It’s true that nothing comes for free. Not even the anti- corruption movement. In Karnataka, a state dubbed the most corrupt in the country, India Against Corruption activists and a number of other volunteers made matters worse for themselves by fanning out among the crowd at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Saturday asking for donations of `1,000 a head.
Not only were they passing the hat around, the activists pointed to posters that had been put up which listed the expenses for the event and made repeated announcements over the public address system asking those who attended to help them meet the bill of `6 lakh.
The budget for the last rally? Around `4 lakh.
For publicity alone, the organisers claimed they had spent `1.7 lakh while for the sound system it claimed it had spent `1.65 lakh. Approximately `1.12 lakh was spent for the stage and tent.