New Delhi: Hundreds of people gathered at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Sunday as Anna Hazare began his day-long fast demanding justice for slain Madhya Pradesh IPS officer Narendra Kumar and protection for the whistleblowers. The agitation began with a short film screening on the whistleblowers who have been killed during their fight against corruption. In all around 12 short films on anti-corruption will be screened at the venue.
"Bharat Mata ki Jai...Vande Mataram," Anna Hazare started the fast with patriotic slogans. The 74-year-old is holding the fast to demand that parliament adopt the Jan Lokpal bill with a stronger whistleblower protection provision.
Anna Hazare said the government has failed to protect the whistleblowers in the country. "The people who are fighting against corruption and have given their lives, the government is not doing anything to protect them," he told reporters ahead of the fast.
Waving the tricolor and clad in khadi clothes, Anna Hazare's supporters shouted slogans against corruption. "We will succeed in bringing the Jan Lokpal bill. We hope to fight corruption. This movement is not just for day or so, it will go on," said Rajesh Singh, a 24-year-old student from Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.
Donning 'Anna caps', supporters thronged the venue amid tight security arrangements by the Delhi Police.
Calling for a bigger movement, Anna Hazare said Team Anna will travel across the country and tell people that the government's version of the bill is "useless". "Twenty-five people who fought against corruption were murdered. We have been stressing on protection of whistleblowers through a law but the government is not ready to do it," Anna said.
"There will be a bigger, countrywide movement against this. The government has not even investigated into the murder of people who stood against corruption," he added.
Family members of some of the whistleblowers who were killed while fighting corruption, including that of IPS officer Narendra Kumar murdered allegedly by mining mafia in Madhya Pradesh, were also present.
Before starting his fast, Anna said many people have sacrificed their lives while fighting corruption and the government has not conducted any probe despite some incidents which happened three years ago.
"Their (whistleblowers') mothers, their children, their fathers, their wives are crying for justice. But this government has gone dumb and deaf. It is not listening to the cries of people. There will be a big struggle. Then the government will listen. The government came up with MNREGA but these people were killed for trying to improve it," Anna Hazare told reporters.
His return to staging protests comes after the Congress performed poorly in the recent Assembly polls.
This will be the first hunger strike undertaken by 74-year-old Anna Hazare after he called off his three-day fast for a strong Lokpal Bill in Mumbai last December owing to failing health and poor response. This is the fifth time he is sitting on a fast in the past one year, of which four of them have been in Delhi.
Former Karnataka Lokayukta and Team Anna member Santosh Hegde, who had expressed some reservations with regard to the Team recently, was present along with other members like Shanti Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Manish Sisodia.
"Anna Hazare has invited several families to be a part of one-day fast for a stronger whistleblower protection mechanism under the Jan Lokpal Bill," a Team Anna member said.
(With additional inputs from agencies)
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