Political parties unite to urge Hazare to end fast

"I've only lost six kilos and a bit of my kidney is affected, but it is nothing to worry about," says Anna Hazare. Others are not so sure. Nine days into a hunger-strike aimed at forcing parliament to pass stringent anti-corruption legislation, Mr. Hazare looks visibly weakened. Beyond appearances, doctors recommend that he be placed on an intravenous drip. Now he has managed to unite India's main political parties, who passed a resolution at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday urging him to end his fast. There is a growing and substantive critique that he is distorting the democratic process by using the threat of slow-motion suicide to extort political change. Events are coming to a head. The government is making concessions on anti-graft legislation, and there is widespread agreement that Hazare's absolutist demands will not be met. So will he accept compromise and declare victory? 

Update (1 PM EST, August 25):  According to Vatican Radio, Cardinal Gracias of Bombay is calling for end to Anna Hazare's hunger strike.

“I’m appealing, and the Church has appealed, to Anna Hazare to call of his hunger strike, because we know that only God is the giver of life; only God can take away life,” Cardinal Gracias told Vatican Radio.

Anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare