Veteran Gandhian and social activist Anna Hazare had since yesterday started an indefinite fast-unto-death campaign against corruption, which is now gathering steam and spreading far & wide. People are even asking questions as to whether this overwhelming public response result in another Egypt-like revolution in the country?
Anna Hazare's hunger strike is undertaken to force the government to draft a new Jan Lokpal Bill, which will give the Ombudsman more power to weed out corruption. He is demanding a comprehensive Jan Lokpal (Ombudsman) (a public anti-corruption) bill to be tabled in Parliament and passed.
On Tuesday, April 05, 2011 Hazare had declared at Rajghat “I will observe a fast-unto-death till the Government agrees to form a joint committee comprising 50 per cent officials and the remaining citizens and intellectuals to draft the Jan Lokpal Bill.”
This anti-corruption campaign is now spreading like wild fire, with people from cross sections of society coming out openly in its support. These include Bollywood directors and stars like Aamir Khan, Shekhar Kapur, Anupam Kher, Diya Mirza, Rahul Bose, Juhi Chawla, Ranvir Shorey and Madhur Bhandarkar. From the media/film fraternity like Pritish Nandi and even politicians like Omar Abdullah.
Omar, Chief Minister of Kashmir in-fact lauded the initiative taken up by Hazare saying that the hunger strike campaign was a legitimate instrument of protest which had been handed to us by the founding fathers of the nation, to fight against any form of injustice.
Hazare had right from the start been supported and joined by activists like Swami Agnivesh, former IPS officer and jugde Ms Kiran Bedi and Sandeep Pandey, Magsaysay award winner. Also social activists belonging to the ‘India Against Corruption' (IAC) movement, are on fast at Azad Maidan, Mumbai supporting Anna Hazare.
Rallies of cars and bikes were organized from Shivaji Park to Azad Maidan, in Mumbai on Tuesday. Also in 200 cities all over India, thousands of college students, young executives and housewives joined th anti-corruption campaign, so that important new laws are enacted by governement, to fight weed out corruption from the country.
Now it remains to be seen where this campaign will lead to, in days to come. For once the common man on the street is also participating and actively supporting the movement, as majority of us are fed-up hearing about one corruption charge after another in the government and outside.
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