6:30 pm : Hazare said that after seeing the support for the movement today he feels like a 75-year-old youth and urged people to support the Lokpal movement in order to help the poorest of the poor in the country, who were affected by corruption.
6:25 pm: Bring all government officials under the Lokpal to eliminate corruption in state-run offices, Hazare said.
The Lokpal will help bring honesty into the functioning of the government and its offices, he said.
“Corrupt officials will be jailed. All property illegally acquired will be transferred to the state,” the anti-corruption activist said while extolling the virtues of a Lokpal.
6:25 pm : People have been betrayed by their elected representatives, says Hazare.
“All the officials are public servants and they are supposed to be serving the people,” he said.
Despite being the original holders of power, people had become ignorant of their own democratic rights and that is why politicians and other leaders had managed to carry out so much theft, Hazare said.
He constantly reminded the crowd about the agitation at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi last year. Seems to be glossing over the less successful Mumbai protest.
6:15 pm : Anna Hazare says that all the money with the government is the money of the people.
“The government should take the views of the people before spending it. That is what a democracy requires,” he said.
“Our treasure is not at risk from the robbers but from those who are supposed to protect it,” Hazare said.
The anti-corruption activist says that the Lokpal if brought about may not completely eliminate corruption but can do away with a sizeable chunk of it.
5:30 pm: Kejriwal said that Team Anna stood by whatever evidence they had made public against the UPA ministers.
“We are ready for any defamation notice,” he said.
5:20 pm: Arvind Kejriwal has questioned why the Prime Minister is afraid of an impartial probe.
“If there had been a Lokpal in place then Pranab Mukherjee couldn’t have become President,” he said.
3:50 pm: The anti-corruption activist appealed to people, who have been living honestly, to share their stories so that they can be shared with others and can act as an inspiration for them.
The protestors will also begin highlighting the allegations of corruption against Union Ministers at 5 pm today.
“Today we will place before you the allegations of corruption against PM, Pranab Mukherjee, Kapil Sibal and Virbhadra Singh,” Kejriwal said.
3:40 pm: Arvind Kejriwal says that he can fast for at least 10 days in order to ensure that their demands are met and that they are fighting for justice.
“It is not that Indians are bad people but we are stuck in a system that is third class,” he said.
Kejriwal said that he has travelled across the country and has found people from all streams seeking to live honestly.
“I appeal to government officials to stop taking bribes,” he said.
2:40 pm: The NSUI has denied that its activists were involved in the protest at Jantar Mantar, the site of Team Anna‘s hunger strike today.
“The people who caused disturbance at Jantar Mantar are not affiliated with us,” said NSUI President Rohit Chaudhary told ANI.
Minister of State in the PMO V Narayanasamy has also said the allegations by Team Anna that NSUI activists had tried to disrupt their anti-government agitation were “baseless and unfounded”.
“The allegations (levelled by Team Anna) are unfounded and without any fact. They are trying to divert the attention
of the people by levelling such allegations,” he said.
2:05 pm: Here are some images from Jantar Mantar where Team Anna is on a hunger strike.
1:50 pm: The former police official said that the agitators can’t even depend on the CBI any more.
“We can’t depend on the CBI because it could not conduct an impartial inquiry into the 2G spectrum issue,” Bedi said.
1:45 pm: “We are only seeking an inquiry against the ministers. If the government does not perform the inquiry then where do we go?” Bedi said.
She says that it is for the creation of a special investigation team that Team Anna members like Arvind Kejriwal and others are fasting today.
1:40 pm: Kiran Bedi says that the movement is back to square one.
“Our presence here shows that there is no progress on our demands,” she says.
“We have nothing personal against any of the ministers. But the law should take its own course and punish those found guilty,” the former police official said.
1:20 pm :”Pranab becoming president does no mean we will not talk about his corruption,” Kejriwal says.
“The constitution does not allow the government to take action against the President. Taking the name of the constitution the government is protecting the corrupt,” he said, Firstpost‘s Danish Raza reports.
Anna Hazare with Team Anna members at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. Naresh Sharma/ Firstpost
Gopal Rai, who is also fasting today at Jantar Mantar, said they will not leave the venue until their demands are met.
The images of Pranab Mukherjee have been covered at Jantar Mantar. Activists say that they will state the allegations of corruption that have been levelled against Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram and a few other ministers today at 5 pm.
On each day of the hunger strike allegations against each of the UPA ministers will be made public.
Hunger strike in Mumbai sees a small crowd gathering at Azad Maidan in Mumbai to support their counterparts in Delhi.
A medical made public at Jantar Mantar states that all the activists on the hunger strike are stable so far.
12:30 pm:Sisodia says it is time for people of India to decide if they want to stay at home and watch the protests on television or if they will join them in the protest.
“Until our demands are met our battle against the corrupt leaders will continue. Protests like the one by the NSUI will not affect our agitation,” he said.
12:25 pm: Manish Sisodia says that they are prepared to go on sanyas if allegations of financial irregularities against them are proven. He speaks about the large scale corruption across the country and the corruption throughout the Indian political system.
A group of agitators are protesting against the Team Anna event today, Firstpost‘s Danish Raza reports. The protestors claimed to be from the National Students Union of India, a Congress students union. The protestors were restrained by the police at the venue.
The NSUI activists alleged that the Team Anna protest were being motivated by the opposition parties.
12:05 pm: Firstpost‘s Danish Raza reports that close to 2,000 people have collected at Jantar Mantar to support the hunger strike.
Indian Against Corruption activists reportedly detained while attempting hunger strike at theirprotest site in Pune.
12:00 pm: Anna Hazare , Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai arrive at Jantar Mantar and take the stage.
11:45 am: IAC volunteers also fasting in Bangalore led by former Supreme court judge Santosh Hegde.
11:15 am : “The government’s intentions are not right at all. They don’t have any intention to bring about the Lokpal,” Anna Hazare says before members of Team Anna go on a hunger strike.
When asked why he hasn’t stopped Arvind Kejriwal, who is diabetic, from fasting Hazare said,”He doesn’t listen to me only. He says he doesn’t mind life leaving his body.”
Kejriwal says they have been preparing for the fast for the last couple of days.
10:43 am: Seems like Arvind Kejriwal’s in a combative mood ahead of the hunger strike today.
“Fight 2 make India Free from Corruption! Save India!Good Morning!,” he tweeted this morning.
10:40 am: Team Anna says that nine India Against Corruption activists were detained at Dharamtalla in Kolkata but they are continuing fast at Lal Bazar central lockup
10:30 am: Anna Hazare expected to turn up soon at Rajghat soon along with other Team Anna members.
When asked by CNN-IBN, veteran Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar reportedly said that Team Anna has lost its political relevance today and there is no point to negotiate with them.
Will he be proved wrong by the end of the agitation?
10:15am: In an interview before the hunger strike, Kejriwal said that given the groundswell of support the movement had been seeing he was confident that the agitation would be success.
“People are coming on their own. This gives me confidence that the hunger strike on 25 July will be a success,” Kejriwal told CNN-IBN.
He denied that there had been any changes in the goal of the movement and said the focus remained the creation of a strong Lokpal.
“The Special Investigation Team (SIT) should probe the allegations against the ministers and those who are not guilty can continue in office,” he said
The anti-corruption activist said that the government was required to begin a probe against the allegedly corrupt ministers and then they would consider approaching the courts.
He also denied that the movement was targetting only the Congress government at the Centre and they had targetted corruption across the country.
“Where ever we have come across strong evidence of corruption we have raised our voices,” the activist said.
He also denied that the activists were planning to enter the political fray in 2014 and said that they are not forming a political party or putting up candidates.
“If a good alternative emerges then we will back them,” he said. He also said they were committed to the fast and would rise from it “only if the Special Investigation Team was set up. Watch the complete video here.
9:30 am: Hundreds of people have begun to gather at Jantar Mantar in Delhi as Team Anna begins its indefinite fast today seeking the creation of a stronger Lokpal bill. Anna Hazare has decided not to fast for the first four days of the protest due to ill health. However, other members of Team Anna like Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Gopal Rai and others will start fasting from today.
Among demands made by the activists are the modification and passage of the Lokpal Bill, the creation of a special investigation panel to investigate their charges of corruption against 15 ministers and fast track courts to try cases against Parliamentarians.
The mood is almost festive at Jantar Mantar with posters of the 15 ministers against whom allegations have been levelled visible throughout the venue. Loud music is blaring and many people are waving flags as they await the activists to take the stage.
Parallel protests will also be held in Mumbai also with organisers saying that protestors will begin gathering at Azad Maidan from 10 am and there will be 40 persons who will be on an indefinite hunger strike till their demands are met. Fasts are to be held at other locations across India too.
The protest is an important test for Team Anna, which some have claimed has become fragmented and weaker since its inception, to prove that they still have the popular support that they commanded during the 2011 protests in Delhi. Being held on the same day as the swearing in of the 13th President, Pranab Mukherjee, the activists have promised to rake up allegations of corruption that they had levelled against him while he was still a minister in the government.
Hours after Mukherjee is to visit Rajghat, members of Team Anna are also likely to visit the venue and then begin their hunger fast.
