Anna makes impromptu visit to Gandhi's resting place

Hours before starting his renewed fast, anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare, 73, visited Mahatma Gandhi's tomb at Rajghat on Sunday evening, taking the Delhi police unawares. Jatin Anand reports.

Hours before starting his renewed fast, anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare, 73, visited Mahatma Gandhi's tomb at Rajghat on Sunday evening, taking the Delhi police unawares.

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Hazare made the trip while his supporters were preparing for his appeal to the nation at the Constitution Club, about 4 km away.

"We attended the Independence Day programme at the Red Fort in the morning and thought we should visit the Mahatma's samadhi too. All we wanted was a small stroll through the lawns before driving back home but, in fact, almost bumped into Annaji seconds after we entered," said Rajesh Meena, 35, a businessman from Sonepat.

Meena was among a small crowd, which swelled as television crews scrambled in to beam live telecasts of Hazare sitting down to a "maun prarthana" (silent prayer), seeking inner strength before Tuesday's fast.

While there were 75-100 people at Rajghat around 4:30pm when Hazare, with just three to four of his aides, strolled inside, almost a thousand visitors including author Chetan Bhagat gathered before Anna exited to address the press conference at 6:40pm.

"We are all with him in his fight against corruption; if they arrest him, we will teach this government a lesson that the freedom fighters of yore taught the British," said Vijay Arora, 23, a resident of Chandni Chowk.

Anna was escorted away by his aides as volunteers requested visitors to sit down, and chanted 'Raghupati Ragahav Raja Ram', a religious song popularised by Mahatma Gandhi.