Indefinite Fast enters second day, low turnout at venue
New Delhi: The indefinite fast and protest by Team Anna against the UPA government on corruption issue entered the second day on Thursday with a thin attendance at the venue.
The response to the fast on the first day on Wednesday was also modest with police estimating that 2,500-3,000 people attended during peak hours. The team’s earlier protests had attracted several hundred people.
Organisers hope that numbers will increase as the day progresses. Anna’s protest fast last August at Ramlila Maidan had attracted much bigger crowds.
The response to the fast on the first day yesterday was also modest with police estimating that 2,500-3,000 people were present during peak hours.
Reports claimed that Delhiites are missing from the venue; most of those present at the venue have come from different places in the country.
Three key Team Anna members – Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai – are on fast demanding the constitution of a high-level independent probe into graft charges against several members of the Union Cabinet.
Team Anna has raised the pitch against UPA on corruption issue with activists attacking new President Pranab Mukherjee though Anna refrained from making any personal remarks.
He stuck to his pet theme of bringing a strong Lokpal Bill and threatened a ‘jail bharo’ agitation if government does not concede to his demands and campaigning for candidates chosen by people in the next Lok Sabha elections
Anna Hazare, who has been advised by doctors not to go ahead with fast, has announced that he will join his teammates on fast from July 29 if the government fails to take a decision on their demands.
Government unmoved : The government has not moved even an inch from its rigid stand against Team Anna’s agitation and has made it clear that there will be no parleys with the group.
Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid suggested the activists should “write to the United Nations”, if they are unhappy with the central government’s functioning.
He said, “They want an independent probe into matters which have been rejected and disapproved by the Supreme Court.”
