What Anna Hazare could not achieve in months, what the continued revelations in the 2G and Commonwealth scams could not ensure, the Congress party has managed in a moment of suicidal decisiveness. The arrest and subsequent attempts to release Hazare have isolated the Government in Parliament, where the BJP, the constituents of what was once the Third Front and the Left have come closer together. And they have isolated the Congress outside Parliament, with even those who have set no store by the Anna movement left aghast by this arbitrary display of government might.
And despite the Congress’ prevarications, it has to face up to the consequences of ordering Hazare’s arrest. At the very press conference where Home Minister P Chidambaram, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal and Minister for Information and Broadcast-ing Ambika Soni were explaining that the decision to arrest Anna Hazare was taken by the Delhi Police and the Government had no hand in it, Chidamba- ram declared that he had told the Police Commis- sioner to address the media about the arrest. He left no one in doubt about who did the telling between the Home Minister and the Police Commissioner.