After being discharged from a hospital, Anna Hazare arrives in his native village.


India s anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Wednesday (August 31) night arrived in Ralegan Siddhi, his native village in western Maharashtra state after being discharged from a hospital, after he broke his 13-day fast demanding a strong Ombudsman Bill.

The villagers were excited to welcome back the 74-year old hero from their village who made the government bow down in front of his non-violent movement against graft.

"Anna arrived in Ralegan Siddhi at 1 am in the night and all the villagers were waiting to welcome him. The villagers burst crackers and took out procession. Anna ji has become a prominent figure from our small village Ralegan Siddhi. A person from our village forced the government for the passage of a strong and effective Lokpal (Ombudsman) bill. Such a prominent personality has come to our village and we are very happy about it," said Manoj Talpade, a villager.

Dressed in signature white cap, the Gandhian was welcomed by the women of Ralegan Siddhi who put the auspicious vermilion mark on his forehead as per Hindu tradition, giving a heart warming welcome to their warrior.

Hazare, who first went inside a temple to offer prayers said that he had come to his village to celebrate the Hindu festival, Ganesha Chaturthi with the villagers.

"My villagers were waiting for me. The idol of Lord Ganesha (Hindu god) is arriving in our village and we all will celebrate Ganesha Chaturthi (a Hindu festival)," said Hazare.

Hazare makes a stately figure; his crisp white clothes represent his calls for transparency while referring to Gandhi. His protest tactics of Gandhian civil disobedience have reached to the consciousness of thousands, most of them youth.

Kisan Baburao Hazare is the eldest of seven children born to a labourer father and a homemaker mother in a small village in today s Maharashtra state. The family later moved to Ralegan Siddhi, their ancestral village. Hazare achieved a seventh-grade education.

Hazare was enlisted in the Indian army as a driver during the 1965 Indo-Pak war. He was driving a truck full of soldiers when two Pakistani jets attacked his platoon. Everyone died save Hazare, who was left to ponder why God let him live.

He decided then that he was ready to sacrifice worldly pleasures for the betterment of his fellow Indians and started grass root-level work by cleaning up his village. He launched an anti-alcohol campaign to combat the growing liquor intake in the village. That caused a dramatic drop in crime. He also developed a strong watershed programme to teach villagers how to store rainwater and to raise the area s quickly diminishing water table.