Anna Hazare\'s Movement Turns Political

By NIHARIKA MANDHANA

After leading a civil society movement against corruption for months, Anna Hazare and his team changed their strategy Thursday, saying it was time for a “political alternative.”

“Things will not change till we change the people in Parliament,” Mr. Hazare said.

Mr. Hazare, 75, has been fasting for five days in New Delhi, the latest in a series of public protests aimed at forcing India's government to pass laws to combat bureaucratic and governmental graft. He and his advisers said Thursday that the fast would end and they would try a new tactic.

“The people have said in overwhelming numbers that they want a political alternative,” said Arvind Kejriwal, an adviser to Mr. Hazare who has been on a fast for nine days and whose failing health had increasingly become a cause for concern. “This movement is ready to give them a political alternative.”

While Mr. Kejriw al stopped short of saying that the Hazare team was going to form a political party, he asked citizens for their advice on a range of political issues, including the selection of candidates before India's general elections in 2014. “How do we pick clean candidates who love their country and have given their lives to social work?” he asked.

“Positions of power seem to corrupt our leaders,” he added. “How do we ensure this doesn't happen?”

The reaction from India's ruling Congress Party was swift. “This is something we have always been saying,” said Ambika Soni, the information and broadcast minister, in a televised interview. “They have shown that politics was at the back of their agitation.”

While Mr. Hazare and his advisers drew tens of thousands of people last year to protests in Delhi, his efforts this year have been less well-attended. Still, on Thursday at Jantar Mantar, an astrological observatory built in the 1700s, nearly 5,000 p eople had gathered to hear him speak by early afternoon. Those in attendance said they, and the anti-corruption movement, were here for good.

“This is a difficult fight,” said Rishipal Chauhan, 49, who works nights as a driver and has spent the last week at Jantar Mantar. “Nothing will happen overnight,” he said.

But not everyone was convinced of Mr. Hazare's political move. “If I want a street in front of my house repaired, should I run for municipality elections? Can't an ordinary citizen demand his rights democratically?” Parvesh Kumar, 28, said.

India is regularly ranked as one of the world's most corrupt countries, and rankings show many feel corruption in the country is increasing even as its economy grows. Vast amounts of money earmarked for India's hundreds of millions of impoverished citizens and decrepit infrastructure have been looted by bureaucrats, politicians and middlemen, according to outsiders, advisers to the government and pol iticians themselves.

India is regularly ranked as one of the world's most corrupt countries, and some rankings show many feel corruption in the country is increasing even as its economy grows. Vast amounts of money earmarked for India's hundreds of millions of impoverished citizens and decrepit infrastructure have been looted by bureaucrats, politicians and middlemen, according to outsiders, advisers to the government and politicians themselves.