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New Delhi, April 9 : Social acivist Anna Hazare Saturday said he would tour the entire country to campaign against corruption and promised more struggles ahead after breaking his 97-hour hunger strike. He also had a word of thanks for the youth.
'I have broken the fast today (Saturday) because the government has fulfilled our demand by issuing this order,' he said, triumphantly flashing the gazette notifying the formation of a 10-member panel to draft a stringent Lokpal (ombudsman) Bill to combat corruption in high places.
'I will go to various states and meet people everywhere,' he said in a 15-minute address in Hindi to thousands of men and women from the dias near Jantar Mantar where he sat on hunger strike since Tuesday.
The notification on the joint committee was issued by the government in the morning.
'I thank everyone for spreading this movement all over, forgetting all divides of religion, caste and race,' he said.
He, however, said this is not the end of struggle and it will continue as long as the bill is not finally passed.
'The struggle has not finished, this is the first stage of protest,' Hazare told cheering supporters at Jantar Mantar, ground zero of the protest that mobilised thousands of people across the country.
'I want to assure everyone that if the bill is not passed, Aug 15 we will hoist the tricolour at Lal Qila for the second freedom struggle; and if it is passed, we will welcome the prime minister (Manmohan Singh) Aug 15,' he said.
'We have a long way to go,' he warned. 'We will have to struggle whenever it is necessary. We will have to put pressure on the government to make governance transparent.'
'This is the start of another independence struggle, there is a very long way ahead.'
He thanked the youth for their overflowing participation and called it a 'ray of hope'.
'The youth support is a symbol of hope, they have to take the movement forward. The fact that youth of the whole nation stood with us is a ray of hope,' Hazare said.
He said the struggle will continue till the bill is finally passed in the Lok Sabha.
'Our responsibility has increased, the path is long. Now we have to prepare the draft; then, if the draft faces hurdle in the cabinet, we will struggle for getting it passed,' he said.
'Then when it come to the Lok Sabha, it should be passed unanimously. If it faces hurdles there, I will take the tricolour on my shoulder and we will go to Lok Sabha,' the social activist said.
He said the struggle was also needed on a series of matters pertaining to empowerment of people.
'We need reforms in education, in labour's rights, in the election system,' he said, adding that 'decentralisation of power is very important to ensure corruption is defeated. As long as the voters don't get power in their hand, corruption will remain'.
Hazare also raised concerns about the electronic voting machines being used at present and pitched for an added option of 'reject' in the ballot allowing people to vote for none of the candidates.
He said people should also have the right to recall corrupt corporators. 'We will have to think of this if we have to stop corruption...The election system has to change.'
Although most people in the crowd compared him to Mahatma Gandhi, Hazare himself did not take the Mahatma's name.
Instead he referred to revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, who were hanged by the British. He said the country was indebted to them.
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