Even as there were frantic moves by the government and political parties to end Anna Hazare's fast, the theatrics of former Indian Police Service officer Kiran Bedi on stage gave a distasteful turn to the discourse and led many to wonder about the ‘real motives’ of the anti-corruption campaigners.
After a furious bout of flag-waving, Bedi, a leading light of Team Anna known as a no-nonsense and upright officer who was miffed at not being made Delhi Police commissioner, decided to vent her ire on a MP who had come to Ramlila Maidan.
"Ask him what is he going to do," she asked the crowd. "They (the MPs) say one thing inside (Parliament) and another thing outside."
And then, raising her pitch, she exclaimed: "They (the MPs) wear masks!"
Then Bedi, to the great amusement of the crowd, proceeded to pull a scarf from the neck of a young activist on stage, wrapped her head with it like a 'ghunghat' (veil) and proceeded to mock MPs and their "double-faced utterances".
"This is how they behave," she trilled, "one thing with a mask and another without a mask", and proceeded to pirouette on stage like a vaudeville artiste.
Some television commentators dubbed Bedi's performance as ‘vulgar’, ‘vituperative’ and downright ‘grotesque’ and said she had taken the discourse to a new low.
