Anna Hazare the Second Gandhi

Anna Hazare or Kisan Baburao Hazare, the 74-year-old Ghandi’an and now The Anti-corruption crusader has become a media phenomenon.He is a highly successful media campaign on social networking sites has built the image and now the poeple says the 21st century Gandhi for the Middle Class and the economical Weaker Class Population in India.

When TV cameras could not reach him in jail, Team Anna released a YouTube video, showing just how well Team Anna had learned to manage 24×7 media’s thirst for constant information.

Anna’s campaign has been among the top ten trending topics in India over the past few days. At one point three crore people have rung up and left missed calls. The “India against Corruption” page on Facebook clocked more than three lakh supporters. Their website presents Anna’s stand versus the government in simple terms.

Now special widgets show you the latest Anna news in your web browser. There are even online games you can play. And developers across India are releasing applications for Android and Nokia phones. They let you keep track of the movement, even on the move.

“In India every one want to carry Anna in their pocket, “said IT professional Rakesh Kumar Nautiyal”.

In 1962, events in South Asia meant that large-scale army recruitments were being undertaken. Despite not meeting the physical requirements, 25-year-old Hazare was selected, as emergency recruitment was taking place in the Indian Army. After training at Aurangabad in Maharashtra he started his career in the Indian Army as a driver in 1963. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Hazare was posted at the border in the Khem Karan sector. On 12 November 1965, the Pakistan Air Force launched air strikes on Indian bases, and all of Hazare’s comrades were killed; he was the only survivor of that convoy. It was a close shave for Hazare as one bullet had passed by his head. He was driving a truck.This led him to dwell on the purpose and meaning of life and death. He came across a small booklet titled “Call to the youth for nation building” by Swami Vivekananda in a book stall at the New Delhi railway station. He realised that saints sacrificed their own happiness for that of others, and that he needed to work towards ameliorating the sufferings of the poor. He started to spend his spare time reading the works of Swami Vivekananda, Mahatama Gandhi, and Vinoba Bhave. During the mid-1970s, he again survived a road accident while driving. It was at that particular moment that Hazare took an oath to dedicate his life to the service of humanity, at the age of 38. He took voluntary retirement from the army in 1978.He was respectably discharged from the Indian Army after completing 12 years of service. During his tenure about five medals were apprised to Anna Hazare: Sainya Seva Medal, Nine Years Long Service Medal, Sangram Medal, 25th Independent Anniversary Medal, and Pashimi Star award. Allegations of Anna Hazare being deserted Indian Army were put to rest when a RTI application brought forward information of him as he was honorably discharged from service

In 1978 after a voluntary retirement from the Indian army,

Hazare went to his native village Ralegan Siddhi, a village located in the acute drought-prone and rain-shadow zone of Parner Tehsil of Ahmadnagar district, in central Maharashtra.

It was one of the many villages of India plagued by acute poverty, deprivation, a fragile

ecosystem, neglect and hopelessness. Hazare made remarkable economic, social and community regeneration in Ralegan Siddhi.

He reinforced the normative principles of human development – equity, efficiency, sustainability and people’s participation and made Ralegan Siddhi an oasis of human-made regeneration in a human-made desert without any inputs of industrialisation and technology-oriented agriculture

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