NEW DELHI: The anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare has called off his hunger strike, as the ''toothless'' anti-corruption bill he is protesting against passed the lower house of parliament, only to meet with fierce opposition in the upper house.
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Mr Hazare, his health failing, also abandoned his ''jail bharo'' plan to fill India's prisons with protesters today after a lukewarm turnout to his rally this week.
The widespread antipathy to the legislation tabled by the government, seen in massive protests earlier this year, appears to have dissipated.
The anti-graft Lokpal bill is one of the Indian government's main pieces of legislation, designed to tackle the country's endemic corruption problem. The bill establishes an independent ombudsman to investigate bribery and graft among politicians and bureaucrats.
But opponents argue the bill is weak and the ombudsman's powers would be severely limited, unable to investigate a sitting prime minister, judges or the Central Bureau of Investigation, the country's intelligence agency.
The government is committed to the bill and spent yesterday morning trying to corral enough upper house numbers to support it. Opposition MPs, and some coalition allies, are expected to move up to 50 amendments to the bill, and the government may be forced to compromise on key points.
As debate began yesterday, government sources said the vote would be tight.
But while the government sensed victory, the public face of India's anti-corruption movement, Mr Hazare, was forced to admit defeat.
Looking drawn and tired, the 74-year-old broke his fast on Wednesday night when a girl from his village, wearing his supporters' trademark white ''I am Anna'' topi, gave him fruit juice.
Mr Hazare abandoned his hunger strike on the advice of doctors who reported that he was running a fever, had low blood pressure and was risking kidney failure by not eating. He nonetheless promised he would continue his campaign against graft and the bill now before parliament. ''We need to change our strategy to fight corruption … we will tirelessly campaign against the people who have opposed a strong Lokpal bill,'' he said after abandoning his protest.
''Considering the developments of the last few days and the way the government has presented us with a toothless tool for fighting corruption, I am convinced that they have no intention of ever drafting a bill that stops corruption.''
Mr Hazare's jail bharo plan, which called for thousands of protesters across the country to rally without permission so they would be arrested, was designed to overwhelm the jails system.
But he has called it off in the face of public apathy.
