The Indian anti-corruption movement, popularly known as Anna Andolan, was a series of demonstrations and protests across India that began in 2011 and was intended to establish strong legislation and enforcement against perceived endemic political corruption.

[6] The wheels of this development took a public outburst first during the rally at Jantar Mantar organised by yoga guru Ramdev on 14 Nov 2010 to hand over police complaint against the corruption in 2010 Commonwealth Games.

[7] A rally was organised at historic Ramlila Maidan, Delhi in which group of eminent persons including Arvind Kejriwal, Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi, Ram Jethmalani, Medha Patkar, Swami Agnivesh, Col. Devinder Sehrawat, Sunita Godara, Harsh Mandar, Archbishop of Delhi, Justice D. S. Tewatia, Devinder Sharma, PV Rajgopal, Trilok Sharma marched after holding a public meeting in which the decision to invite Social Activist Anna Hazare to lead the movement was taken Anna Hazare.

The movement gained momentum from 5 April 2011, when anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare began a hunger strike at the Jantar Mantar monument in New Delhi.

Over-regulation, protectionism, and government ownership of industry led to slow economic growth, high unemployment, and widespread poverty.

[39] On 9 April, the government agreed to establish a joint committee;[40] this came from a compromise that politician Pranab Mukherjee would be chairman and a non-politician activist Shanti Bhushan would be co-chairman.

The government agreed to audio-record the committee's meetings and to hold public consultations before a final draft was prepared[43] but refused Hazare's demand for the proceedings to be televised live.

[46] In early June, senior Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee, Kapil Sibal, Pawan Kumar Bansal and Subodh Kant Sahay met Ramdev to discuss his concerns.

[51] On 5 June, police raided the Maidan, detaining Ramdev and removing his supporters after firing tear gas shells and lathicharging.

[66][67][68] Hazare said there might have been some faults with Ramdev's agitation, the beating up of people at night rather than in the daytime was a "blot on democracy", and that "there was no firing otherwise the eviction was similar to Jallianwala Bagh incident".

[74] Nationalist Congress Party General Secretary Tariq Anwar said; "Both Hazare and Ramdev are blackmailing the government and they should first peep into their own hearts".

[78] Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi condemned the incident, comparing it with Ravana-Lila and adding; "It is one of the worst days of Indian history.

The Prime Minister had said during the elections that he would bring back black money stashed in Swiss banks within 100 days of coming into power.

[80][81] The Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav condemned the incident, saying it shows the Union Government has lost its mental balance.

[82] The Communist Party of India (Marxist) termed the police action against Ramdev "deplorable and shortsighted" but found fault with him for making the issue of black money "farcical" by entering into a secret agreement with government.

[83] The party said; "The manner in which Ramdev's demands were drafted and the way in which he has conducted his interactions with the government, coming to a secret agreement to withdraw the hunger strike on the basis of assurances, then reneging and announcing its extension trivialised the seriousness of the issue of black money and made it farcical".

[79] An advocate of Ramdev petitioned the Supreme Court of India, saying no First Information Report had been registered with the police and thus the protesters' eviction was of dubious legality.

In a message released after his detention, Hazare said this was the beginning of the "second freedom struggle" and he called on people to participate in a jail bharo (mass arrest) protest.

[94] On 16 August, Hazare and his close associate and lawyer Prashant Bhushan asked government employees across the country to go on mass leave to show solidarity with the movement.

[95] It was decided to release Hazare after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, who disapproved of the arrest, on the evening of 16 August.

[96] Congress sources said the Government decided to release him and his supporters after concluding keeping him in jail would disrupt law and order unnecessarily.

Hazare refused to leave the jail until the government agreed to give unconditional permission to hold protests at Jai Prakash Narayan National Park.

[97] Hazare agreed to leave jail after Delhi Police granted him permission to fast for 15 days at Ramlila Maidan, a larger venue than Jai Prakash Narayan National Park.

[130] IAC members asked him to end this latest fast because of his poor health, having suffered from cold and mild fever for few days previously, but he refused.

[133] The debate resulted in the bill being passed by the Rajya Sabha (upper house) but the new, nine-member Lokpal panel was not given constitutional status because the government failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority of MPs present.

[139][140] Attempts to introduce some form of legislation, even though it was weaker than that demanded by the activists, had expired with the end of the parliamentary session on 27 December 2011.

[141] A month later, Hazare held a token one-day fast focussed on the remembrance of whistle-blowers such as Narendra Kumar and Satyendra Dubey, who had died as a result of their support for the anti-corruption cause.

[144] Hazare and Bedi reformed Team Anna while Kejriwal and some others split from the apolitical movement to form what was to become the Aam Aadmi Party.

[148] After failing to press the Indian government to pass The Lokpal Bill, 2011, Team Anna was split on the issue of formation of political party.

Anna Hazare and some others did not want to enter mainstream politics while Arvind Kejriwal led the campaigning group India Against Corruption,[149][150] and later formed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on 26 November 2012.