British media, NRIs welcome Hazare's achievement against graft

London, Aug 28 (PTI) Anna Hazare's crusade against
corruption in India has attracted a great deal of attention in
the British media and among the NRI community which on Sunday
welcomed the end of his fast.
British parliamentarian Lord Swraj Paul said he was
relieved that the 74-year-old Gandhian has called of his 12-
day-old fast after setting the agenda for the eradication of
corruption in the country.
"Anna Hazare has awakened India as no one else to the
evil of corruption and deserves full admiration," he said.
The NRI industrialist said that he had watched with
admiration the intense debate in the Indian parliament
Saturday which showed the strength of Indian democracy.
"The speeches of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and
the leaders of opposition Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley were
of the highest caliber," he said.
"All in all, the success of people's power is a great
milestone for Indian democracy. I hope the promises made in
parliament to deal with corruption are followed through," Paul
said.
"Mr Hazare does not have, or aspire to, anything like
Gandhi's stature," prominent British the Guardian said.
"He does not confront, as Gandhi did, his followers'
complicity in social evils, an aspect of his career underlined
by subtitle - His Struggle With India - of a recent book on
Gandhi. But Mr Hazare has found an issue - and is exerting a
leverage which on balance must be good for India," the paper
wrote.
"A fast unto death is a touchy subject in India because
of the memory of Mahatma Gandhi, who used the tactic against
the British. One thing successive viceroys and prime ministers
particularily feared was the popular uprising that would
quickly follow if he died on their watch..," leading author
Patrick French noted in his piece on Hazare in the Daily
Telegraph.
Hazare has hundreds of supporters in Britain, many of
whom took to the streets to voice their support to his crusade
against corruption.