The manner in which all the three cities- Varanasi, Sultanpur and Lucknow displayed warm welcome to the civil society speakers much in advance through banners, posters, hoardings all over, demonstrated people’s love for Anna Hazare and his group of fighters against corruption.

Since Anna Hazare was being treated in Pune hospital, the other members of the civil society Arvind Kejriwal, Swami Agnivesh and satirist Jaspal Bhatti launched their campaign from UP where they visited Varanasi, Sultanpur and Lucknow from April 29 to May 1.

Anna Hazare addressed the public meetings in Varanasi as well in Sultanpur through his mobile phone but he could not be connected to Lucknow where the crowd was waiting to hear him at Jhulelal Park on the banks of river Gomti.

There was great amount of enthusiasm in the public to listen to Anna Hazare in holy city of Varanasi and Sultanpur, where the meetings were attended by thousands of people.

The success of public meeting in Sultanpur assumes importance as the entire area of Sultanpur, Amethi and Rare Bareilli is dominated by Gandhi family and Mrs Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi are elected from there.

Significantly enough, Anna Hazare who addressed from his hospital bed in Pune through his mobile phone said. “If the government creates hurdles in passage of the Lokpal Bill, then I will again sit on dharna at Jantar Mantar. If the situation demands, I am prepared to go to jail. I have gone to jail earlier also and it added to my prestige and reputation...”.

As expected the members of civil society attacked chief minister Mayawati on the issue large scale corruption in the state.

Swami Agnivesh while speaking to select gathering of intellectuals, social activists and later on with media also asked chief minister Mayawati to appoint new Jan LokAyukta (Ombudsman). He said that he would welcome the objection raised by chief minister as why no dalit was not included in the drafting committee of Jan Lokpal committee but at the same time he asked what steps had been taken by her to prevent corruption in the state.

Swami Agnivesh said if Chief Minister Mayawati was genuinely interested in welfare of dalits in her state then she should help in passing Jan Lokpal bill and appoint Jan Lokayukta in the state.

Regarding the participation of political parties, Swami and Arvind Kejriwal made it clear in all the three public meetings that they would not allow the political parties to use the forum.

Elaborating his viewpoint Mr Kejriwal said there could be some good persons in politics and bureaucracy but they would like to keep the movement away from political parties.

“This is the second battle for independence. The country is still waiting for the perfect azadi. In 1947, the brown sahibs replaced the whites,” he added, urging the people to fight and exhorting the youth to draw inspiration from martyrs like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdeo and Rajguru.

Supporting the views expressed by Arvind Kejriwal in Lucknow one person was spotted in the public meeting carrying one roti and lotus which was symbol of 1857 first war of independence. Without disclosing his identity or his name of his native place he said that war of corruption initiated by Anna Hazare was like war for independence.

The visit of members of civil society has had its impact in Uttar Pradesh where participation of middle class in the public meting and former judges and bureaucrats in smaller meetings held in all the three places made it clear that the issue of corruption would dominate in next one year before assembly polls.

Significantly former DGP Prakash Singh and two former judges of Allahabad High Court Mr Kamleshwar Nath and Mr SC Verma participated in the meeting held in Lucknow.

It would be worth mentioning here that main opposition leaders like UPCC President Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Samajwadi Party state president Akhilesh Yadav had urged Anna Hazare to visit Lucknow and launch his campaign against corruption of Mayawati government.

Prominent theatre personality Suryamohan Kulshreth who actively participated in small meeting with members of civil society in Lucknow and also addressed the public meeting on the bank of river Gomti told IPA that people by and large had joined the cause of fight against corruption led by Anna Hazare emotionally but they were also looking towards the right methodology to take on the issue of corruption in near future.
(IPA Service)