Anna Hazare and the Idea of Gandhi

Bibliographic Data

ID3606673
AuthorsMitu Sengupta (0000-0001-5847-9585, Toronto Metropolitan University, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume71
Issue3
Pages593-601
Publication date2012-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-9118 • E-ISSN: 1752-0401
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/s0021911812000617
OpenAlexW2286254938
LanguageEN
Citations received9

In August 2011, India was in the headlines due to an anti-corruption hunger strike that played upon Gandhi's legacy of civil disobedience and mass protest. The strike was initiated by a short, bespectacled, 74-year-old man called Anna Hazare to protest the government's new anticorruption legislation, which Hazare said was too weak. Hazare's call for a strong anticorruption Lokpal (ombudsman) had slowly gained momentum in the first half of 2011, when the self-styled Gandhian had collected a sizeable following. But it was Hazare's unexpected arrest on the eve of the August hunger strike that pushed him into the limelight, sparking candlelit marches across the country. A shaken government ordered his release in less than twelve hours, but in stunning turnaround, Hazare refused to leave and began his "fast unto death" in Delhi's notorious Tihar Jail, South Asia's largest high-security prison

Art · Civil disobedience · Economic history · Government (linguistics) · Language change · Legislation · Limelight · Political science · Politics · Prison · Engineering · History · Indian History and Philosophy · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · South Asian Studies and Conflicts

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