repatriation of black money from foreign banks.
Mass protesters focused on legal and political issues, including political corruption, kleptocracy, and other forms of corruption. The movement was primarily one of non-violent civil resistance and was composed of demonstrations, marches, acts of civil disobedience, hunger strikes, and rallies, and the use of social media to organize, communicate, and raise awareness. The protests were nonpartisan and most protesters were hostile to political parties' attempts to use them to strengthen their own political agenda.
Background
Issues of corruption in India have become increasingly prominent in recent years. After independence in 1947, the country was subject to socialist-inspired economic policies until the 1980s. Over-regulation, protectionism and government ownership of industry led to slow economic growth, high unemployment, and widespread poverty. This system of bureaucratic control by government, which is called the License Raj, was at the core of endemic corruption.
The 1993 Vohra Report, submitted by the former Indian Union Home Secretary Narinder Nath Vohra, studied the criminalisation of politics and contains several observations made by official agencies on the criminal network that was virtually running a parallel government. It also discussed criminal gangs that enjoyed the patronage of politicians and the protection of government functionaries. According to the report, political leaders had become leaders of street gangs and rogue elements in the military. Criminals had been elected to local bodies, state assemblies, and the Parliament of India.
The 2005 Right to Information Act (RTI) helped civilians work towards tackling corruption. The Act allows Indian citizens to request information for a fixed fee of ₹ 10 (US$0.22) from a public authority, which is required to reply to the request within thirty days. Activists, some of whom have been attacked and killed, have used this law to uncover corruption cases against politicians and bureaucrats.
During the Second Manmohan Singh ministry; In the years immediately preceding the 2011 anti-corruption protests, there were examples of alleged corruption in the country; these included the Adarsh Housing Society Scam, the 2010 housing loan scam, the Radia tapes controversy, and the 2G spectrum case. In February 2011, the Supreme Court of India ordered all trial courts in the country to expedite handling of corruption cases and the President of India Pratibha Patil stated measures to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and other legislative and administrative measures to improve transparency would be taken. A month later, the Supreme Court forced the resignation of Chief Vigilance Commissioner P.J. Thomas.
A worldwide, 50-city march called the Dandi March II was organised by People for Lok Satta and took place in March 2011, as did the Drive Around Delhi protest.
March 2011 protests
Dandi March II organised Group of Non-Resident Indians walked 240 miles in the United States against corruption in India. Started in Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park, San Diego, California on 12 March 2011, and ends March 26 at Gandhi Statue, San Francisco and demanded for Lokpal Bill and return of black money, March also conducted in 45 cities in USA, 40 cities in India and 8 other countries globally supported many groups such as 5th Pillar and Youth For Better India.
April 2011 protests
Anna Hazare wanted a joint committee composed of members of the government and of civil society to be formed to draft tougher anti-corruption legislation. After Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India rejected Hazare's demand, Hazare began a hunger strike on 5 April 2011 at the Jantar Mantar, Delhi. He said the fast would continue until the legislation was enacted. His action attracted considerable support, including some people who joined him in fasting. Prominent representatives of opposition political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), indicated their support for Hazare and demanded government action. Hazare would not allow politicians to sit with him and those who tried to join him, such as Uma Bharti and Om Prakash Chautala, were turned away.
Protests in sympathy with Hazare spread to other Indian cities, including Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, and Ahmedabad. Prominent figures from Bollywood, sports and business indicated their support, and there were protests in other countries, including the US, UK, France and Germany. The government squabbled with the activists, insisting the drafting committee would be headed by a government-appointed minister and not, as the protesters had demanded to prevent the government from making the bill less powerful, a civil society member.
On 6 April, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, whom Hazare had accused of being corrupt, resigned from the group of ministers that had been tasked with reviewing the draft bill. On 9 April, the government agreed to establish a joint committee; this came from a compromise that politician Pranab Mukherjee would be chairman and a non-politician activist Shanti Bhushan would be co-chairman. Bhushan, together with Hazare, Justice N. Santosh Hegde, advocate Prashant Bhushan and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal, had originally drafted the Lokpal Bill. The first meeting of the Lokpal Bill drafting committee was held on 16 April. The government agreed to audio-record the committee's meetings and to hold public consultations before a final draft was prepared but refused Hazare's demand for the proceedings to be televised live.
June protest
Earlier in April, Ramdev had announced he would launch a people's anti-corruption movement called Bharat Swabhiman Andolan. On 13 May, it was announced India had completed ratification of the UN Convention against Corruption, a process that had begun in 2010. In early June, senior Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee, Kapil Sibal, Pawan Kumar Bansal and Subodh Kant Sahay met Ramdev to discuss his concerns. Ramdev supported Hazare's fast and led a second major protest at Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi, on 4 June to highlight the need for legislation to repatriate untaxed black money deposited abroad; Ramdev demanded untaxed money should be declared to be the wealth of the nation and that the act of caching allegedly illegally obtained money in foreign banks should be declared a crime against the state.
The Ramlila Maidan was booked for 40 days to allow the protest to happen. Preparations included setting up a toilet, drinking water, medical facilities and a media centre. Ramdev said more than 100 million people were directly involved with the Bharat Swabhiman Andolan. Almost 3.2 million "netizens" joined the campaign.
On 5 June, police raided the Maidan, detaining Ramdev and removing his supporters after firing tear gas shells and lathicharging. Fifty-three people, including twenty police officers, were treated for injuries. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee called the police action "unfortunate" and said the police action was necessary because Ramdev had no permission to hold the protest. Ministers said permission had been granted for a yoga camp with 5,000 attendees but not for a 65,000-strong political protest. It was alleged the police raid had been planned for several days. The police said Ramdev had been informed shortly beforehand permission to continue his protest had been cancelled. By that time, over 5,000 police officers had been prepared for action. There was an allegation CCTV footage of the raid was missing.
On 6 June, the National Human Rights Commission of India requested reports of the events to be provided within two weeks by the Union Home Secretary, Delhi Chief Secretary, and the Delhi City Commissioner of Police. Hazare responded to the events by holding a one-day hunger strike. Protests were held across India, including Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jammu, and Lucknow. They also spread to Nepal. Ramdev said a second phase of the Bharat Swabhiman Yatra would begin in October and would cover 100,000 kilometres (62,000 mi).
After the protest
Civil society response
Ramdev said the government was not serious about discussing corruption and black money, and that government negotiator Kapil Sibal had cheated him through a "scheming and cunning" attitude. He said there was a conspiracy to kill him and that he was threatened during a meeting with senior ministers. He also said the ruling government chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the United Progressive Alliance government will be responsible for any threat to his life, and that he was nearly strangled by the police. After being evicted from Delhi, Ramdev wanted to continue his fast at Noida but was denied permission to do so by the Uttar Pradesh government. He decided to continue his hunger strike and satyagraha from Haridwar until 12 June 2011.
Hazare said there might have been some faults with Ramdev's agitation, the beating up of people at night rather than in the daytime was a "blot on democracy", and that "there was no firing otherwise the eviction was similar to Jallianwala Bagh incident". He also said the "strangulation of democracy" would cause protests throughout the country to "teach government a lesson". Campaigner Arvind Kejriwal said the use of police force on non-violent, sleeping protesters was undemocratic.
Government response
Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh said the government had reached an agreement before the protests were held. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote to Ramdev asking him to desist from holding the protests.
Nationalist Congress Party General Secretary Tariq Anwar said; "Both Hazare and Ramdev are blackmailing the government and they should first peep into their own hearts". Pawan Bansal said the midnight police raid "was not a crackdown, [the government] had to do it to maintain law and order". All India Congress Committee secretary Janardan Dwivedi described Ramdev's protest as a "political game" by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying Ramdev got more attention than Nigamananda Saraswati, a protester who had fasted for over two months about a different matter, despite being treated in the same hospital.
Political party response
The BJP called the police action to break up the hunger strike "undemocratic". Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi condemned the incident, comparing it with Ravana-Lila and adding; "It is one of the worst days of Indian history. The Prime Minister had said during the elections that he would bring back black money stashed in Swiss banks within 100 days of coming into power. But today, it is two years and nothing has happened." L. K. Advani said the police action reminded him of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and called it "naked fascism". Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said: "This is not democracy... the police cannot alone have taken such a step. It had the approval of the Prime Minister and full approval of the Congress President." Bahujan Samaj Party leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati condemned the government's action against Ramdev, demanded an investigation by the Supreme Court of India and said justice cannot be expected from the central government. The Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav condemned the incident, saying it shows the Union Government has lost its mental balance. Blaming the ruling Indian National Congress party, Yadav said; "A Congress leader said that Baba is a thug. I want to say that Congress is the biggest thug and it should introspect its deeds." He also compared the raid to military action against a foreign enemy.