After leaving his jail cell on Friday, Anna Hazare was driven to the venue where he will continue his indefinite fast in a triumphal convoy, as thousands of his adoring supporters piled onto the streets.

"We have to bring a total change in this country," the 74-year-old told a huge crowd of supporters at the Ramlila Maidan. "The whole world will see you as an example of how to bring out revolution with non-violence."

He said his countrymen should not lose their spirit and added that although he had lost three kilos already he was getting energy from his supporters across the country.

"Till the Jan Lokpal Bill is passed, we will not leave Ramlila Maidan," he announced.

Anna Hazare is holding his strike at the open venue in India’s capital New Delhi to demand stronger laws against corruption. The government has allowed him to conduct his public fast for 15 days.

The movement must go on

"The torch of freedom you have lit to rid India of corruption should not go out," said Anna Hazare in a message to his supporters outside Tihar Jail where he was detained for three days. He thanked all Indians for their support and asked them to join him in his protest.

Anna Hazare was arrested Tuesday as he prepared to stage a public hunger strike to campaign for stronger anti-graft legislation. He had been given permission to leave jail on Wednesday but refused to move until the police allowed him to hold his protest without any conditions. Tens of thousands took to the streets to protest against his arrest, eventually forcing the government to concede to his demands.

He was granted the permission to hold his public fast on Thursday but waited an extra day while the Ramlila Ground was prepared. Anna began his fast in jail on Tuesday and has been checked regularly by doctors since. His team has said that the hunger strike is "not a fast unto death but an indefinite fast."

Facing flak

India's increasingly vulnerable-looking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has denounced Hazare's campaign as a "totally misconceived" attempt to undermine parliamentary democracy, but his words have gained little public traction.

The government's response, especially the initial arrest of Hazare and thousands of his supporters, has been widely criticised as the clumsy actions of an administration that has lost touch with its electorate.

Once seen as just an annoying thorn in the side of the establishment, Hazare has thus become a national figure whose popularity has shaken a government elected in 2009 with an unassailable parliamentary majority. His campaign has tapped into a deep reservoir of discontent over corruption, especially among India's burgeoning middle-class.

Author: Sachin Gaur (PTI, AFP)

Editor: Anne Thomas