The epic fraud that was 'India Against Corruption'

The outspoken "independent" heroes of a decade ago -people like Vinod Rai, the auditor who couldn't count, remember him? - have quietly vanished into sinecures provided by the next government

Ten years ago this month, a little-known activist from Maharashtra began a fast unto death in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. In a remarkably short time, Kisan Baburao Hazare’s demonstration turned into a “movement” — or at least that was what an enthusiastically supportive media would have had us believe.

A decade on, please admit it, India: You were duped. “India Against Corruption” was nothing of the sort. It was a vehicle for personal ambitions, of Arvind Kejriwal in particular; it was an arena for middle-class play-acting at protest; it was an operation to discredit the government and reposition the Bharatiya Janata Party,