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Manmohan Singh steps up rhetoric in row over activist whose jailing has sparked biggest protests in decades The Indian prime minister has described as “totally misconceived” a fast by the self-styled Gandhian anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare. Manmohan Singh’s comments came during a political standoff that has led to some of India’s most widespread protests in decades. Anna Hazare,74, is fasting in prison with thousands of his followers assembled outside. The gathering is the latest development in a fast-moving crisis that saw him arrested on Tuesday and then refusing to leave jail after the government ordered his release. Hazare, who is demanding tougher laws against corruption in India, says he wants the right, before he leaves prison, to return to the city park where he originally planned to fast publicly. But Singh was uncompromising in a speech to parliament, as opposition lawmakers tried to shout him down. “I acknowledge that Anna Hazare may be inspired by high ideals,” Singh said. “However, the path that he has chosen, to impose a draft of the bill on parliament, is totally misconceived.” The crackdown on the activist and the arrest of thousands of his followers met with outrage from the opposition , sparking parliament’s adjournment and protests, ranging from candlelit vigils to the burning of effigies of government figures, in cities across India. The arrest and sudden about-turn appeared to confirm a widespread feeling the 78-year-old Singh is out of touch and his government is clumsy and too riddled with corruption scandals to govern Asia’s third-largest economy effectively. “Corrupt, repressive and stupid” was the verdict of the Hindu newspaper; “Anna has the government fumbling” was the headline in the Mail Today. Further protests are planned across India on Wednesday, with calls for civil servants to take leave and rickshaw drivers to strike. Opposition parties also plan to protest against the arrest in parliament. The ruling Congress party held an emergency meeting to discuss the crisis. Dressed in his trademark white shirt, white cap and spectacles, in the style of the independence leader, Mahatma Gandhi, Hazare has won support from Indians from all walks of life who are sick of endemic corruption. The arrest played into Hazare’s hands. Many parties were sceptical about the fast, however, and there has been criticism that the activist was holding Indian democracy hostage. But any doubts about the protest were overshadowed by the activist’s jailing. A weak political opposition means that the government should still survive the crisis, but it could further dim the prospect for economic reforms that have already been held back by policy paralysis and corruption scandals. The arrests shocked many in a country with strong memories of Gandhi’s independence battles against colonial rule, and his fasts and nonviolent protests. Opposition figures likened the crackdown on Hazare to the 1975 “emergency”, when the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, arrested thousands of opponents. The home minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, sought to justify Hazare’s arrest, saying governments had a right to impose conditions on protest. The question for many is whether Hazare’s movement will gain even more support in a fast-urbanising nation of 1.2 billion people whose increasingly assertive middle class is fed up with bribery scandals, poor services and unaccountable leaders. The scandals, including a telecoms bribery scam that may have cost the government $39bn (£24bn), have not only damaged Singh’s reform agenda; they have dented investor confidence and distracted parliament, just as inflation and higher interest rates are hitting the $1.6trn economy. Hazare rose to fame for lifting his village, in the western state of Maharashtra, out of chronic poverty. His social activism has forced out senior government officials and helped create a right-to-information act for citizens. Hazare became the unlikely thorn in the side of the Congress-led coalition when he first went on hunger strike in April, winning concessions from the government. He called off the fast after the government promised to introduce a bill creating a special ombudsman to bring corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and judges to book. The legislation was presented earlier this month, but activists condemned the draft version as toothless because the prime minister and judges were exempt from investigation. India Anna Hazare guardian.co.uk