HERALD TRIBUNE…Ms. [Aruna] Roy opposes the negotiating stance taken by Mr. Hazare and his advisers, and opposes their solution to official corruption. Nor is she alone. Much of India’s intelligentsia, if sympathetic to fighting corruption, has greeted the Hazare movement with unease or outright hostility, with one critic describing some elements of the flag-waving, middle-class supporters as an Indian incarnation of the Tea Party.
The strongest criticism is still directed at India’s government leaders, who are blamed for mishandling the crisis and for failing to combat corruption as public disgust deepened in recent years. Yet the strident tone taken by Mr. Hazare and his advisers, their seeming unwillingness to consider other perspectives and their effort to bypass parliamentary processes has brought a wide range of criticism, even from some otherwise natural allies…
The immediate question is how to defuse the crisis as Mr. Hazare on Tuesday reached the eighth day of his hunger strike at Ramlila Maidan, the public ground in New Delhi. His Gandhian fasting campaign has attracted huge crowds at peaceful rallies or marches across India in a movement that has startled the political establishment with its size and potency… (more)
