Behind Anna Hazare and his team of four, Kiran Bedi, Prashant Bhushan, Shanti Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal, there is a huge team of over 30 members are working round the clock to make the crusade against corruption a success.
What is little known is the source of funding, though members of the A-team repeatedly claim that it is 'donation by public'.
The tech-savvy team is meticulously planning every move and so far been able to anticipate every step the government planned and out-maneuvered it.
Sources disclosed that on August 15, the day before, Hazare launched his agitation, the team pre-recorded a video message of the crusader and kept it ready to be distributed to the channels in the event of his arrest.
The movement of Anna, however, was being confined to his core team to add an element of surprise. The government had no clue about Hazare’s move to go to Rajghat on August 15.
However, immediately after Anna was arrested, the recording was sent to the TV channels for telecast. On August 16, the nation heard Anna’s message and that he was being arrested. It had a devastating impact.
Also the day before he stepped out of Tihar, Bedi recorded an interview of Hazare with leading questions and released it on YouTube.
The publicity blitzkrieg unleashed by team Anna has completely outwitted the government and its media planners.
“It was clear that our success lay in media projection, particularly the television channels and internet,” a member of the team in condition of anonymity said.
Some of the members are reportedly in constant “touch with the television heads, particularly of a private television channel, which has been “supportive of our movement,” he said.
“Take out the media projection, the movement will fall flat,” he disclosed.
The team Anna is tapping the middle class and lower middle class. “It’s the main vote bank we are tapping and this is where the government is getting hurt,” the team member said.
The team has also picked up untapped local singers, who are constantly belting out songs on Anna and Lokpal.