India Against Corruption (IAC) volunteers formed a human chain at the Marina beach in the city on Tuesday demanding the prosecution of MPs with serious criminal charges. About 600 people formed the human chain between the lighthouse and Gandhi statue.
“It has been eight months since we launched a fast and undertook a massive campaign. But we have not achieved our goal of getting the Jan Lokpal passed in Parliament.
While introspecting, we found out that if the people who need to pass the bill are corrupt then how can we succeed.
So we have given a nationwide call to prosecute the corrupt MPs,” said Radhika Ganesh, an IAC-Chennai volunteer. She added that the protest was held on Tuesday to reinforce the demands of IAC.
N. Jahir Hussain, the IAC Chennai chapter in-charge, said volunteers of the anti-corruption movement are planning to translate Anna Hazare and Kiran Bedi’s speeches into Tamil language for rural audience.
“We will take their message to villages by playing the translated version of their speech. We will start with the traders’ conference in Chennai on May 5,” he added.
Further, according to him, the IAC Chennai team volunteers have been campaigning against corruption at places like government offices and hospitals.
“Our people visit those places and educate the public about corruption,” he added. The team has also set about informing the public about the right to information (RTI) Act.
While the demonstration caught the eye of visitors at Marina beach on Tuesday, not many student volunteers were present.
“Last year, we had tremendous student power with us and we were able to mobilise huge crowd to catch the attention of people.
While summer vacation could be the reason for their absence, we still feel, the movement has lost steam in Chennai,” noted an IAC volunteer.