Days before the July 25 indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, Team Anna is going all out in 'preparing' the local populace. The team members have clearly stated that they have no choice but to go ahead with a 'do or die' campaign, to press for a strong Jan Lokpal Bill. Priyanka reports from New Delhi.
Team Anna has been holding daily rallies in Delhi for the past one month -- at Okhla in south Delhi, to Pitampura and Rohini sectors in the north-western parts, from Nangloi and Tilak Nagar in the west, to Sangam Vihar in the south, Mukherhjee Nagar in the north and Shahdara in the east -- the team members have checked virtually all corners of the city.
The team has also chosen the venues carefully, and has been able to draw huge crowds of predominately middle and lower middle class.
Speaking at a rally at Shahdara, Anna Hazare's aide Arvind Kejriwal said that he was confident that people would turn up in large numbers because they are aggrieved by issues such as the price hike and corruption at the July 25 anshan (fast).
"We have been making people aware how they are being looted in a systematic manner. The government must decide now how it should respond. It is their constitutional duty to stop corruption and price hike," he said.
"If the government does not respond now, the people will dethrone it," he added.
Three members of the team -- Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai will be the first to sit on an indefinite hunger strike.
"If any of the members are taken away by the authorities, another member will take their place," informed another member Kumar Vishwas. "There will always been three people on strike," he added.
"We debated a lot and tried to find out why the bill is being delayed," Kejriwal argues, "And we have identified that 15 cabinet ministers and 162 parliamentarians are tainted, then how is it possible to expect that the government will pass a strong Jan Lokpal Bill," Kejriwal argued.
The team has thus set the two following demands at the protest:
The team wants a judicial inquiry, headed by a three-member panel of Supreme Court judges to investigate corruption charges against the cabinet ministers.
It also wants that the trial in fast track courts must investigate the serious charges against the 162 parliamentarians.
