Anna Hazare Age, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Bio
Real Name	Kisan Baburao Hazare
Nickname	Anna
Profession	Indian social activist
Physical Stats & More
Height	in centimeters- 163 cm in meters- 1.63 m in Feet Inches- 5’ 4”
Weight	in Kilograms- 58 kg in Pounds- 128 lbs
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	White
Personal Life
Date of Birth	15 June 1937 (Tuesday)
Age (as of 2024)	87 Years
Birth Place	Bhingar, Bombay Province, British India
Zodiac sign/Sun sign	Gemini
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Ralegan Siddhi, Maharashtra
School	Not Known
College	N/A
Educational Qualifications	Upto 7th Grade
Family	Father- Baburao Hazare Mother- Laxmibai Hazare Brothers- Maruti Hazare & 3 more Sisters- 2
Religion	Hinduism
Address	Village Ralegan Siddhi, Parner, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India
Hobbies	Doing Yoga, Reading
Controversies	• He has been criticized for being an agent of RSS (a right-wing Hindu body). • He has been criticized for acting as proxy for political parties. • In an Inquiry Commission by the Maharashtra Government, his trust- Hind Swaraj Trust was found to spend 220000 INR on his birthday celebrations. • He has also been accused of being anti-democratic and anti-dalit by Ramchandra Guha in an article written in Kolkata Telegraph. • He has also been accused of being anti-Muslim by Arundhati Roy.
Favourite Things
Favourite Leader(s)	Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda
Girls, Affairs and More
Marital Status	Unmarried
Affairs/Girlfriends	Not Known
Wife	N/A
Children	N/A

Some Lesser Known Facts about Anna Hazare

He was born in Bhingar near Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra and was the eldest son of Laxmi Bai and Baburao Hazare.

His father, Baburao Hazare, was an unskilled labourer in an Ayurveda Ashram Pharmacy.

He was born as Kisan Baburao Hazare and later he adopted the name Anna, which means father or elder brother in Marathi.

His family was very poor and a relative tried to help him in his education, however, he couldn’t continue his studies after the 7th grade.

He started selling flowers to make his ends meet at the Dadar Railway Station in Mumbai and also owned 2 flower shops in the city.

After the Indo-Pak war of 1962, he joined the Indian Army in 1963 and served as a Truck Driver.

During the Indo-Pak war of 1965, he survived a bomb-attack in which all his colleagues were martyred.

At times, he used to be frustrated and even contemplated suicide, however, an inspiration came at the New Delhi railway station, where he came across a book of Swami Vivekananda- he was inspired by the photograph on the cover of the book. The book inspired him to pursue his life for the betterment of the mankind.

After his 15 year service in the Indian Army, he opted for voluntary retirement and returned to his hometown- Ralegan Siddhi.

With his vigilantism and activism, he transformed his village- Ralegan Siddhi from a poor and drought-ridden village into a model village.

He also abandoned the liquor dens in his village by launching a movement against them with the help of youths and local villagers.

He made a local temple in his village as the focal point of his activism and in 1980, he started a Grain-Bank at the temple providing food security to the poor farmers during the times of drought.

In 1991, he launched a movement to fight against corruption- Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Andolan (BVJA) in Ralegan Siddhi.

He started fast unto death for the 1st time on 9 August 2003 for the corruption charges against 4 NCP Ministers of the Congress-NCP Government.

He launched a movement in Maharashtra in early 2000, which forced the Maharashtra Government enacting a revised version of Maharashtra Right to Information Act and this act later became the blueprint for the Right to Information Act 2005 (RTI) enacted by the Government of India.

He came to the National Media attention on 20 August 2011, when he began an indefinite fast at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to pass the Lokpal and Lokayuktas bill by the Government of India. A large number of people joined his movement including, Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, etc.

His supporters started a campaign- Main Anna Hazare Hoon (I am Anna Hazare) similar to We Are All Khaled Said campaign from the Egyptian uprising.

His supporters also launched a topi encrypted with Main Anna Hoon (I am Anna) which became almost a fashion statement.
A Marathi language film- Mala Anna Vahaychay (I want to become Anna) is based on his life in which Arun Nalawade has played the role of Anna Hazare.

A Bollywood film- Anna by Shashank Udapurkar is also based on his life in which his role has been played by Shashank Udapurkar.