When Anna Hazare speaks, the country listens. His never ending struggles have given us the RTI act, caused many corrupt politicians to lose their jobs and also gave us the hope that one man can ignite a flame big enough to wake up a whole nation. With his ongoing fast against corruption and for the implemetation of the 'Jan Lok Pal bill', he has done just that, yet again. The first day's fast(on april 5th) was lost in the euphoria of India's world cup victory. But, by the second day many started asking 'who's anna hazare?'. And by the 3rd day, a large majority of Indians knew Anna and each point of the Jan Lok Pal bill. Fasts and candle light vigils are happening all over the country right now.
Few of those who are undergoing the indefinite fast
a warning to yeddy man and all the politicians in India
On the 3rd day(April 7th), me and my friend Romel decided to join the satyagrahis at Freedom park in Bangalore. The idea of fasting had never crossed my mind in my 25 years of existence, until today. Anyway, on thursday morning, instead of going to office, we headed in the opposite direction to Freedom park. We were disappointed to see just a small group of 15 people sitting there(too bad for a city of almost 1 crore population). Out of this, 6 of them were fasting non stop for the last 3 days, right from the minute Anna Hazare started. Among them were M.K.Gandhi, yoga instructor and Ashuthosh, an entrepreneur. A retired teacher tried to cheer the satyagrahis up with soulful renditions of Gandhi Bhajans. Then, slowly the crowd began to swell.
some success
wish atleast half of those came out after India's world cup victory truned up for this movement...An autodriver(name forgotten) was there from morning till evening, sacrificing his day's earnings. If he can do it, why can't we, the salaried class? His presence and his speeches went a long way in reducing my hatred towards Bangalore's autowallahs. Indeed, there are good people everywhere(even among HRs :P ). There was a little kid too, with her colouring book, intermittently snatching the placard from her mother. M.K.Gandhi spoke about how corruption is deep rooted by citing an example of him being asked for bribe by the security at the freedom park yesterday night for letting him use the restroom. Environmentalist Yellappa Reddy spoke at length about how corrupt officials are killing our forests. Many of whom turned up talked about their personal experiences with corruption. It was evident, very few(none?) are left untouched by this evil in India. In between all this, there were some who tried to use this stage for their own personal agenda. This included a group of college kids who came with 'ABVP' banners and another group of 'kannada activists'. Thankfully, the organisers told them politely that no other agendas are allowed other than Jan Lok pal bill and anti-corruption.
M.K.Gandhi, one of the 12 who are undergoing indefinite fast at freedom park....Yellappa Reddy,famous environmentalist
an autodriver who spent the whole day at the freedom park....sacrificing his day's earnings....If he can do it, why cant the high salaried class do it!
the kid too decided to put in her might, so as to protect her future
sometimes she went back to her colouring bookBy noon, the crowd swelled again, thanks to a big bunch of college students who came in their college buses. These college managements has to be appreciated for taking such thoughtful steps. The students' spirited sloganeering brought the freedom park to life. With placards in support of Anna Hazare and his movement, they strode in and filled up the park. The media was in good strength too by this time. It was a pleasure to see the empty venue getting filled up gradually. After 2, we had to leave to finish our duties at office. But we continued our fast till night, making it 24 hours. And, it was not as hard as we thought.
college students shouting slogans in support of Anna Hazare
high spirited!
future leaders..
an apt venue for the fast
romel, who accompanied me to the freedom park.
more placards
a lady speaking about her tryst with corrupt public servants
people signing up for the movementOn wednesday, when I decided to go for this, I heard so many highly negative comments from all around. I read similar comments in various online communities and in our office bulletin board. It was the same old 'Nothing's gonna change here', 'whats the use', 'This won't work' kind of comments. Thankfully only few congress,BJP symathisers and ultra pessimists share this view. They came up with all kinds of conspiracy theories like Anna Hazare is trying to gain a back door entry to government and that 'civil society' will hamper the development of this country. Either these people are utterly hopeless fools or are acting like fools even after knowing the facts. So, stamp out the negativity. Get out and support in whatever way you can. Your presence at the venues can make a lot of difference(even if its for an hour). This might or might not be a success. But the fact that atleast some of us will now think twice before paying a bribe can bring about a change. Wish atleast half of those who came out at midnight to cheer the Indian cricket team's world cup win, turns up for this.
Check the location and contact person in your city at this link- http://indiaagainstcorruption.org/citycontacts.php
The complete draft of the Jan Lok Pal bill and everything that you need to know about the issue is available in the site- http://indiaagainstcorruption.org/
It was heartening to see a big crowd of software engineers take out a protest march all over electronic city today evening.
your crusader Praveen
7 comments:
Thanks for the coverage.
Everyone should play their part. Thanks for the post.
a great effort by Mr Hazare...but not sure if just the law itself will stamp out corruption(most prob. not)...we need strong implementation of the lok pal to root out corruption from this country...congrats on providing moral support to the campaign..
Brilliant!
Superb effort to have made yourself part of this spartan move!
Hey - I am certainly glad to find this. Good job!
Just give a thought on the country you live in.
Is India a Democracy?..Yes..
then why the fuck does some fools claiming to be from 'Civil Society'without being elected thru formal process wants to be part of legislation process.
Awake my friend these are all fucking corporate dramas.
Anna Hazare is another guy who takes corporate sponsorship to do satyagrahas.
If anyone of us conduct such a satyagraha at Jantar Mantar, our lives will be history within few days.
Now that the whole politics which the Corporates used to their will have lost thier credibility, they wanna invest and build a new instrument which might serve thier purpose of imperialism..
Thts y Anna n others were lined up and paid.So tht corruption can be centralized thru a single channel called Lokpal. After this corruption becomes so easy...just buyout these guys at Lokpal.
So give a good thought bef jumping into these frauds.
Afterall Indina IT guys are all the same.and fall for all these fads.
And give this thought a country which is full of good people cannot send more than 300 millionaires to Parliament who are brutally corrupt and serve the purpose of the Corporates.
So all Indians who claims tht the politicians alone are corrupt should do a self interospection..
Watch Capitalism A lovestory or Outlook article on corruption instead when u hear some fools are out on streets led by another
@Mr Parimal Tripathi.
I thought Jaagore is from the TATA group.
One among the most corrupt Indian groups.
Was at the core of 2G scam/Radia.
TATA Tea who sposors Jaagore is massive illegal land grabbbers in Kerala.
Think before you team up on somebodys side.
The corporates cant make a corrupt free India.
They are the root of corruption
wake up man
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