Despite it being a week day thousands turned up for the first day of the indefinite hunger protest spearheaded by Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption, headed in Bengaluru by former Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde. The IAC has given the government four days to respond to its demands, after which it will begin a ‘jail bharo’. “The people of this country have been demanding a Jan Lokpal Bill. Annaji is a committed worker and he will not rest till the fight is won. We are with Annaji. He has given four days to the government to meet the demands of the IAC, or else we will start the jail bharo,” said Justice Hegde.
Justice Hegde also clearly listed out the demands. “At the central level, the main demand is setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe and report the allegations against the 15 corrupt ministers within six months, handing over pending cases against all corrupt party leaders to SIT for independent investigation, and setting up fast track courts to pass judgment on allegations against 162 Lok Sabha members (against whom criminal cases are pending) within six months. And in Karnataka, we want the appointment of a Lokayukta,” he stated.
Justice Hegde called the action of student activists who tried to disrupt a similar event held at Jantar Mantar in Delhi “shameful”. “Democracy is equal for all and such an action by the student union is shameful. Don’t they realise that at some point they themselves would have protested over issues. Then why should they stop anybody else from protesting?” he said. Later in the evening, urban expert and IAC volunteer, Ashwin Mahesh, explained the commitment of the volunteers, “The slogan of the campaign is Do or Die. It does not mean we will go kill ourselves. But it means we will fight till the end. Why should we die? The corruption will die, the corrupt will die.”
A Lokpal bill has been discussed for more than 50 years, he said, and now is the time to act. “The people of this country are doing their job and have asked for something. Why aren’t those in power listening? If they are not interested in listening to the people, then they better pack up and go home, we don’t need them,” he said.