Working Against Better Sense

By afternoon, despite the brave front being put up by senior ministers, the sarkari script was already going awry. News of Anna’s detention had resulted in word-of-mouth mobilisation. In Delhi, despite ban orders, crowds had already started collecting near Jayaprakash Park, Rajghat and Oberoi Maidan, close to the Delhi Police Mess, where Anna had been detained. The IB warning to the government couldn’t have taken less time to come true.

Chidambaram and Sibal. (Photograph by jitender gupta)

Earlier, for over a week, in every deliberation that senior IB officials had with the government, they had insisted on “not unleashing the Anna force and to watch out for media pressure”. Senior IB officials had repeatedly told the government “not to arrest Anna Hazare” and instead “engage him in dialogue to prolong the process.” The IB solution included “drawing a bigger line of dialogue through a committee of political leaders, eminent citizens etc.”

Says an IB official, “Our line was the government must prevent a dharna by engaging in dialogue; else, Anna should be allowed to sit on dharna without arrests. Over time, the agitation would lose steam without the opposition being able to take advantage. We even told the government to take the opposition into confidence if police action was to be taken.”

The prime minister (Photograph by Jitender Gupta)

But none of that happened. Senior officials confirm that the home ministry was all for using strong-arm tactics. Union home secretary R.K. Singh was for an “administrative solution”. In October 1990, it was Singh who as district collector had arrested L.K. Advani in Samastipur in Bihar during his rath yatra. This time, supported by senior minister Kapil Sibal, Singh was convinced that a custody would be the best way to halt Anna’s movement. This move also had the backing of Union home minister P. Chidambaram.

Politically, Hazare has sparked tempers among Congress leaders from Maharashtra in the Union cabinet. Former chief ministers Sushilkumar Shinde and Vilasrao Deshmukh are fuming at having been left out of the core group to take on Hazare. Says a Deshmukh aide, “Vilasrao, after all, has the maximum experience of neutralising Hazare in Maharashtra every time he went on a protest fast.”

Meanwhile, the government’s troubleshooter Pranab Mukherjee maintained his distance. It was much later, at a Congress core group meeting, that he slipped in a suggestion that Anna be released. On August 18, after Anna refused to leave Tihar jail, the government had to climb down and accede to most of his demands. This time the negotiations were conducted by Delhi police commissioner B.K. Gupta.