The shrieks of a petite teenager smartly dressed in a Gandhi T- shirt pierced through the “ I am Anna” slogans outside Tihar Jail around midnight on Tuesday.
“ I am not in a pub, mom. I am at Tihar,” she cried out on her phone. She had alighted from a luxury car moments ago with a placard reading “ I am Anna, I am Change” in bold fonts.
She told her parents not to worry and that she would be at the vigil at the gates of Tihar the whole night.
Even the pesky mosquitoes couldn’t take the sting out of her enthusiastic slogans until morning when a fresh wave of Anna fans descended there.
The sprightly teenager was spotted again on Wednesday — this time marching with thousands of people from India Gate to Parliament Street. She learnt about the protest march called by another Team Anna member, Prashant Bhushan, during her nightlong vigil at Tihar.
Around 30,000 people — the biggest- ever gathering in Delhi for Anna Hazare and his crusade against corruption — congregated at India Gate and headed initially towards Jantar Mantar. But they concluded their march at Parliament Street with a thunderous “ Vande Mataram”. Somebody likened Anna’s pull to that of the Pied Piper of Hamelin — attracting mothers with tiny children tugging on to their saris and “ duppatas”; the elderly braving their creaking bones; students looking for a brighter future and professionals fed up with “ greasing palms to move government files”. A bunch of students in pinafores from Rani Datta Arya Vidyalaya marched alongside a team of techies. The young girls were not clear about the Lokpal controversy, but one of them surmised why they were there. “ Corruption should end,” she said.
The Anna supporters as well as the police had some nervous moments when they bumped into By Suhas Munshi in New Delhi Congress activists on a hungerstrike near Jantar Mantar demanding execution of those guilty of assassinating Rajiv Gandhi. The police along with several quick- thinking Anna fans immediately barricaded the Congressmen and the rally passed peacefully. HUNDREDS of Delhi University students bunked classes and formed the fulcrum of protests — from Tihar to India Gate to Chatrasal Stadium to JP Park. “ We reached here at 10 am and would remain here till Anna comes out of Tihar,” Ankit of Satyawati College said.
“ The people of Delhi have woken up. They were out here,” Srishti Kumar of Maharaja Agrasen College said at India Gate.
The protests were not limited to Delhi and it was mostly the young who came out openly across the country in support of a 73- yearold Gandhian.
Students and software professionals in Hyderabad protested against, what they called, the Centre’s indifferent attitude towards Anna’s fight against corruption.
Young Mumbai was in full force on the streets on Wednesday as they gathered at Azad Maidan.
Apart from the college youth, mill workers turned out in hordes.
Singer Kailash Kher will keep the protesters engaged at the Maidan on Thursday.
Government and private offices didn’t report any low attendance, despite an appeal.
Hyderabad techie D. Deepa said: “I will finish work and take part in the evening candle- lit rally.” Likewise, Mumbai banker Bhagyashree Patil said: “I took a few hours break to protest. But I didn’t take leave because it’s my duty to care for the bank clients.”
With Aditi Raja in Mumbai
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