Tuesday 16 August 2011

India against corruption: Bihar erupts in support of Anna

India against corruption: Bihar erupts in support of Anna




PATNA: Within hours after Delhi Police picked up Anna Hazare, Bihar erupted in support of the anti-corruption crusader with spontaneous rallies being taken out in the state capital and several other towns, on Tuesday. At the city's historic Gandhi Maidan from where Loknayak JP gave the call for Total Revolution which led to the ouster of Indira Gandhi from power in 1977, slogans like "Anna nahi aandhi hai, bhrashtachariyo ki barbadi hai" rent the air as students, lawyers, doctors, teachers, senior citizens and even housewives with their children poured in to join hands with the India Against Corruption (IAC) activists. By noon, the number of protesters swelled to thousands.

"Main Annaji ko chhurane ayan huan (I have come to ensure release of Anna)," said six-year-old Lakshya Kumar of a DAV school. His elder brother Kanishq explained they skipped school to accompany their parents to the Gandhi Maidan.

Emotions ran high as an Anna-capped octogenarian, Kashikant Dev, wailed while speaking about the detention of the septuagenarian Gandhian in Delhi.

"The Delhi Police's highhandedness reminds me of emergency days of the 1970s," he said. Twelve IAC activists kept fast for the day. One of them, Chandraket Singh Chandel who practises law at the Patna high court, said that he would not break his fast until Anna was released. Wearing black bands, hundreds of students of National Institute of Technology took out a rally from their institute campus and assembled at the Gandhi Maidan. "The nation is passing through a crucial phase and the youth's support will decide its fate," said Nishant Kumar, an electrical engineering student. Many students of B N College, Patna Medical College, Patna College and Law College, besides others, also bunked their classes to join the anti-corruption crusade.

"If we are a free country, we have the right to organize peaceful protests," said Pratyush Kumar, an LLB student.

Satish Kumar, a differently abled teacher of Patna University, echoed Pratyush's views. IAC's Bihar coordinator Ratnesh Kumar Choudhary compared the Anna movement with JP movement. "Now or never," he thundered. There were many posts supporting Anna on the website of 'The Rising Bihar', an online community of Biharis. After Anna was sent to Tihar jail, a group of 300-odd supporters marched towards the Raj Bhavan. While they were stopped midway, a delegation submitted a memorandum to the governor.

In the evening, teachers, volunteers and students of the Art of Living (AoL) took out a candlelight march. A procession was also taken out by the students of CIMAGE, an educational institute. It was a spectacular sight as the students carried huge tricolours and chorused with the patriotic songs blaring out of the loudspeakers they had fitted on their vehicles.

Earlier in the day, the Patna high court lawyers took out a silent procession from the Ambedkar statue near the high court to the JP statue near the I-T roundabout. They were carrying placards that read, "Anna Hazare ke samarthan mein, Bhrashtachar ke khilaf (In support of Anna, against corruption)". "We will launch relay fast near the Ambedkar statue from August 17," lawyer Arwind Ujjawal said.

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