Anna blurs class-mass divide

On Day 1 some protested, most watched. On Day 2 more and more protested, and everyone watched. Disparate groups across the country were united on Wednesday by one common urge – to protest. The number of students, lawyers, theatre artistes, government employees, NGOs, trade unions out on the streets continued to swell.

In Mumbai, authorities unofficially estimated 15,000 volunteers participated, but organisers, India Against Corruption, Mumbai, claimed 40,000 citizens took part in the protests.

More action on day 2

While the first day was dominated by students, the second day saw a lot of action from professionals – lawyers, doctors and diamond merchants. Even resident welfare associations joined the agitation.

The protesters wore black ribbons as a mark of protest.

In Lucknow, it was largely a students’ initiative. At least 80 girls of Loreto Convent took out a peace protest march. Nearly 200 students of Navyug Radiance Senior Secondary School formed a shape that read ‘ANNA’. They walked for some distance and shouted slogans against the government for not heeding to Hazare’s demands.

Postcards to Prez

Thirty children from Bhrawna village in Hardoi district of Uttar Pradesh sent postcards to President Pratibha Patil.

The postcards are currently with Munna Lal Shukla, who is on an indefinite fast along with 17 others, at the Jhulelal Park. Nearly 3,000 people came out in support of Anna Hazare in Lucknow alone till late evening. At least 150 arrests were made across the state.  

In Assam, students and teachers held protests in Guwahati University and Dibrugarh University. They also took part in the protest on Tuesday.

Not all the protesters, however, had a clear idea of the issue at hand. “We are here to protest…,” fumbled Shambhu Pandey, a student, who was part of the protest meet near Girish Park in north Kolkata.

While Tuesday’s demonstrations were spontaneous, on Wednesday, all protests in Bhubaneshwar were planned meticulously by NGO India Against Corruption.

Senior citizens, former judges, lawyers, and teachers were among those who protested. Hazare’s arrest also rocked the Orissa assembly’s Monsoon session on its first day.

In Chandigarh, protesters did not use electricity between 8 pm and 9 pm on Tuesday, in a gesture of solidarity.

Innovative protest

Protests and innovations go hand-in-hand. In Jammu, a group of local theatre artistes (all in the age group of 20-24 years) rechristened itself “Main Bhi Anna’. The group has been staging nukkad nataks (street plays) to extend its support to social activist.

TDP leader arrested

In Andhra Pradesh’s Secunderabad, Telugu Desam Party leader N Chandrababu Naidu was arrested after he staged a dharna in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, defying prohibitory orders.

Lawyers in Nampally, Hyderabad, boycotted work, as also did their counterparts in Ranga Reddy, Karimnagar and Mahabubnagar districts.

In the pilgrim town of Tirupati, Sri Venkateshwara University students staged a dharna. Students and parents took out a rally in Anantapur district. Students also formed a human chain in Warangal and Khammam towns.

Rain didn’t stop them

Even 40 hours of incessant rain could not dampen the protest fervour in Uttara-khand. Former chief minister BC Khanduri organised a march in Dehradun. Several journalists from electronic and print media held a rally from Gandhi Park to Clock Tower in support of Hazare.

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Anna's net effect!

On the Internet, Anna has created, brewed, stirred, and let loose a storm. By Tuesday afternoon, there were more than 500 pages at last count dedicated to the 74-year-old mass leader and his anti-corruption campaign on the social networking site Facebook. By noon, one Anna Hazare page was liked by 2,11,084 individuals while another was liked by 80,089. Not all pages have such huge numbers but put together, we are witnessing one of the most remarkable net-based social media activities over a single political event in the country.

Even as the anti-corruption crusader and other campaign leaders were arrested by the police and reports of protests supporting Anna started pouring in from across the country, Internet conversations and chats inevitably veered towards the Gandhian.

All leading TV news channels were airing Anna’s youtube message which he had pre-recorded anticipating an arrest even as social media site Twitter was abuzz with tweets about the anti-corruption crusader.

Not surprisingly, a random Google search on Anna Hazare returned 13,800,000 results (in 0.09 second), more than Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's 11,700,000 results (0.08 seconds), than Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's 1,170,000 results (0.08 seconds) or that of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's 1,160,000 results (0.08 seconds). BJP president Nitin Gadkari returned a poor 793,000 results (0.06 seconds).

Anna however continues to be overshadowed by the international figure and father of the nation Mahatma's Gandhi's 18,600,000 results (0.09 seconds) or by the likes of Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan with 14,900,000 results (0.08 seconds), actor Katrina Kaif, one of the country's most googled individuals, with 30,400,000 results (in 0.07 seconds), or by the nation's heart-throb and cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar who returned 20,900,000 results (in 0.06 seconds).

Of course, these figures are variable ones that keep on changing but they are indicative of the impact the small and frail man in white is creating even as the feeling is rampant that Anna's numbers might conquer new frontiers on the Internet in the days to come.

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Anna taken to Tihar jail, home to scamsters and criminals

Anti corruption campaigner Anna Hazare will share space with A Raja and Suresh Kalmadi both accused in the high-profile scams in Tihar jail. "Anna Hazare has been lodged in jail number four where Suresh kalmadi and Kalaignar TV managing director Sharad Kumar is lodged," deputy inspector general (Tihar) R N Sharma told PTI.

Anna will be with his associates Rajesh, Suresh Pathare and Manish Sisodia in a cell of the prison which houses 2231 inmates.

Former indian revenue services officer Arvind Kejrewal has been lodged in jail number one with former telecom minister A Raja and MD of D B Realty Shahid Balwa are lodged.

Navin, Dada Thakare and Pathare were accompanying Kejrewal in the cells of this jail which has 1543 prisoners.

All the eight were brought at 4.15pm and were quietly sent to their cells.

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