Anna Hazare ends day-long fast

Anna Hazare and his supporters ended this evening their day-long fast who were protesting police crackdown against yoga guru Ramdev and his followers at Ramlila Maidan here.

Hazare, joined by his associates and a few thousand supporters, went on the hunger strike to protest the police crackdown on Baba Ramdev's supporters during their agitation against corruption here on Saturday night, which he termed as a "blot on humanity" and attempt to "stifle democracy".

He ended the fast at 6 pm.

Taking on the government, Hazare said that his agitation against corruption was the "second freedom struggle" and threatened another hunger strike from August 16 if the Lokpal Bill is not passed by then.

He accused the government of putting "hurdles" in the drafting of Lokpal Bill and trying to defame the civil society members of the joint panel, such as Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Santosh Hegde and Arvind Kejriwal through a "discreet" campaign.