A seventh standard-pass boy from a non-descript village in Maharashtra moves to Mumbai and takes up a job as a flower vendor under a local employer. Soon, he notices that a bunch of ruffians regularly demanded money from his employer and other vendors. Indignant, the boy tells his employer that he should refuse to pay them off. The next time the men come, the boy stands between his employer and the ruffians. In the ensuing altercation, in which several locals pluck up courage and join in, the ruffians are driven away, and never return.
The boy was Kisan Baburao Anna Hazare, who has now become the bane of the UPA government, and his hometown is Ralegan Siddhi, which he has made famous as India’s model modern village.
Anna has always been a rebel, but never without a cause. He sat on his first indefinite fast in 1979 in Ralegan Siddhi, demanding education for children beyond the seventh standard. He had his way, and has never looked back since. If there was a cause to fight for, Anna was ready to undertake a fast to force the authorities’ hand. From social reforms to ingenious ways of water harvesting and agriculture to education, Ralegan Siddhi became an undisputed “adarsh gaon”.
Dattatray Awari, office in-charge of Ralegan Siddhi, tells the story of the 74-year-old social activist and how he came to be what he is today. “Anna joined the Indian Army as a driver. Of those who were with him in his regiment in the India-Pakistan war of 1965, he was the only one who managed to survive. Somewhere deep down, this disturbed him immensely. That was when he promised himself that he would dedicate his life to fighting for others’ sake, and decided to begin small, from his own village. In 1975, he took voluntary retirement from the Army and came back here.”
“None of us remember all the promises and resolutions we make to ourselves, but Anna does, all the time” Mr Awari says. “Anna was hugely influenced by Swami Vivekananda, and read all his works. After grasping what Vivekananda meant to propagate, Anna said man’s greatest possible duty and love is actually not towards God or some supreme power that we cannot see or touch, it is towards fellow human beings. Begin with your neighbour, Anna always tells us. He himself decided on this course of life.
The Gandhian may currently be the national flavor and fervour, but few know that even today, Anna lives in a 10-by-12 sq ft room adjoining the village temple, and his only meal of the day comes from the boys’ hostel in the village.
As Anna’s fast for a strong Lokpal Bill enters its sixth day, the atmosphere in Ralegan Siddhi is charged – there is euphoria over the nation-wide support for Anna’s movement; there is rage over the allegations made against him by central ministers and Congress spokespersons.
Says Anna’s younger brother, Maruti, “Kapil Sibal has been making allegations against Anna. He should come here and see how Anna lives.” Maruti’s wife is aggrieved that “Anna hasn’t eaten a morsel for five days now and yet some people are making reckless charges against him”.
Maruti worries for Anna: “We feel troubled if we skip even one meal. Imagine, Anna is fasting for a fortnight”.