Anna Hazare was arrested on Tuesday after beginning a "fast-unto-death"
Writing on the social networking site Twitter, Kiran Bedi said Mr Hazare would begin his fast later on Thursday.
He had previously vowed to remain in custody in Delhi unless
he was permitted to resume the protest, which triggered his arrest on
Tuesday.
His detention sparked massive rallies.
Correspondents say the news of the deal was greeted with
cheers by hundreds of his supporters who have been maintaining a vigil
outside the police station in Delhi where he is being held.
The police had previously insisted the 74-year-old could fast for only three days.
Parliamentary jeers
Mr Hazare is to begin his fast at a public park at 15:00 (09:30 GMT) on Thursday, according to his aide.
"Anna has accepted the DP (Delhi Police) permission for two
weeks (of fast). Anna now shall be at the Ramlila Ground post 3pm," Ms
Bedi tweeted from her official Twitter account.
She said in a separate tweet the hunger strike would last 15 days.
The report was also carried by several news channels, Reuters reported.
Mr Hazare's protest is aimed against what he regards as a watered-down anti-corruption bill introduced by the Indian government.
He was arrested hours after he was due to begin his "fast
unto death" on Tuesday at Delhi's JP Park, along with at least 1,200 of
his supporters.
The Congress-led government said the protesters had been
detained because they had not accepted the police's restrictions on the
number of fasting days and participants.
The move sparked widespread protests across the country, including Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Calcutta and elsewhere.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has accused Mr Hazare of
trying to circumvent democracy by demanding the overhaul of an
anti-corruption bill.
Mr Singh told parliament Mr Hazare's hunger strike was
"totally misconceived", but his speech was constantly interrupted by
opposition MPs, many of whom jeered and shouted "shame".
The spontaneous outbreak of public support is a matter of
deep concern for Mr Singh's administration, says the BBC's Sanjoy
Majumder in the capital.
String of scandals
Indian Law Minister Salman Khurshid said the government
respected the right to dissent, but told BBC World News that the rule of
law also needed to be respected.
"If the police accomodates his demands, he [Mr Hazare] can go and start fasting wherever that's possible," he said.
Mr Hazare has called the proposed anti-corruption legislation
a "cruel joke" and has described the fight against corruption as the
"second war of independence".
In April, he called off a hunger strike after four days when
the government said he could help draft legislation to create a special
ombudsman, or lokpal, an independent body with the power to investigate
politicians and civil servants suspected of corruption.
The final version of the bill was presented in early August,
but Mr Hazare and other activists rejected it because the prime minister
and senior judges would be exempt from scrutiny.
India has recently been hit by a string of high-profile
corruption scandals which critics say is evidence of a pervasive culture
of corruption in Mr Singh's administration.
A recent survey said corruption in Asia's third largest economy had cost billions of dollars and threatened to derail growth.
No comments:
Post a Comment