2011 Indian Anti Corruption Movement

On 5th of April 2011, 71 year old Anna Hazare started a 'fast unto death' to exert pressure on the Government of India to enact a strong anti-corruption act as envisaged in the Jan Lokpal Bill, a law that will establish a Lokpal (ombudsman) that will have the power to deal with corruption in public offices.

People across India supported this movement and Bangalore was no behind. Four citizens went on indefinite fast in front of Freedom Park. Few of my office colleagues wanted to be part of this and so after work, we arrived at the location. Here we joined thousands of others who had arrived to support the movement.

We filled forms that asked for our name and address; collected candles and stickers from other supporters and walked to the pathway to join the other supporters. The air filled with several slogans such as – “Bekke Beku Lokpal beku” (Lokpal is a must); “Gali Gali Mein shoor hein Sarey Neta choor hein.” (Voices in every street say, all the politicians are thieves) “ Vande Mataram” (Mother, I bow to thee!), “Jai Bharath Matha Ki.” (Long live India) “Kodolla Kodolla Luncha Kodolla.”(No we won’t, no we won’t, Give bribe) and so on.


(Picture from the Net)

There were people from ever genre and every age and we all lit the candles. I saw the frustration turn into revolution in many Indians who rather see their tax being spent on development of the nation and not the politicians.

After few hours of slogans, we had talks from the citizens fasting who expressed their agitation towards Government and corruption. Some comments such as – “A king with power and no responsibility is dangerous. I am a common man without power but responsibility.” Were direct blows even without names being mentioned. Together the crowd sang the national anthem and “Hum honge Kamiyab….” This morning we woke up to good news that Government has agreed to the demands and Anna Hazare would break his fast. It was a great movement and I am glad I was able to be part of it.

The initial aggressiveness of young software engineers, reminded me of the French student revolution or a German Baader-meinhof red army factions emerge but then I realized that we have been blessed by the principles of Mahatma, which teaches us non-violent ways of protest against injustice. I am glad we have this history and learning’s that hopefully would prevent us for a long time from taking fanatic approaches that usually does more bad than good.

Comments

  1. I too went to Jantar Mantar today. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. hey good job Ajeya ..We youngsters are the main soul of our nation.Even my brother went to freedom park for the support.Loved the slogans.

    ReplyDelete
  3. How much of all of this is going to make India a transformed nation, and how soon will that happen?

    ReplyDelete
  4. how can attain peace with voilence? true.. Mahatma was a great teacher in many ways to us and the whole world....

    even i ponder over the questions " V Rakesh" wrote here

    "How much of all of this is going to make India a transformed nation, and how soon will that happen?"

    ReplyDelete
  5. We said Ajeya!! i didin't go to jantar mantar but showed my support by calling and smsing....

    on 3rd of april we were in a market in Delhi and a girl was distributing pamphlets which said "Kiran bedi supports the anti corruption......." and the pamphlet had the Mumbai no. which said if u support the cause do give a missed call on this no.

    And smebody from the no. did call us back.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for all...

    Rakesh and Anupama - I dont think we should expect result tomorrow. Everything has its begining, everything happens over time. So i think we should be optimistic and also act accordingly to support this cause. (No to bribe to start with)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey Ajeya, i missed to be part of your team visiting freedom park that day..but i did join the revolution by dialing the phone number...
    I agree with you when you say "we can't expect results tomorrow"...now the seeds are sown, lets grow them.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, the words "A king with power and no responsibility is dangerous. I am a common man without power but responsibility" is pretty powerful.

    I hope the message from this demonstration will reach the ears' of the parliament.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Your thoughts are valuable and encouraging! So, please leave back a comment.

FOLLOW ME ON