NEW DELHI: Hours after the nation celebrated the "people's victory" under Anna's leadership , one of his most ardent supporters lost his battle for life in a dimly lit corner of the burn ward at the Lok Nayak Hospital . His last wish went unfulfilled : that of hearing from his idol. Dinesh Yadav, who had set himself ablaze last Tuesday, succumbed to his injuries early on Monday. His only solace was the news of Anna ending his fast and the government acceding to his demands.
"Dinesh was a true martyr to Anna's cause, and yet he was ignored. The entire nation is celebrating, but our world has been ripped apart. His children are still very young: what will happen to them?" said Amarjeet Yadav, Dinesh's youngest brother. The family took away the body to their village in Bihar to perform the last rites. "I struggled to find courage to break the news to my father, which I did only in the afternoon . A father should not have to see his son die," said Lalan Kumar Yadav, another brother.
The family said Dinesh was always against corruption; but they still can't accept the enormity of what he did. "It doesn't make any sense. When we heard about the incident we couldn't believe our ears. We didn't even know that he was in Delhi," said Vibhuti Kumar, the village headman.
But there was considerable angst among the family members about the fact that no Team Anna member came to visit Dinesh in the hospital. They said that despite being in agonizing pain, his love for Anna never faltered. He was heavily sedated and he kept drifting in and out of consciousness; yet he still managed a brief smile when he was told that Anna's demands had been met and his fast had ended, the family said. "No one even called to enquire about him. Maybe what he did was wrong, but he did it for Anna," said Mohammad Saleem , a friend.
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