Anna Hazare's protest for the Jan Lokpal Bill has an unlikely twin - the Tea Party movement in the US. And we are not talking of how both embody citizens' voices against the government.

The conditions of their births vary  greatly - Tea Party started in 2008 in the wake of the financial crisis while Hazare's protest started in 2011, when the UPA government ignored the Lokpal Bill, in keeping with unofficial government policy since 1969. Yet, both the popular movements have uncanny resemblances.

Both focus on ‘trust deficit’ created by respective governments on major issues affecting citizens’ day-to-day affairs.

Neither the ‘Tea Party’ nor the Hazare's protest owe political allegiance to any party. Both are grass root struggle against the political class.

The popular support in both cases stems from the failed aspirations of the people for good governance.

“We are equally disgusted with Republican and Democrat Congressmen,” said Lynne Roberts, a Tea Party volunteer.

Arvind Kejriwal of the Hazare camp had said that the people of the country really don’t see much difference in Congress and BJP.

Yet, liberals in the respective countries club the two movements with the political right. The Tea Party activists are dubbed as ‘rubes, racists, and religious nuts’ by American liberals. Many also link it with the Republican party.

Hazare's praise for Gujarat's BJP chief minister Narendra Modi's works in the state was immediately played up by the co-called socialist Congress as a clear right-wing orientation. It also accusing BJP of ‘trying to use these non-state actors’ (Hazare's team) for political purposes.

The concerns in both nations emanate out of a ‘vast discontent unsettling the public’. So, they are both loud, active and reasonable. There is quest to bring accountability in governance. The financial meltdown, unemployment crisis in the US three years back became strongest ‘recruiting sergeant’ for the Tea Party movement. The inaction from the government in India against the wide-spread corruption led to Hazare's protest fast, which reverberated in different cities of India. Citizens have joined both movements voluntarily.

Both movements are bereft of any tall leaders. They have ‘tapped into the same vein of anger towards a political system, many perceive as favouring well-connected interest groups over the common good.’ Thomas Friedman columnist for New York Times writes, “Nations thrive or languish usually not because of one big bad decision, but because of thousands of small bad ones - decisions where priorities get lost and resources misallocated so that the nation’s full potential can’t be nurtured and it ends up being less than the sum of its parts….”

The fall of Lehmann Brothers in the US and Indian government’s controversial auction of 2G spectrum were part of bad decisions which favoured few large interest groups.

Also, the movements struck the right chord in people’s heart and got huge media coverage. The American Tea Party thinking inspired hundreds of websites, Facebook pages and twitter accounts. Anna’s movement gathered similar social media attention. Some sections of media, however, downplayed the movement in both countries.

Street theatre, songs played an important role in both movements. Unknown bands, street plays have been star campaigners for the Tea Party movement. In India too, Delhi-based Asmita theatre group has been spreading Hazare's word around.

Some of these similarities between the two are also fatal flaws. For example, both have not been able to create broad, unified national presence.
The American Tea Party movement reports 1,000-1,500 state chapters, but no national body.

In India, Hazare is one of the many independent crusaders against corruption. There are anti-corruption groups like Lok Satta Party, India Against Corruption, The 5th Pillar (Chennai), Youth For Better India (Hyderabad), Saaku (Bangalore), Save India From Corruption. There's even a Baba Ramdev.

Amidst the similarities, however, lies one crucial difference - the Tea Party's presence, however fragmented, is increasingly getting politicised. The anti-corruption protest in India doesn't have similar strength of numbers as the Tea Party and it has consciously steered cleared of mainstream politics.

After all, despite similarities with others, each movement throughout history has remained unique.