Description

Anna Hazare's fast unto death in August 2011, demanding the enactment of strong Lokpal Bill, was a watershed moment in post-independence India. Coming soon after a slew of corruption exposes, the movement galvanized an increasingly disenchanted middle class nothing had in decades. Well-known Hindi journalist Ashutosh weaves together the story of the thirteen days that changed India. He had a ringside view of the developments, stationed as he was at the Ramlila Grounds in New Delhi, the venue of the fast, and had intimate access to the two warring parties: the Congress government at the Centre and Team Anna. Evoking the Jayaprakash Narayan movement and Gandhi's satyagraha, Ashutosh mines the history of India's post-independence politics to understand the phenomenon that is Anna Hazare.